An extra weekend day didn’t do bupkis for Louisiana, where November gaming revenues ($205 million) were flat with last year’s. The good news 
is that Baton Rouge, so troubled a market, was incrementally higher than in 2018. Eldorado Resorts‘ Belle of Baton Rouge continues to suck wind, down 25% to $2 million but L’Auberge Baton Rouge gained 6% to $12.5 million and Casino Rouge was up 3% to $4 million. (In other news, Casino Rouge owner Gaming & Leisure Properties is reportedly being pressured to merge with Vici Properties.) In Lake Charles, only Delta Downs was revenue-positive, up 5.5% to $15 million. L’Auberge du Lac slipped 5% to just under $26 million, while Golden Nugget was down 1.5% to $26 million. Isle Grand Palais ceded 11% to $7 million.
In New Orleans, gaining 2.5% Harrah’s New Orleans led the market with $26 million. Boomtown New Orleans was a distant second with $9 million (flat), followed by Treasure Chest ($8.5 million, -3%), Fair 
Grounds racino ($4 million, +15%) and Amelia Belle ($3 million, -7%). As for the crowded Shreveport/Bossier City area, Horseshoe Bossier City regained dominance, posting a $16 million gross and 4% uptick. Most-improved performance went to Diamond Jack’s, leaping 18% to $3 million, and to Sam’s Town, jumping 11% to $6 million. Eldorado fell 9.5% to $9 million, Boomtown Bossier slipped 3.5% to $4 million and Harrah’s Louisiana Downs gained 4% to $3.5 million. That leaves Margaritaville, bouncing 7% but, at $13 million, well behind Horseshoe.
* Sports betting is officially legal in Michigan, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) having appended her signature to HB 4916, bringing sports wagering and Internet gambling into law. The market looks to be highly competitive, not least because the tax rate is the lowest of any state 
not named Nevada. Tribes will pay 8.4% on sports revenue, Detroit casinos—thanks to a city surtax—9.65%. That compares to a punitive 26% in Pennsylvania, 9.75% in New Jersey (13.5% on online sports wagers) and 9.5% in Indiana. “Some in Michigan obviously wanted a higher tax rate, but the current rate should draw significant interest from sportsbook operators,” said online-gaming analyst Dustin Gouker. “That will help the market mature more quickly than markets such as Pennsylvania, where the ramp-up has been much slower despite having the largest population among all states with legal sports betting.”
* Macao welcomes China President Xi Jinping—or does it? President Xi (pictured) is a real Debbie Downer where casino revenues are concerned. The occasion caused journalists from Hong Kong to be barred from the gaming enclave and for the city to be put on lockdown. Can’t have people 
engaging in free speech, you know. As the Boston Globe reports, “Macau’s small size, ineffectual rule by Lisbon, and the overriding influence of the tycoons who control gambling and related businesses [historically] kept democratic expectations low.” As a result, the Macanese have been more willing to go with the flow than their Hong Kong brethren. The likeliest cause of popular unrest would be a demand for better wages and working conditions, about which City Hall has been relatively obliging. No doubt President Xi will mount one of his favorite soapboxes: economic diversification. But with customers overlooking casino amenities in favor of more and better gambling, Xi is speaking to an audience of the deaf.
* If you think that sexism in the casino industry is bad, try Wall Street on for size. Bloomberg reports that execs like sexist pig Ken Fisher aren’t the aberration: The difference is that Fisher got caught. The tools of 
maintaining the status quo are described as “forced arbitration, captive human resources departments, high-priced lawyers, and a culture of fear.” The Street itself is described as “a fraternity with nicer houses.” Perhaps few remember when gaming analyst Joe Coccimiglio came out of the closet—and was quickly hounded into obscurity. As for #MeToo, Wall Street can fight it with high-priced lawyers and by keeping women out of the business. One attorney “says most of her Wall Street clients feel they can’t even go to HR.” Perennial bad boy Cantor Fitzgerald is currently embroiled in a court fight with bond saleswoman Lee Stowell, who says she was sacked for complaining about “locker-room behavior.” As for Wall Street’s self-regulation, “One arbiter fell asleep, another left for the bathroom at a key moment, and lawyers bickered over a granola bar.”
There are glimmers of hope but we’re still in a culture where the top 27 executives at Colony Capital are male. While the Jeffrey Epstein case was expected to shine a light on Wall Street sexism, Epstein’s convenient suicide means that we’re in for business as usual for a while to come.
* Now that Cats has coughed up an epic hairball, we can scratch it from our Oscar tout sheets and turn to the consideration of movies that actually have their head screwed on straight. My heart is with Quentin Tarantino‘s Sixties valentine, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, but my head tells me that Noah Baumbach‘s Marriage Story is the film to beat, although it is distributed by Academy bete noire Netflix. Then again, the reclusive Terrence Malick is back with Holocaust drama A Hidden Life and Malick is long overdue for some Oscar love, not having come close since 1978’s Days of Heaven. Don’t sell short.
