MGM owns Maryland; Rumble in Deadwood

MGM National Harbor continues to devour the Maryland market, hitting a record 40% market share last month, along with a best-ever $1.95 million/day in gross gaming record, for an overall gross of $60.5 million. Less pleasing for MGM execs: Slots continue to pull away from table games, $32 million to $28 million. Since tables are taxed at a far lower rate, this is not a development MGM wants to see. Overall, gaming revenue in the Free State was up 6%, with Maryland Live gaining a percentage point, MGM vaulting 18% and Horseshoe Baltimore down 8% ($25 million).  MGM’s gain in market share came mainly at Maryland Live’s expense. Hollywood Perryville was up 2.5% to $7 million while Ocean Downs was supercharged by the addition of table games, leaping 26% to $6 million. Out west, Golden Entertainment‘s Rocky Gap Resort was flat at just under $5 million.

West Virginia suffered minimal impact, with slots and tables down 1% and 3% respectively. Penn National‘s Charles Town racino was off 4% at the slots but a 1% gain at the tables evened everything out.

* Hopes are fading in Mercer County that it will get one of Pennsylvania‘s mini-casinos. Sands Bethlehem theoretically had the winning bid on one but it turned out that Sands execs couldn’t use a pair of calipers properly and were within the circle of exclusivity for Mount Airy‘s mini-casino. D’oh! Said Penn-Northwest Development Corp. CEO Randy Seitz of the outcome, “It’s not surprising, but it’s disappointing. We’ve been sending letters out to casino license holders and doing everything we can to let folks know that Mercer County has an interest in casinos.” Translation: Bid on us, damn you!

Round five, yesterday, didn’t go any better for Mercer County, as Penn National Gaming came in with the winning bid (a bare minimum $7.5 million plus three dollars) for somewhere in Lancaster County. Penn doesn’t have a specific site but is looking to protect its eastern flank with the bid, which brings its total investment in mini-casinos to $57.6 million, even as the company tries to invalidate them in court. According to Spectrum Gaming Group‘s Joseph Weinert, if Penn builds in West Coalico, it could aim a dagger at the throat of Boyd Gaming‘s newly acquired Valley Forge Casino Resort, extending Penn’s reach into Philadelphia‘s western suburbs. The next license auction is April 18 and Penn hasn’t ruled out bidding in that one as well. Combine this with its acquisition of The Meadows racino and Penn could basically own the gaming industry in its home state, if it goes the distance.

* Fearing that Hell’s Angels + casinos = trouble, Deadwood is banning gang colors from the city’s gambling dens. The request comes down from the South Dakota Commission on Gaming. Potential “further vetting if they have a questionable group” is also on the table. Cadillac Jack’s has the dubious honor of winning the bid for the Hell’s Angels’ patronage, which drew a verbal frown from the commission. The latter’s Dennis McFarland says, the commission “called everybody’s attention to it because the Deadwood chief of police called it to our attention. But the commission has to sit here and enforce the rule, so good luck. I don’t envy your situation, but we’ve got to keep a lid on this thing. I hope a gun fight doesn’t take place, but that’s not on my watch. My watch is your casinos.” Clearly, optimism is just boiling over.

* Louisiana‘s state Senate is looking at a bill that would make the Bayou State the most wide-open jurisdiction for sports betting in the U.S. In
addition to Harrah’s New Orleans (at left, in its expanded form) and 15 riverboats, sports wagering would be green-lit for four racinos, 200 truck stops and 1,000-plus bars and restaurants. Katie, bar the door! Unlike a bill to approve Internet gambling, the sports-betting one actually made it out of committee. Of course, the bill is moot if the Supreme Court doesn’t rule in New Jersey‘s favor re: the Bradley Act (Christie v. NCAA).

Even then it’s not a done deal, as each Louisiana parish would have the prerogative of voting on whether to permit sports betting or not, potentially laying the groundwork for a crazy quilt of gaming jurisdictions. And it all has to happen by November. State Sen. Norby Chabert (R) is among the solons who think they’re onto a revenue bonanza, while the Louisiana Video Gaming Association pooh-poohs the eventual payday. Fear that Internet gambling would cannibalize Louisiana’s terrestrial-gaming industry (particularly the Mom-and-Pop operators) seems to be holding that issue at bay. But with a Lege that is loath to raise taxes or make budget cuts, something’s got to give and sports betting seems the path of least resistance.

In various holding patterns are bills to increase the size of racinos, extend Harrah’s New Orleans‘ license by 30 years, permit riverboat casinos to come ashore and to move Diamond Jacks from Shreveport/Bossier City to Tangipahoa Parish. That latter had seemed like a slam dunk, with parish-wide support, but Boyd Gaming has come out in opposition, seeing in Diamond Jacks an unwelcome competitor to Treasure Chest, in Kenner. With Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) in Diamond Jacks’ corner we still like its chances.

* Golden Mesa Casino in Texas County, Oklahoma, is a “go” now that a land-into-trust application has been approved by the Trump administration. The Shawnee Tribe plans a 42,000-square-foot casino resort on the 107-acre site, in association with Global Gaming Solutions. The resort development is described as the first of its kind in the Sooner State panhandle.