Casinos continue to thrive; Crooks, liars and losers

Posted on February 11, 2022 by David McKee

There’s no “supply chain” issue when it comes to dollars flowing into American casinos. Take Missouri, for instance. Casino revenue sprang 15.5% over 2019 last month, for a statewide take of $145.5 million. Actual visitation was down 2o% but per-visitor spend rose 44% (!). The prime beneficiary was Bally’s Kansas City ($9 million), rocketing 90.5% above its 2019 numbers under its new moniker and management. Statewide leader was, as ever, Ameristar St. Charles, jumping 28% to $24 million, while neighboring Hollywood St. Louis ($19 million) climbed 15.5%. River City was up 17% to $19 million but downtown’s Lumiere Place (above) fell 14.5% to $11 million. This latter news comes just as Caesars Entertainment announces plans to rebrand it as Horseshoe St. Louis. Whether that will be sufficient remedy is unclear but some desperate measures are in order.

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Posted in Apollo Management, Bally, Bally Technologies, Barstool Sports, BetMGM, Boyd Gaming, Caesars Entertainment, Century Casinos, Churchill Downs, Cretins, DraftKings, FanDuel, Full House Resorts, Hard Rock International, Health, Illinois, Indiana, Las Vegas Sands, Law enforcement, Louisiana, Maryland, Mattress Mack, MGM Mirage, Missouri, Nevada, Penn National, Pennsylvania, PointsBet, Regulation, Reno, Rush Street Gaming, Scientific Games, Slot routes, Sports, Sports betting, Steve Wynn, Taxes, Tribal, WInd Creek, Wynn Resorts | 3 Comments

Atlantic City revisited; Oscars: Year of The Dog

Posted on February 9, 2022 by David McKee

Bally’s Atlantic City and Golden Nugget traditionally jockey for last place in Atlantic City monthly gaming grosses. Indeed, a midweek visit to Bally’s by our East Coast correspondent found the place practically deserted (and in need of more capex $$). But he went back last weekend and found a “decent number of people.” It surely did not hurt that Bally’s—seen above—was being ‘george’ with promotions (reversing an A.C. trend), crossing customers’ palms with everything from $50 gift cards to 32-inch LCD TV sets. Room rates that start at $19/night and whiskey-tasting promos can’t be harmful, either. Concurrently, at the Nugget, business was also moderate, perhaps having settled down after a big chicken-wing dining promo. Nonetheless, the Nugget (below) “had a much more vibrant vibe than Bally’s.” We hope the mayor’s office in Chicago is taking a look at Bally’s A.C., since there’s a serious chance it could pick Soo Kim‘s underachieving company over Hard Rock International and Rush Street Gaming, improbable as that may seem.

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Posted in Atlantic City, Bally, Caesars Entertainment, Chicago, DraftKings, Golden Nugget, Hard Rock International, Marketing, Massachusetts, MGM Resorts International, Movies, Ocean Resort, Rush Street Gaming, Tribal | 1 Comment

Everybody wins; ‘Adele’ debuts; Ohio and Maryland prosper

Posted on February 8, 2022 by David McKee

Let’s start the day with a rare, feel-good story about an invalidated jackpot. Normally, these things go the way of the house. But not this time. On January 8, at Treasure Island, a player named Robert Taylor was playing the slots and hit a $230K bonanza. But the machine goofed and didn’t go wild, as it’s supposed to do. Give credit to Treasure Island staffers for noticing the mega-glitch and informing the Nevada Gaming Control Board. To our eternal gratitude (and that of Mr. Taylor, no doubt), “gaming officials combed through hours of surveillance videos from several casinos, interviewed witnesses, shifted [sic] through electronic purchase records and even analyzed ride share data provided by the Nevada Transportation Authority.” Eventually Taylor, an Arizona tourist, was located and remunerated.

The whole thing took two weeks but jackpot delayed was not jackpot denied. Last week the NGCB did the wrong thing by approving Apollo Management to take over Venelazzo. In the Treasure Island affair it very much did the right thing (as did the casino), an instance of fair-mindedness that is rightly garnering Las Vegas an armful of good publicity that no PR campaign can buy.

