Casino revenues in the Free State continue to be flat. Maryland gambling houses grossed $149 million last month. MGM National Harbor‘s $62.5 
million—a 4.5% gain—led the state. Slots were down 2% at MGM but table win up 12%, a development that will thrill management, since table games are taxed far more conservatively. MGM had 42% of market share to Maryland Live‘s 35%. The latter was up 3.5% to $52 million. Horseshoe Baltimore, which has become an authority on alienating players—as we saw yesterday—dove 16% to $19 million. Maybe Eldorado Resorts CEO Tom Reeg should sell the place to somebody who knows how to run a casino.
Windmilling Hollywood Perryville had one of its down months, off 3.5% to $6 million. Ocean Downs rose 4% to $5.5 million, despite being in off-season, and Rocky Gap Resort slipped 4.5% to $4 million. Wait for warm weather, Rocky Gap.
* Iran‘s response to the Suleimani affair may be something far more insidious than blowing stuff up. Why do we mention this? Because we can take a page from the history books, namely the cyber attack on Sheldon 
Adelson, conducted via the soft underbelly of Sands Bethlehem‘s Web site. Adelson’s provocation was merely verbal, calling for preemptive nuclear strikes on Iran. That didn’t spare him from devastating computer terrorism. The cyber-strike infected 75% of Las Vegas Sands‘ Sin City servers, costing the company $40 million. After bringing Sands to its knees, Iranian hackers have had five years to practice for something much bigger and worse. One can hope that other companies don’t share Adelson’s disdain for the Internet and his then-puny (five people for the entire company=one staff per 5,000 computers) cyber-protection force. “This isn’t the kind of business you can get into in Iran without the government knowing,” James Lewis, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies told Bloomberg.
Would a repeat strike spur a U.S. counterattack? “Las Vegas casinos don’t deliver essential services to the U.S. population, apart from Cirque du Soleil addicts,” drily noted Bloomberg. But other industries and infrastructure providers may have more cause for worry. As former CIA director Michael Hayden put it, “If there is a cyber Chinese attack coming up the fiber-optic cable in the Houston Ship Channel, what does U.S. law say the U.S. government should do? I think what we’re finding is there isn’t a real robust answer.” And Adelson? He’s become considerably more circumspect in his public comments following the 2014 cyber-strike, suggesting he’s learnt to let sleeping attack dogs lie.
* If you’re driving from Las Vegas to Reno you may see the billion-dollar corpse of Crescent Dunes, an Obama administration solar-energy project that couldn’t keep up with the times. Says one Tonopah 
resident, “It’s dead. But real pretty, though. You can see it for miles.” Solar-power technology evolved faster than Crescent Dunes could be built. Harry Reid has this boondoggle on his conscience, although we doubt he’s contrite. NV Energy has quit buying power from Crescent Dunes, which knocks the props out from under it. Any lone-wolf energy buyers in the casino industry who want to throw this white elephant a lifeline?
* Binion’s Gambling Hall took to Facebook to promise “We’re making an out of this world announcement in 10 Days. Any guesses what it is? Watch the announcement on our Facebook & Instagram pages January 16 at 10:30 a.m. PST” Reader Bud Sicks Jr. was not impressed, asking “You are finally going to fix the elevator for the parking structure” Given the relative lack of major developments at Binion’s that would qualify as “out of this world.”
