Publicly traded casino operators in Macao got a dose of good news today. A late-month rally in play means another record month at the tables, a 51% increase from last year. Roughly half the $2.5 billion haul will be divided between Sociedade de Jogos de Macau and Las Vegas Sands, with Wynn Resorts and Melco Crown Entertainment firmly in the middle of the pack. Another pleasant revelation is the come-from-behind performance of MGM Grand Paradise, which was on pace for a last-place finish but rallied to pass Galaxy Entertainment. MGM ended the month with an 11%, against Galaxy’s 9%.
It’s not exactly news that MGM Grand Detroit is tops in Motown, a market that was 2010’s surprise bright spot. The posh casino-hotel drove nearly all of the city’s casin0-revenue growth last year. The metrics for MGM are good across the board, slightly mixed for everyone else. An infusion of new rooms and casino space at Greektown gave it a boost last year. Even with no management team currently at the helm, the trouble-plagued casino achieved an 11% revenue increase last month. Just imagine what it could do when it gets it act together. Although it’s (relatively speaking) the oldest of the three permanent Detroit casinos, MGM’s had its product mix right from the get-go and has surrendered very little market share since. When a “bad” month is better than the newest casino’s good month by $21 million, MGM execs can sleep soundly.
Continuing the “good news” theme, cooler heads prevailed in a planning dispute involving Cordish Gaming‘s Maryland casino. What looked like a shadowy attempt by Penn National Gaming to sandbag Cordish ended with casino developers and residents settling the issue out of court, saving taxpayers a few dollars in the process.
Not exactly a “Triumph.” After a “limited engagement” of indeterminate length, several postponed openings, innumerable bombastic-but-vague press releases and no official press showing, Triumph … It Runs on Steam has run out of hot air. The obscure Las Vegas Hilton “journey through magicality,” a poor man’s Believe, has vanished as cryptically as it arrived, exiting with a not-so-veiled plea for some other casino to pick it up. Since the LV Hilton is where shows go to die, it’s difficult to imagine other casinos fighting to get it.