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Posted in Apollo Management, Aristocrat, Bally, BetMGM, Boyd Gaming, Caesars Entertainment, Churchill Downs, Cordish Co., DraftKings, Entertainment, FanDuel, Fontainebleau, Golden Gaming, Hard Rock International, Illinois, Louisiana, Macau, Maryland, Massachusetts, MGM Resorts International, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Palms, Penn National, Phil Ruffin, Regulation, Rush Street Gaming, Sports, Sports betting, The Strip, Tribal, United Kingdom, Wall Street, Wynn Resorts | Comments Off on Everybody wins; ‘Adele’ debuts; Ohio and Maryland prosper

Slow times at Bally’s Atlantic City

Posted on February 5, 2022 by David McKee

It’s difficult to keep track of the mixed messages coming from Bally’s Corp. Chairman Soo Kim. He’s promised to make a Chicago casino the “flagship” of his company. But he’s also talking about razing the Tropicana Las Vegas and building a Strip megaresort. So wouldn’t that be the Bally’s “flagship”? Or is it his priority to take the company private, as appears to be the case? (A special committee has been formed to study the offer.) In the meantime, there’s work to be done at Bally’s Atlantic City. Our East Coast correspondent “made a wrong turn and got here. It’s so empty that it’s creepy (but wait, it’s always that way) … I am wondering if Bally’s is up to the job of doing a large-scale renovation. As I wandered around, seeing worn carpet seams, rusted metal around mirrors in bathrooms, it reminded me of Uncle Carl’s Taj Mahal, not worth fixing … Hey, I found a 9 cent machine and for a total of 14 cents including a bonus, I won a few pennies.” So don’t say there’s no excitement to be had at the House of Kim.

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Posted in Atlantic City, Bally, Chicago, The Strip | 2 Comments

Station sets revenue records, Penn less fortunate

Posted on February 4, 2022 by David McKee

Having quietly broken ground on $750 million Durango Station, proud papa Station Casinos announced that despite “some headwinds,” the company had achieved record-level cash flow in 4Q21. “The government’s mask mandate across the state of Nevada remained in place and we definitely felt the effects, along with increased inflationary pressure on ordinary goods and services,” said CFO Stephen Cootey of the aforementioned headwinds. Fortunately for Station, customer spend per visit was up, as was time expended playing the slots. As for rooms and F&B, it was the most profitable fourth quarter in Station history. Older customers continued to stay away but 21-to-25-year-olds more than made up for them, playing in greater numbers (60%) than in 2019.

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Posted in Barstool Sports, BetMGM, Caesars Entertainment, California, Canada, Conventions, Derek Stevens, Downtown, DraftKings, Economy, FanDuel, Hawaii, Health, history, Internet gambling, Louisiana, Marketing, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Palms, Penn National, Pennsylvania, Rush Street Gaming, Sports betting, Station Casinos, Technology, Tourism, Tribal, Wall Street, Wynn Resorts | 3 Comments

Venetian: The fix was in

Posted on February 3, 2022 by David McKee

As usual when billions are on the line, regulators dove under the table regarding the sale of Venelazzo to an unholy alliance of Apollo Management and Vici Properties. Although the Nevada Gaming Control Board cried foul—and rightly so—at the sexual predations of Steve Wynn, it turned a blind eye to similar malfeasances by principal (12%) Apollo shareholder Leon Black. The latter had to step down as Apollo chairman for having “paid convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein $165 million for financial advice.” Is that what the kids are calling it these days? The 70-year-old billionaire is also under investigation for having allegedly raped a Jane Doe at Epstein’s Manhattan crash pad back in 2002. (Classy gent that he is, Black is having his lawyers shame the alleged victim.) The Epstein/Black connection is a tangled one … and this is the man Nevada regulators are prepared to gift with one of Las Vegas‘ premier resorts.

