Atlantic Club, remembered

Posted on January 13, 2014 by David McKee

A casino’s long nightmare comes to an end.

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Biloxi comes back

Posted on January 13, 2014 by David McKee

Scarlet PearlTime was when Biloxi was considered one of the three premier casino resorts in America. That, of course, was before Hurricane Katrina literally swept the city’s casino fleet from its moorings. The city has been trying to right the ship ever since. It’s never been quite the same, although an infusion of $653 million in impending capital suddenly bodes well. From the completion of Hard Rock Hotel’s Platinum Tower to a planned, 400-room addition to Grand Casino Biloxi (to be re-branded as a Harrah’s), the city by the sea is seeing the equivalent of eight new hotel towers — counting renovations. Feeling particularly “george,” Continue reading →

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Quote of the Day

Posted on January 13, 2014 by David McKee

“Where was our support They all left us. No politician helped us. No one came to save us.” — Kathy Buonasorte, 28-year veteran of the Atlantic Club, on the property’s closure.

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Nevada 2013: Less bad than before

Posted on January 13, 2014 by David McKee

Slot reelsFor a third straight year, Nevada gaming revenues rose. OK, the amount was microscopic ($99 million) overall, but it was something. However, higher expenses — including all-important capex investments –pushed the Silver State into the red. The casino industry reported a $1.35 billion loss. Gambling win on the Strip outpaced all other sectors, up 3.5%. However, statewide, gambling was the second-lowest percentage of casino income in state history. Incidentally, Reno, Elko and Carson Valley all showed profits. Congratulations.

One of Vegas’ oldest visitor attractions is also one of its newest now. Betty Willis‘ iconic Continue reading →

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Frigid winter for Midwest casinos

Posted on January 10, 2014 by David McKee

Blame it on brutal weather or whatever your like but Midwest casino revenues have been dismal in December and it’s my doleful duty to report them. Missouri dipped 11%. Positive performers, like Pinnacle River City-0-1Entertainment‘s River City (+6%) were few. Of two properties that are in the process of changing hands, Ameristar St. Charles plunged 13% while Lumiere Place fell 10%. Hollywood Casino St. Louis is having difficulty finding traction under its new brand, yielding 11% from last year’s performance. Penn National Gaming’s Argosy Riverside had it even worse, -13%. So did Pinnacle Entertainment‘s Ameristar Kansas City, down 14%. Isle of Capri Kansas City also had a 13% drop while Harrah’s North Kansas City did just slightly better, Continue reading →

Posted in Ameristar, Boyd Gaming, Current, Economy, Harrah's, Indiana, Iowa, Isle of Capri, Missouri, Penn National, Pinnacle Entertainment, Racinos, Tropicana Entertainment, Wall Street | 2 Comments

Florida: Death by a thousand cuts; New player in Macao

Posted on January 10, 2014 by David McKee

Florida.jpgCasino expansion in Florida may be nominally on the table for the incoming Lege but it looks D.O.A. Both Senate President Don Gaetz (R) and possibly Speaker of the House Will Weatherford (R) want preferatory constitutional amendments that would require additional gaming to be approved by voters at large. And once you put a casino-expansion amendment onto the election ballot, it’s at the mercy of the churchy set, in the the northern part of the state. Not good. A supermajority of the voters (60%) would also have to say “aye.”

So casino expansion is as good as dead. That doesn’t mean that casinos might not see a tax increase or a restructuring of the way parimutuel betting is conducted. Genting Group is going to Continue reading →

Posted in Atlantic City, Florida, Genting, Harrah's, Kansas, Macau, Penn National, Politics, Sheldon Adelson, Stanley Ho, Tropicana Entertainment | Comments Off on Florida: Death by a thousand cuts; New player in Macao

Rampart Casino: 15 years already?

