MGM Resorts International gained an infusion of identity (and hipness) for ultra-generic Park MGM by signing Lady Gaga to a 74-concert residency, a real coup for MGM. Her Ladyship tweeted the news herself: “The rumors are true! I will have my own residency at MGM’s Park Theater. Get ready for a brand new show!! It’s been my lifelong dream to be a Las Vegas girl, I’m so overjoyed! Love you little monsters we did it, meet me in Las Vegas!!” Lady Gaga has already played Vegas multiple times, to critical and popular acclaim, so this hardly represents a risky move by MGM. No, the risk would have been to stick with the same old same-old. Judging by the bland advance materials released in re Park MGM, it’s not going to resonate much more powerfully than did Monte Carlo (which was “not much”).
According to Rolling Stone, Lady Gaga will rake in more than $1 million per concert while MGM enjoys the option of Continue reading
Straub needs a casino license to open Revel under the name Ten include details of a mortgage the proposed buyers have obtained,” reports The Press of Atlantic City. Defik would spend $200,000 on purchasing Revel, plus $175,000 sprucing the place up. The 200 million clams would ensure Straub — who bought Revel for $82 million — of a healthy profit. Defik 
benefits, the deal strengthens Penn’s position in its home state, as it gets The Meadows racino, 
former player-development veep Robert Pellegrini is doing time for 
people, adding, “Let’s say, for the sake of discussion, they don’t meet the projections that they expected. I still think they’ve created private sector jobs. They will have been a magnet for other economic vitality coming into the area – businesses that feed off the resort, that service the resort. And I do believe it’s going to help the tourism industry.” Bonacic himself is moving on, looking toward the passage of Internet gambling as the next revenue fix.”And the other thing, and not in the same glitz, is charitable gaming, to allow American Legions and Veterans of Foreign Wars posts to do charitable gaming so they can enhance their revenue. Over half of them have closed,” he adds.
Packer, who paid $570 million for the site in 2014 and didn’t even get the $400 million everything-must-go price he’d been seeking. Compared to Penn National Gaming‘s $10.5 million/acre for the Tropicana Las Vegas, Wynn drove a hard bargain, but not as hard as the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Bureau, which scored the huge Riviera site for $7 million/acre. (The real fools were Elad Properties, who paid Phil Ruffin an epic $1.3 billion back in 2007, just before the Las Vegas bubble burst.) Incidentally, the Wynn acquisition should raise the value of adjoining acreage held by Donald Trump, where Tower II of Trump International was once meant to rise.
gross to $700 million and columnist Steve Ruddock predicts it will hit the billion-dollar mark by the end of next year. He said, “There’s the potential for super-sized growth in the year ahead. New Jersey is already in the process of linking up with Nevada and Delaware, and is exploring even more liquidity sharing options with Pennsylvania and international markets.” Ruddock added, “New Jersey online casinos will generate some $245 to $250 million in 2017. That is better than 100 percent more than the industry generated in 2014, when total yearly revenue was just $123 million.”
international teams competed for a $300K pot. “E-Sports is an emerging industry with huge growth potential and global viewership. Macau is put in the limelight with this major e-Sports tournament, which we believe will further benefit the development of the city’s tourism and leisure business,” said SJM CEO Ambrose So in a prepared statement. SJM has been following developments on the mainland, where a 2016 tournament drew 43 million TV viewers. Smaller-scale events have been held at Studio City and at Galaxy Entertainment casinos. (In other Galaxy news the company 
(I like the implied nobility of William Foley‘s chosen sobriquet.) At least the female cagers weren’t called the “Las Vegas Slot Fleas.” At the media event announcing the new moniker MGM prexy William Hornbuckle said, “This is a great time to bring women’s professional basketball to the Las Vegas community. The WNBA represents some of the world’s best athletes and will showcase its incredible talent for our hometown fans. Young girls and boys in our city will undoubtedly gain dynamic role models for professionalism, teamwork, dedication and discipline.” And they’ll beat the Oakland Raiders to town by two years, arriving in 2018. The Aces-to-be have bounced around a bit, from Salt Lake City to San Antonio and now to Sin City. Let’s hope they can put down permanent roots on the Las Vegas Strip.