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Posted in Apollo Management, Architecture, Caesars Entertainment, California, Canada, Card rooms, Conventions, Culinary Union, DraftKings, Economy, Election, FanDuel, Florida, IGT, Las Vegas Sands, Massachusetts, Peninsula Pacific, Politics, Real Estate, Regulation, Reno, Sexual misconduct, Sheldon Adelson, Steve Wynn, Taxes, The Strip, Virginia, Wynn Resorts | 1 Comment

New boss at F-blue; Station: Five white guys; Atlantic City blitzed

Posted on February 1, 2022 by David McKee

Yes, Tom Brady has retired but there’s actually other news happening today. For starters, Fontainebleau has a new president. And not just any prexy but “a visionary leader for our next-generation luxury resort.” He’s Cliff Atkinson, late of Luxor. If anything about that last sentence strikes you as incongruous it’s that Luxor isn’t exactly F-blue’s price point. Fortunately, Atkinson does have experience in the top tier of Las Vegas Strip hospitality, having served as general manager of what used to be Mandarin Oriental at CityCenter, a tenure that earned him the sobriquet “Hotelier of the Year” from the Nevada Hotel & Lodging Association. Although you’ve probably never heard of him, Atkinson is described by Jeffrey Soffer‘s PR team as “one of the Strip’s most dynamic leaders.”

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Posted in Atlantic City, Caesars Entertainment, CityCenter, Colorado, Culinary Union, Dining, Diversity, Fontainebleau, Hard Rock International, Horseracing, Illinois, Las Vegas Sands, Macau, MGM Resorts International, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Real Estate, Singapore, Sports, Sports betting, Station Casinos, Taxes, The Strip, Tribal | 2 Comments

Florida: Phhhhht …; Crackdown in Macao; Scandal at Parx

Posted on January 31, 2022 by David McKee

That hissing sound you hear is the air going out of DraftKings‘ and FanDuel‘s electoral balloon. Florida Education Champions, their front group for bringing online sports betting to the Sunshine State, folded its hand, conceding that it can’t get enough signatures to qualify for the November ballot. It says it’s “reassessing long-term options, still hoping one day to get voter approval for legal online sports gambling in Florida.” FEC says it collected over a million signatures, but only 471,536 could be verified. “While pursuing our mission to add sports betting to the ballot, we ran into some serious challenges, but most of all, the COVID-19 surge decimated our operations and ability to collect in-person signatures,” FEC complained, failing to add that the dog ate its homework. All gambling-related signature drives, had they made the ballot, might have faced serious voter backlash, given the in-your-face petitioning tactics alleged, which included encroachment upon private property.

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Posted in China, DraftKings, Election, Entertainment, FanDuel, Florida, Greenwood Racing, Horseracing, Las Vegas Sands, Law enforcement, Macau, Marketing, MGM Resorts International, Movies, Pennsylvania, Sports betting | 1 Comment

Adios, Tropicana?; New York sports betting tops $1 billion easily

Posted on January 28, 2022 by David McKee
Sunset for the Trop? (Photo: John Patrick Ross/Shutterstock)

Visit the Tropicana Las Vegas while yet you can. Why? Because Bally’s Corp. Chairman Soo Kim is seriously weighing the possibility of “knocking it down and starting over.” Yes, Kim would rebrand the place as Bally’s Las Vegas and then blow it up. Possibly. Mind you, Bally’s doesn’t own the physical assets of the Trop but is renting them from Gaming & Leisure Properties, which would have to sign off on such a radical move. Also, how long could Bally’s afford to pay rent on a site that isn’t generating a cent of cash flow, post-implosion? We’ll leave aside the small matter that Bally’s has never built anything remotely on the scale of a Las Vegas Strip megaresort, which is one of the strikes against it in Chicago presently.

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Posted in Alex Yemenidjian, Atlantic City, Bally, BetMGM, Caesars Entertainment, Chicago, Columbia Sussex, Conventions, DraftKings, e-sports, Economy, Election, FanDuel, GLPI, Health, history, Laughlin, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Peninsula Pacific, Penn National, Politics, Rush Street Gaming, Sahara, Sports betting, Taxes, Texas, The Strip, Virginia | Comments Off on Adios, Tropicana?; New York sports betting tops $1 billion easily

Horseshoe returns to Vegas; LV Sands thinks big

Posted on January 27, 2022 by David McKee
The Horseshoe-to-be (Marnell Cos.)

