In a development that has to be called nothing less than shocking, Boyd Gaming has sold its cash cow, its 50% stake in Borgata. For $900 million, it cashes out to MGM Resorts 
International and MGM Growth Properties. It’s a huge vote of confidence in Atlantic City from MGM but a head-scratcher from the Boyd perspective. Consider that Borgata generated $812 million last year in net revenues. The short-term gain for Boyd is deleveraging: MGM will assume and refinance $300 million in Borgata-related debt. Among the gains for MGM, aside from greater cash flow, is the ability to assimilate Borgata players into the M life database. “While the market continues to experience challenges, Borgata has outperformed and differentiated itself as the undisputed leader in the city,” said MGM Resorts CEO Jim Murren.
MGM Resorts will lease Borgata back from its REIT, to which it will sell all Borgata real property for nearly $1.2 billion. “With this transaction, we are executing on our core growth strategy in prudently Continue reading
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instance, although baccarat players wagered 21% more but house win was up 10%. “While we expect the market to continue experiencing volatility in baccarat play given a slowdown in Chinese players, this drag should moderate,” wrote JP Morgan analyst Joseph Greff. Other table games (in which Nevada now includes poker) saw 11% higher wagering but less than 2% more house win. Players were luckiest at the slots, with casino win down 4% on 1.5% higher coin-in. In an odd accounting quirk, slot handle was fully counted (although April ended on a Saturday) but revenue was not.
that would explicitly keep Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act scofflaws like PokerStars out of the Golden State, although there is some placeholder language where such a clause could go. However, the Gray bill prescribes two forms of suitability investigation, the more stringent of which is such a regulatory colonoscopy that only firms with the cleanest of hands could hope to transcend it. For instance, “past and present financial affairs and standing, and business activities, including whether the applicant or an affiliate of the applicant has a financial interest in any business or organization that is or was engaged in any form of gaming or transactions related to gaming prohibited by the law of the federal or state jurisdiction in which those activities took place.” Whoops, there goes PokerStars.
underutilized land behind Venelazzo. Adelson has formed a consortium with Live Nation Entertainment, Madison Square Garden Co. and other partners to build the arena, which is 
may not make it to the House. Why? Although the legislation would deal the casino industry in on DFS action, gaming executives complain that the regulatory mechanisms for DFS are flabby compared to what they have to comply with and they’d like to be permitted a wider array of Internet-gambling offerings, too. At present, DFS is illegal in Illinois, following an opinion rendered by Attorney General Lisa Madigan. While some solons are sympathetic to the casinos’ protests, others balked at the last-minute hitch. “With any bills that come anywhere close to gaming, everybody has their parochial interests that they pile on,” grumbled state Sen. Kwame Raoul (above), a co-sponsor of the bill, which 
property during the Bob Griffin era. This includes “reactivating lights and water fountains that had been turned off for years” (!), reopening the poker room — formerly one of Atlantic City‘s most renowned — renovating 180 worst-case hotel rooms and adding 250 rooms. He’ll also be restoring live music to the aptly named (for a Trump-branded property) Ego Lounge. “We want to let the world know that we are open for business and we’re not going anywhere,” is Rodio’s mission statement.
“I believe that art is an essential element of quality of life. I believe that all people regardless of their level of interest, education in the arts or even inclination has a visceral positive experience when they are enriched visually. That visual experience could be a desert park that we built between New York-New York and Monte Carlo or it could be a statue or oil painting.” — MGM Resorts International CEO James Murren, 
RRR’s acquisition of the Palms and its growing pipeline of management fees from Native American casinos. He also cited Station’s 400-acre land bank in the Las Vegas and Reno areas, which created the prospect of high return-on-investment properties and the advantage of controlling/preventing most new LV Locals capacity.” Observing that Red Rock has the largest market share (43%) of resident Las Vegas gamblers and that 90% of Las Vegans live within five miles of a Red Rock-owned property, he added that the “market has benefitted and should continue to benefit from a stable supply environment and from improving macro trends in the Clark County, LV economy, where key growth drivers such as population, jobs, wages, retiree base, and home prices are all trending positively.”
quite bullish of late. The market is showing signs of bottoming out,” said gaming analyst Ben Lee. However, for all of the new casino product, he says the industry is behind the curve of a market that is being reshaped in the image of middle-class players, not VIPs: “Macao currently still does not have the infrastructure to attract the family segment. We are talking about logistics, attractions, language and plain old service friendliness.” It sounds like Macao could learn a few tricks from Las Vegas after all.
shows no intention of pursuing fair value for Total Rewards or any of the other assets that changed hands for a pittance, junior creditors 
“We can’t be trapped in a 40-year-old [gaming] paradigm … It very well may be that it is an athletic event.” — Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval (R), on the quandary posed by e-sports, which his Nevada Gaming Policy Committee 
unrelated spending bill
The casino company held all the cards and everybody knew it. “Seeing this again, it reminds me why we’re really excited about it,” said MGC Chairman Stephen Crosby, although we can’t second the emotion, given 
megaresort in Ho Chi Minh City (to most us, Saigon). Financing Lucky Dragon will be a very light lift compared to the capital-investment mandates in Vietnam. Luckily for Weidner, his partners include Cantor Fitzgerald, which ought to be good for a few bucks. The design will be farmed out to Steelman Partners. Since only non-Vietnamese citizens would be able to gamble at the resort, Weidner’s business acumen will be tested to the max. Making a $4 billion megaresort pencil out just on tourist traffic is a challenge even in the gambling capitals of the world.
“Tribes are sovereign. But their casinos employ non-Indian workers. One argument used to sell casinos to the public is that they provide jobs. Those jobs should come with basic protections afforded by federal law.” — the Sacramento Bee on HR 511, backed by Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D, left), 
translated into 10% more winnings for the house. Borgata ($56 million) was up 4.5%, riding its slot win. Table players wagered 7% less and the house won 14% less. At the slots, however, Borgata was able to ride 12% higher coin-in to a 13% revenue gain. Borgata also continues to lead the market in Internet-gambling market share (23.5%), although Resorts Atlantic City — thanks to PokerStars —