Illinois casinos had been bumping along nicely in the Trump economy until they hit a plain old speed bump last month, with revenues down almost 4%, on a gross of $119 million, $39 
million of which was generated by Rivers Casino alone. Rivers was one of the few revenue-positive casinos, up a point. Gamblers spent 6% more statewide but that wasn’t enough in the face of a 9.5% plunge in foot traffic. Reporting positive results were Harrah’s Joliet ($15.5 million, +1.5%) and … well, nobody I’m afraid. MGM Resorts International won’t be shot of Grand Victoria soon enough, as it was 9.5% down ($14 million), while Jumer’s Casino Rock Island was 10% lower, grossing $6 million.
For everyone else it was lesser degrees of misery. Penn National Gaming ceded 8% ($10 million) at Empress Joliet, 5.5% ($10 million) at Hollywood Aurora and 4% ($4 million) aboard Argosy Belle. Boyd Gaming slipped 4% (to $6.5 million) at Par-A-Dice and Gaming & Leisure Properties slid 7.5% to $8 million at Casino Queen. Harrah’s Metropolis tumbled 8% to $6.5 million. At least Penn and Boyd have their slot routes to fall back upon.
* As Wendover goes, so goes Nevada. In this case, Wendover Resorts is purchasing an end-to-end gaming solution from Scientific Games, including slots and tables. The casino company will also SG Universe (hey, wasn’t that a TV show?) on its mobile and Internet platforms. Of course, when you have as dominant a market position with Scientific Games, it’s hard not to do business with them.
Coincidentally, Scientific reported 2Q18 revenues of $845 million, which was 1% below Wall Street‘s expectation. “Decelerating Social Gaming revenue growth (9.7% in the 2Q vs. 21.4% in the 1Q) reflects impact from Facebook/privacy issues, 
which SGMS sees as temporary in nature,” reported JP Morgan analyst Joseph Greff. Still, lotteries and social gaming partly made for shortfalls in the digital and casino segments. The manufacturing side was helped by orders for 913 machines from MGM Springfield and Hard Rock Atlantic City, moderating a 5% decrease in replacement sales. Greff doesn’t see any chances for major new sales before early 2019, when he anticipates Encore Boston Harbor will open — sooner than Wynn Resorts says it will.
* Things just go from bad to worse for Kazuo Okada. The former chairman of Universal Entertainment was arrested in Hong Kong, charged with what are described as “corruption-related offenses.” Neither Okada nor authorities are talking at this point but we do know that China takes corruption seriously (much more so than we do), so Okada couldn’t have picked a worse place to get busted.
* Monmouth Park‘s latest plan to improve revenues is to sue the NCAA and major sporting leagues on the grounds that it would have made oodles of money (i.e., $140 million) if the leagues hadn’t opposed sports betting back in 2014. Good luck with that and don’t let the courtroom door hit you in the butt.
* Weapons found in at casino-resorts. Thirteen known drug deals. Tampering with slot machines. “[F]ailures of governance and risk management, contributing to compliance slippages.” “Lack of innovation” regarding responsible gambling … “such as might now be required of a world-leading operator to meet heightening community and regulatory expectations.” It’s just another day at the office for Crown Resorts. And why not? Despite all those fouls, its license was renewed just the same.