In the year’s worst-kept secret (or least surprising news story), Caesars Entertainment is finally rebranding Bally’s Las Vegas as the Horseshoe to end all Horseshoes. We were all over the story yesterday, in case you want the full monty. A game of musical chairs will ensue, since the displacement of the Bally’s name frees it up for Bally’s Corp. to slap it on the long-suffering Tropicana Las Vegas, part of a full rebrand of all of Chairman Soo Kim‘s assets except (sensibly) Hard Rock Biloxi. In at Horseshoe-to-be is “a handcrafted feeling with tooled leather, dramatic colors, and the brand’s signature gold horseshoe iconography.” Out, we hope, will be Real Bodies and some of the other low-rent aspects of the property as it is.

The return of Horseshoe to Vegas where it belongs overshadowed today’s revenue report on Nevada casinos. Strip gross gaming revenue of $651 million was up in December by 10% over 2019, while locals momentum slowed a bit, to +5% and $229.5 million. Players were openhanded on the Strip, with slot coin-in up 22% (driving an 18% increase in win to $377.5 million) and table wagering 13% higher (a robust +32% and $188 million once baccarat is factored out). Baccarat was, indicated, a weak spot, down 15% in volume albeit 16% higher in revenue and despite low hold. Visitation to Las Vegas remained 9% below 2019, at least with regard to travelers passing through Reid International Airport. Domestic travel was only 5% off but international flow was down 58.5%.

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Posted in Architecture, Bally, Boulder Strip, Caesars Entertainment, Downtown, DraftKings, Election, FanDuel, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Internet gambling, Iowa, Las Vegas Sands, Laughlin, Macau, Massachusetts, Nevada, New York, North Las Vegas, Politics, Reno, Seminole Tribe, Singapore, Sports betting, Texas, The Strip, Tourism, Wall Street | 1 Comment

Bally’s we hardly knew ye; IGT bets big on lotteries

Posted on January 26, 2022 by David McKee

Shares of Bally’s Corp. sprang to $36.76 apiece yesterday on the news that the company’s largest stockholder wants to take Bally’s private for $2 billion. Hedge fund Standard General—founded by Bally’s Chairman Soo Kim—is offering $38/share for the mini-major and selling the idea as a way of ameliorating risk (not that we thought of BALY as a particularly perilous play). Standard General already owns 21% of Bally’s.

Normally we would frown upon such a proposal, as private equity has a mostly disastrous record in the casino industry. However, the presence of Kim in both camps is reassuring. He put the current Bally’s management team into place and is likely to keep giving them his ear. The LBO would be financed by the sale and lease-back of unspecified assets. Jefferies Equities analyst David Katz said Bally’s would go for cheap, as the offer didn’t price in the value of the Gamesys acquisition: “With the current market context for dismissing value on North American digital opportunities, the offer is opportunistic.”

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Posted in Arizona, Arkansas, Atlantic City, Bally, Barstool Sports, BetMGM, Caesars Entertainment, Churchill Downs, DraftKings, Economy, Entertainment, FanDuel, Hard Rock International, Hawaii, IGT, International, Japan, Lotteries, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Ocean Resort, Regulation, Rhode Island, Rush Street Gaming, Sports betting, Taxes, The Strip, Tribal, Wall Street, Wynn Resorts | 1 Comment

Sports betting claims first casualty; “Scam” at Caesars?

Posted on January 24, 2022 by David McKee

Online sports betting has evidently proven too rich for Wynn Resorts‘ blood. The New York Post reports that Wynn “is looking to unload its online sports-betting business at a steep discount as the fledgling niche faces painful losses from stiff taxes and costly promotions needed to lure customers.” Wynn Interactive, valued at $3.2 billion, is being peddled for $500 million. This will come as bad news to Shaquille O’Neal, who unloaded his share of the Sacramento Kings in return for becoming a “brand ambassador” for Wynn, which also built a ritzy Las Vegas broadcasting studio to showcase its product. There were rumblings from the top that Wynn and OSB were an uncomfortable fit. CEO Matt Maddox had told investors, “The market is really not sustainable right now. Competitors are spending too much to get customers. And the economics are just not something that we’re going to participate in.”

