If it were just a question of Las Vegas Strip performance, Wynn Resorts would have very little good news to report. Gross gaming revenue ($166 million) was down 19% in 1Q19, its impact softened by an 11% increase in slot win on 6% 
more coin-in. Baccarat was “softer than expected” according to JP Morgan analyst Joseph Greff, pulling all table games down 28%—quite a precipice, especially for a casino as predicated on high-roller business as Wynncore. Room revenues slipped 2% on 82.5% occupancy. Looking ahead, the convention center is due for early 2020 completion, whereupon management will use the reconstructed golf course to “run special events as well as enhance casino play.” Nothing was said about the old New Frontier site other than that it was in the early design stages (please, no more curved, green skyscrapers).
Macao was Wynn’s saving grace (that and the lack of impact from the Massachusetts Gaming Commission fine). “VIP was down and premium mass was choppy, but core mass GGR increased 13% y/y,” reports Greff. Wynn Palace had a particularly strong March, setting records for mass-market wagering and cash flow. Feeling the effects of Morpheus and MGM Cotai, Wynn’s Macanese market share fell to the lower end of its usual 15%-17% tranche. “Relative to our forecasts,” writes Greff, “Wynn Palace EBITDA was $15m above ($25m benefit from high hold), Wynn Macau was $3m below, and Las Vegas was $14m worse (despite a $5m benefit from high hold) on lower baccarat volumes and RevPAR.” So, not the greatest quarter but—considering what could have happened in Massachusetts—cause for relief perhaps.
* Gambling revenues were off 6% in Missouri last month ($139 million). No extenuating circumstances were cited by Morgan analysts so we must conclude that consumers were feeling a pinch in the wallet. There may be a silver lining in the dark cloud, as it gives casino lobbyists empirical evidence to argue 
against the enactment of slot routes in the Show-Me State. Penn National Gaming had a mixed month, up 5% at River City ($18 million) but plunging 9% at Hollywood Casino St. Louis ($19 million) and off 4% at Argosy Riverside ($13 million). Eldorado Resorts is losing the ground that its predecessors made up at Lumiere Place, plunging 12% to $13 million. Boyd Gaming was flat at Ameristar St. Charles ($22.5 million and a moral victory in this context) and down 3% at Ameristar Kansas City ($16 million).
Only Harrah’s North Kansas City bucked the downward trend, up 4.5% to $14.5 million. St. Jo Frontier must have been impacted by flooding? How else to explain the -67% cataclysm in revenues? Affinity Gaming‘s Mark Twain Casino swooned 13% ($2.5 million) while Eldorado’s three outlying casinos were mostly just slightly off their feed except for Isle of Capri Boonville ($6 million), 10% downward.
* MGM Resorts International, Foxwoods Resort Casino and Mohegan Sun are all losers in the Connecticut Lege, as Gov. Ned Lamont (D) signaled that he didn’t see any gaming bills coming out of the capitol this session. (Sports betting also went onto the junk heap—good news for Rhode Island.) “We’re 
trying to get something done, but we’re not going to get it done in this session,” said Lamont. MGM famously wants a megaresort along the coast, while the two tribal casinos want their exclusivity reaffirmed. Lamont is trying make everyone happy, probably an impossible task. He told reporters, “I’d love to make a deal with Mohegan and MGM in a way that I honor my compact with Rodney [Butler] and the tribes — that includes internet, it includes sports. But I’m not going to do it if we don’t have a global solution.” In the meantime, site prep for Tribal Winds in East Windsor proceeds exceedingly slowly. The tribes are just getting around to taking construction bids. By the time they get that slot shack up and running, MGM Springfield will have done its damage.
* Considering how contentious bus passengers are in Las Vegas it’s not entirely surprising that one altercation ended in a homicide indictment. Cadesha Michelle Bishop allegedly pushed a 74-year-old, walker-bound man to his death at a bus stop. The man’s offense? He “asked her to be nice to other passengers.” What sauce!