(though it must be kicking itself for having missed the loophole that allowed Caesars Entertainment to buy Centaur Gaming — or maybe Centaur’s asking price was too rich for Penn’s wallet). In any event, despite foot traffic in Indiana being 11%, players wagered $16.5 million more, putting the Hoosier State 4% over last year ($181 million). Caesars was the big winner, up 5.5% ($33.5 million) aboard Horseshoe Hammond and 9% higher ($22 million) on Horseshoe Southern Indiana. The headline item, however, was Tropicana Entertainment‘s debut of land-based gambling in Evansville, where its new casino saw revenues skyrocket 33% for a gross of $13 million. You just can’t keep a good market down.
down 2.5% statewide($108.5 million). Taking a closer look, two riverboats were responsible for most of the malaise: Hollywood Aurora ($9 million), down 9%, and Casino Queen in East St. Louis ($7.5 million), plummeting 11.5%. Top dog Rivers Casino was absolutely flat with last year, grossing $34 million and — reversing a long stretch of misfortune — Boyd Gaming‘s Par-A-Dice was up 3%, to gross $6 million. The Joliet market was solid, with Penn National Gaming‘s Empress Joliet ($9.5 million) up a percentage point, as was Harrah’s Joliet, grossing almost $15 million. MGM Resorts International‘s Grand Victoria grossed $12.5 million but fell nearly 5%.
“I’m looking for widespread economic development in Bridgeport, not a box of slots, not a casino, but a resort development that will stimulate tourism to your state, activate multiple industries and weave together the already beautiful tapestry of arts, entertainment, retail, culture that already exists.” — MGM Resorts International CEO Jim Murren, 
(future home of the giant ape), so Wynn will have to come up with something else, probably a resort — although hopefully one that breaks with his current fetish for semicircular skyscrapers, which he’s done twice in Las Vegas, twice in Macao and is doing in Massachusetts. Some new ideas already, DeRuyter Butler! Kudos to VitalVegas for 
“I don’t think a merger of Penn and Pinnacle will change the general trends taking place in gaming today. Gaming resorts are getting bigger and flashier as more states open up gambling to generate revenue. And as new casinos open in or closer to major urban areas, many relatively remote areas of the Midwest and South, where a lot of the gambling consolidation has taken place in recent years, could see competition put pressure on traffic.” — The Motley Fool‘s Travis Hoium on the momentum toward a Penn National Gaming buyout of Pinnacle Entertainment.
November’s otherwise-impressive numbers. Gambling revenue in the state rose 42% but was down 13% on a same-store basis, as National Harbor continues to suck the wind out of the competition’s sails. Commanding 33% of market share, Maryland Live ($43.5 million) was down 13.5% while a 20% drop-off at Horseshoe Baltimore ($23 million) did little to remediate that casino’s 17.5% market share. An unlikely beneficiary of this competition was Penn National Gaming‘s Hollywood Perryville, up 2.5% to $6 million. Ocean Downs ($4 million) was up 3% and Rocky Gap Resort gained 8.5% to close at the month at $4 million.
with handle and point spreads, and everything to do with esoteric concepts like “commandeering.” The arguments made for and against the Bradley Act 
property, some 43 years old and showing every one. As the money moves from one CZR pocket to another and then another, Vici will lease the casino-hotel back to Caesars for $87.5 million a year. It’s a 15-year agreement with options that could extend it to 35 years. Caesars also paid itself to buy the 18 acres designated for a convention center, retaining the prerogative to sell it to Vici at some future point. The Harrah’s LV deal is being done to generate cash flow to pay for the $1.7 billion (overpriced) acquisition of Centaur Gaming in Indiana. (I’ll say this for Mike Pence: He can’t be bought. Centaur drenched his re-election campaign in cash and didn’t get bupkis in return.)
asking for the Department of Justice to intervene by unilaterally reversing its 2011 opinion, which opened the ‘Net to U.S. casinos. “Internet gambling takes gambling too far. It preys on children and society’s most vulnerable,” wailed Feinstein and Graham, making a familiar — and groundless — case. “Online casinos are already opening across state lines pursuant to compacts and states are contemplating opening up their online casinos to foreign markets.” Oh, the horror! According to The Hill, the senators reiterated their 2011 high dudgeon that “allowing online gambling could turn every smartphone, tablet and personal computer into an around-the-clock casino.” Yes, God forbid anyone should be allowed personal liberty in this country.
“With Mr. Trump’s outsized viewership back in 2005, everybody from Billy Bush on up to the top brass on the 52nd floor had to stroke the ego of the big cash cow along the way to higher earnings.” — Mr. Bush,