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Posted in Atlantic City, Barstool Sports, BetMGM, Caesars Entertainment, Cretins, Culinary Union, DraftKings, Entertainment, Hard Rock International, Health, International, Massachusetts, MGM Resorts International, Minnesota, Movies, New York, Penn National, Regulation, Sports betting, Station Casinos, United Kingdom, Wall Street, Wynn Resorts | 3 Comments

Weekends without Adele

Posted on January 22, 2022 by David McKee

As all of Christendom now knows, one Adele Atkins of Tottenham has been forced to cancel/reschedule 13 weeks of shows at Caesars Palace. When Adele signed for this gig, in early December, it was regarded as the showbiz coup of the year. Well, it’s still the biggest story going but not in a way that Caesars Entertainment intended. As the timeline makes obvious, Weekends with Adele was hurried into production, despite being envisioned on a scale (100 backup singers) for which the word ‘lavish’ seems inadequate. So the events of the last 72 hours should be a surprise to very few outside the Caesars C-suite. Maybe you can get away with this in Reno, but this is the big time now.

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Posted in Caesars Entertainment, Cirque du Soleil, Cretins, Current, Eldorado Resorts, Entertainment, Genting, history, Resorts World LV, The Strip | 1 Comment

Adele fiasco at Caesars; Trouble for Sands in Florida

Posted on January 21, 2022 by David McKee

Resorts World Las Vegas, we’ll see your Celine Dion health-scare postponement and raise you an Adele cancellation at Caesars Palace. The British megastar’s team has, like so much of the human race, contracted Covid-19 and is not physically capable of grinding out a Vegas residency at this point. We wish them a speedy recovery—and a contract extension. There are skeptics about the matter, asserting that the show simply wasn’t ready and that there would have been empty seats galore (we blame the greedy secondary market). Indeed, nixing 13 weekends of shows on account of Covid-19 seems an extreme reaction. Did Caesars Entertainment rush this show to market to one-up Resorts World? It kinda looks that way. Tickets sellers seem to have sensed this, judging from a precipitate, last-minute drop in prices.

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Posted in Alex Meruelo, Bally, Boyd Gaming, Caesars Entertainment, Churchill Downs, Diversity, Election, Entertainment, Florida, Greenwood Racing, Health, history, Las Vegas Sands, Louisiana, Macau, Marketing, New York, Peninsula Pacific, Penn National, Pennsylvania, Regulation, Sahara, Seminole Tribe, Sports, Sports betting | 1 Comment

Warm breeze in Atlantic City; Indiana heats up

Posted on January 17, 2022 by David McKee

December brought an acceleration in most forms of New Jersey gambling revenue. Atlantic City casinos managed a 1.5% increase over the end of 2019 but sports betting revenue dropped 11% year/year, blamed on low hold. Sticking close to home, Internet gamblers lost 34% more than last year, the brightest spot on the horizon (unless you were a player). Boardwalk grosses were $212 million, i-gaming yielded an impressive $133 million and sports betting engendered $59 million. Slot revenue was flat at $150.5 million on 2% less coin-in while table games captured $59.5 million (+5%) on 10.5% less wagering. Borgata stabilized at -1% or $54 million, too late to save Melonie Johnson‘s presidency. Hard Rock Atlantic City vaulted 37% to $35.5 million while Ocean Resort climbed 27% to $26.5 million.

