While most jurisdictions performed impressively last month, Louisiana was down 2.5%. How to account for the slippage? True, the drive-in driven Shreveport/Bossier City market was off 1.5%. But the real culprit was Baton Rouge, toppling 15.5% and ravaged by the new smoking ban. Even market leader L’Auberge Baton Rouge was down 11% to 
$12 million. Casino Rouge fell 9% to $4.5 million and Eldorado Resorts had a disastrous month at Belle of Baton Rouge, careening 39% to a meagre $2.5 million. Can they even keep the doors open at that rate. In Shreveport/Bossier City, Penn National Gaming made an inauspicious debut at Margaritaville, slipping 6% to $13.5 million, Eldorado was flat at $10 million and Horseshoe Bossier climbed 1% to $18 million. Sam’s Town grew 7% to $4.5 million, Harrah’s Louisiana Downs hopped 2% to $4 million while Boomtown Bossier was up 4% to $5 million. Diamond Jack’s wants to leave Shreveport and the market reciprocated the sentiment, as manifested in a 17% plummet to $3 million.
At least the unlikely resort town of Lake Charles could be counted upon for good news, right? Not entirely. Penn struggled at L’Auberge du Lac, down 11% to ‘only’ $28 million. Golden Nugget continues to enjoy hard-won primacy, at $29 million, shrugging off a 1.5%. Isle Grand Palais spiraled -17.5% to $9 million. Only Boyd Gaming had a revenue-positive month in the area, up 2.5% at Delta Downs to finish in the money with $16 million. Boyd also enjoyed upward months at Amelia Belle, vaulting 18% to $4 million, and Evangeline Downs, up 2% to $7 million. In New Orleans, it grew 5% at Treasure Chest, for a $9 million finish, while Penn’s nearby Boomtown New Orleans jumped 6% to $10 million. The market leader, of course, was Harrah’s New Orleans, with $27.5 million, up 8%. Fair Grounds racino brought up the rear with $3.5 million, a 5% uptick.
* Sands China posted 16% growth in mass-market play and 3% more in VIP action last quarter, moving JP Morgan analyst Joseph Greff to raise his cash flow projection for 
Macao from $797 million to $823 million. His forecast for the mass-market-driven Sands properties was sunnier — 13% for mass-market tables, 5% for slots, and 32% growth in VIP play — than for the rest of the market by a sizable. Although LVS trades at a $57.70/share, Greff tweaked the price target up to $60/share. In good news for the enclave (and Sands), repeat visitation grew last year. The numbers were similar to those posted in 2017, when Macao began tracking such data. Increased visitation from the United States helped make for declines from Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia. Only 9% self-identified as gamblers (I wonder about that), with most citing shopping and dining as the main Macanese attractions. And yet … “Casino operators could focus their marketing and management work more on non-gaming activities such as introducing more shops and restaurants to attract more visitors to their hotels,” said IFT Tourism Research Centre Director Leonardo Dioko.
* In other Macao-related news, Wynn Macau won a $4 million judgment in a Malaysia court room against a fund manager who had stiffed the casino on a credit agreement. 
This is the first time Kuala Lumpur has enforced a gambling debt. What made this case different was that Wynn Resorts had not entered into a wagering contract (unenforceable). Paul Poh Yang Hong‘s defense was literally ‘I forgot.’ Now if you or I got taken to the cleaners by Wynn for four million smackers, I think that’s something that would stick rather painfully in our memory. Hong was not so amnesia-stricken that he didn’t pay several hundred thousand dollars to Wynn before defaulting on the balance.
* Parx Casino owner Greenwood Racing & Entertainment has brought its sports-betting operation to urban Philadelphia, its South Philadelphia Turf Club OTB having been green-lit for a sports book. Parx itself only rolled out sports betting last week. Both will be operated by Kambi, which is establishing Keystone State hegemony, also running books at Rivers Casino, SugarHouse and (still in the planning stages) Valley Forge Turf Club. The only non-Kambi book in the Keystone State is the William Hill one at Penn National’s eponymous race course and casino. The latter, incidentally, generated $16 million in handle last month, a respectable start.