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Posted in Atlantic City, Australia, Bally, Barstool Sports, BetMGM, Boyd Gaming, Caesars Entertainment, Cordish Co., Crown Resorts, DraftKings, Entertainment, FanDuel, Full House Resorts, Golden Nugget, Hard Rock International, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, MGM Resorts International, Mohegan Sun, New Jersey, New York, Ocean Resort, Peninsula Pacific, Penn National, PointsBet, Politics, Regulation, Rush Street Gaming, Sports betting, Taxes, Tribal, Virginia, Wynn Resorts | 2 Comments

Weekend jottings

Posted on January 16, 2022 by David McKee

Late last week, MGM Resorts International unveiled its plans for a BetMGM-branded sports book at State Farm Stadium in Arizona. No budget was announced for the facility but, given the infinitesimal amount of retail wagering in the Phoenix area, it’s a prestige facility—i.e., a loss-leader. If completed on schedule, it will be the first sports book at an NFL stadium. Like the cost, specific infrastructural details were mostly vague … “massive video wall,” yada, yada, yada. (OK, if you read the fine print, it says 38 TVs spread over 265 square feet.) The book will hold 500 people, have 25-plus freestanding betting kiosks and cover 16,800 square feet. It will be a year-round, day-in/day-out sports book, although it’s an open question over whether that will trump the convenience of online betting. But hey, it looks great:

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Posted in Arizona, BetMGM, Las Vegas Raiders, Mattress Mack, MGM Resorts International, Sports, Sports betting, The Strip, Tribal | Comments Off on Weekend jottings

Illinois slouches; Boyd, Churchill praised; DraftKings assessed

Posted on January 11, 2022 by David McKee

Not even Rivers Casino Des Plaines was spared the impact of Hard Rock Rockford, as the newbie helped take a 4.5% bite out of Rivers’ December casino revenues compared to 2019, for a Des Plaines gross of $43 million, still easily the best in the state. Prairie State casinos grossed $110 million, down 12% from two years ago. Without the Hard Rock infusion, those numbers would have been worse still (-15%). The latter brought in $4 million, as did Bally’s Quad Cities (-25%), while Argosy Belle clung jealously to last place with $2.5 million (-35.5%). Other than Rivers, Grand Victoria suffered less than most, down 8% to $13 million. Business was not so kind to its sister properties, with Harrah’s Joliet off 27% to $11 million and Harrah’s Metropolis down 22% to $5 million.

Penn National Gaming wasn’t much more fortunate upstate than in Alton. Its Empress Joliet plunged 26% to $7 million and Hollywood Aurora slipped 13.5% to $9 million. Boyd Gaming‘s mid-state Par-A-Dice was down 14% to $5 million and DraftKings Casino Queen plummeted 30.5% to $6 million. God help ’em when the wave of temporary casinos fully comes online—let alone if the Lege legalizes i-gaming. Perhaps the winningest operator in the Land of Lincoln is MGM Resorts International, which had the good sense to get the hell out.

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Posted in Arizona, Bally, Boyd Gaming, Caesars Entertainment, California, Canada, Churchill Downs, Connecticut, Downtown Grand, DraftKings, Election, Florida, Full House Resorts, Hard Rock International, Health, Illinois, Indiana, Internet gambling, Iowa, Isle of Capri, Las Vegas Sands, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Mattress Mack, MGM Resorts International, New York, Ohio, Penn National, Regulation, Singapore, Sports, Sports betting, Station Casinos, Taxes, Wall Street | Comments Off on Illinois slouches; Boyd, Churchill praised; DraftKings assessed

Ohio, Missouri booming; Of sports and sports betting

Posted on January 10, 2022 by David McKee

Scarcely had Deutsche Bank analyst Carlo Santarelli projected 12% gaming growth in Ohio over December 2019 than the numbers came in and it was 16%. The $197 million gross showed play heating up from November, too. Slot revenue was up 17.5% on 18.5% more coin-in and table win grew 8.5% on 6.5% heavier wagering. One extra weekend day obviously helped, but still … Belterra Park was up 5% to $8 million, Scioto Downs leapt 21% to $19 million and Miami Valley Gaming hopped 19% to $19 million. MGM Northfield Park clung to the top spot, just barely, with $23 million (+3.5%). It was closely contested by Hollywood Columbus ($22 million, +12.5%) and Jack Cleveland (pictured, ditto). Also bunched at the summit were Hard Rock Cincinnati ($21 million, +18%) and Hollywood Toledo ($20 million, +12.5%). Jack Thistledown catapulted 37% to $17 million, Hollywood Dayton leapt 34% to $13.5 million and Hollywood Mahoning Valley was good for $13 million, an 18% gain.

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Posted in Bally, Barstool Sports, Boyd Gaming, Caesars Entertainment, Century Casinos, Churchill Downs, DraftKings, FanDuel, Genting, Hard Rock International, Health, Illinois, Jack Entertainment, Las Vegas Raiders, Massachusetts, Mattress Mack, MGM Resorts International, Missouri, Movies, New York, Ohio, Penn National, Politics, Rush Street Gaming, Sports, Sports betting, Station Casinos, Taxes, Technology, Tribal, TV, Wall Street | 1 Comment

Meet the new National Harbor boss, same as the old boss

Posted on January 7, 2022 by David McKee

Maryland closed out 2021 hot, up 16% from 2019 with a gross of $173 million in December. As usual, MGM National Harbor was in the lead with $74.5 million. Maryland Live booked $62.5 million for a 20.5% gain and 36% market share. Hollywood Perryville‘s $7 million represented an 18.5% vault and Ocean Downs‘ $7 million was good for a 19% leap. Rocky Gap Resort grossed $5 million, up 18%. The only loser was—you guessed it—Horseshoe Baltimore—down 9% to $17 million.

MGM employees can expect to see a familiar face in the C-suite. Borgata President Melonie Johnson has been demoted to her former post in Maryland, where she’ll return to the challenge of fending off hard-charging Cordish Gaming. We don’t mean to indulge in schadenfreude by saying we sensed something like this coming. (“Guess she’s finished reducing player’s benefits in AC,” wrote one wag.) Borgata has been struggling of late, despite being at the top of the Atlantic City heap, and November’s calamitous numbers must have been the last straw for MGM Resorts International.

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Posted in Alex Meruelo, Arizona, Atlantic City, Boyd Gaming, Caesars Entertainment, California, Churchill Downs, Dining, DraftKings, Economy, FanDuel, Golden Gaming, Health, Idaho, Indiana, Las Vegas Raiders, Louisiana, Macau, Marketing, Maryland, MGM Resorts International, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Penn National, Pennsylvania, Rush Street Gaming, Sahara, Sports, Sports betting, Taxes, Technology, Tennessee, The Strip, Tourism, Tribal, Wall Street, World Series of Poker | Comments Off on Meet the new National Harbor boss, same as the old boss

Doldrums in Macao; “Love” in jeopardy; Mega-Jottings

Posted on January 4, 2022 by David McKee

There’s an Eeyore sweatshirt that says, “Could be worse. Not sure how, but it could be.” That pretty much sums up the situation in Macao, which finished 2021 44% ahead of 2020 when it comes to gambling revenue … but could one envision a worse scenario than 2020? Not sure how, but we could. The world’s gambling capital managed almost $11 billion in revenue last year, Las Vegas-like numbers but we have come to expect so much more. Of course, it’s difficult to open the throttle on Macao given the Chinese government’s newfound disapproval of gaming, and its habit of dialing access to the casino enclave up and down like the burners on a stove.

Then there’s the matter of concession renewals, which seem like a done deal but still have their skeptics, like Jefferies analyst David Katz, who cited “uncertainty” surrounding the concessions, leading him to take “a conservative stance” on Macao-centric stocks. Indeed, the market has punished stocks that are heavily reliant on Macanese casinos. Las Vegas Sands has fallen 35%, Wynn Resorts 20%. Galaxy Entertainment took a 33% bath and Melco Resorts & Entertainment got walloped 43%. “China Lite” MGM Resorts International, however, made out like a bandit, seeing its share price vault 51%.

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Posted in Arizona, Atlantic City, Cirque du Soleil, Colorado, Cordish Co., Economy, Florida, Galaxy Entertainment, GLPI, Health, IGT, International, Lake Tahoe, Las Vegas Raiders, Las Vegas Sands, Laughlin, Law enforcement, Macau, Maryland, Melco Resorts & Entertainment, MGM Resorts International, North Carolina, Politics, Real Estate, Regulation, Sports betting, Taxes, Tribal, Wall Street, Washington State, Wynn Resorts | Comments Off on Doldrums in Macao; “Love” in jeopardy; Mega-Jottings