Posted on January 10, 2014 by David McKee

rampart-pic-newIt’s difficult — and sobering — to realize that it’s been 15 years since Swiss Casinos opened The Resort at Summerlin, a costly fiasco now known as Rampart Casino. Certainly, its hoity-toity original owners would have been dismayed beyond measure by the recent addition of a poker room. (Gasp!) Amazingly, two restaurants that opened with the casino — Spiedini and  J.C. Wooloughan Irish Pub are still in operation and will be exempt from property revisions that are on the drawing boards.

Back when $275 million was still a lot of money to spend on a locals casino, Swiss Casinos wafted into Las Vegas on a cloud of Continue reading →

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Genting: We bombed in Miami; Jockeying for position in Massachusetts

Posted on January 10, 2014 by David McKee

Genting MiamiIt took almost no time at all for Genting Group’s latest Miami proposal to draw heavy political criticism. State Sen. Gwen Margolis (D), who represents the area, thinks a slot parlor is too downscale for the neighborhood. She also points out that essentially lending Gulfstream Park‘s parimutuel license to Genting in order to get around current limitations on casino expansion imperils the state’s revenue-sharing arrangement with the Seminole Tribe. The reliability of that Seminole welfare stream ought to keep lawmakers happy for a good long while. As for Genting, the consensus seems to be that this will be its third — and last — attempt to breach the Florida market.

Up in Massachusetts, just when it looked like Mohegan Sun was the sensible casino developer it proposed this turkey: Continue reading →

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Second chances for Caesars, Hard Rock

Posted on January 9, 2014 by David McKee

In a bit of good news for Caesars Entertainment, the government of South Korea is considering a relaxation of its casino-bidding rules. Specifically, the requirement of a BBB bond rating may be knocked down a bit Lovemans big dice— and bond ratings are Caesars’ weak underbelly. Gary Loveman isn’t the only big name trying to inch his way into the Inchon casino zone, with his $207 million project. Kazuo Okada‘s Universal Entertainment also was rejected in the early going, but hopes to get back in with a 3,000-room resort of unspecified cost. PNC Holdings is looking to clobber everyone with a $1 billion proposal. While Japan mulls the casino issue to death, South Korea is becoming the new land of opportunity.

Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Sioux City will get another day in court. The Iowa Supreme Court remanded the suspension of its license to Polk County District Court. The license had been stayed at Continue reading →

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Tales of New England

Posted on January 9, 2014 by David McKee

While casino approval creeps forward in Massachusetts, a blistering pace is being set in New York State. Gov. Andrew Cuomo has set a June deadline for Catskills applications, with the winner(s) to be chosen by autumn. Peace Corps veteran Mark Gearan has been tasked with steering the Empire State’s expansion of casino gambling. A state gaming commission is to be appointed this month. A speedy fellow, this Cuomo.

Mohegan RevereRevere, Mass., is making out like a bandit on its deal with Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority. The latter, by way of Suffolk Downs, has pledged $25 million-$40 million in annual payments to the city and further sweetened the deal with a one-time pledge of $33 million-$40 million for road upgrades. (Boston newspapers are greatly at odds on the amounts of money involved.) Mohegan Sun is trying to sell Revere voters on Continue reading →

Posted in Churchill Downs, Maine, Massachusetts, Mohegan Sun, New York, Penn National, Politics, Racinos, Tribal | Tagged | 1 Comment

Quote of the Day

Posted on January 8, 2014 by David McKee

Geoff-Freeman“The writing is on the wall: the encroachment of the Internet cannot be stopped and neither can consumer demand. Anyone who doesn’t believe that online gaming is here to stay should ask Blockbuster if streaming movies online was merely a fad.” — congressional testimony by American Gaming Association President Geoff Freeman in favor of regulated Internet gambling.

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Florida: Genting gets real; Boom in Maryland, frenzy in Delaware

Posted on January 8, 2014 by David McKee

Genting MiamiGenting Group‘s Godzilla-sized proposal for a $3 billion resort on the Miami waterfront has gone into the shredder. Instead, the Malaysian developer hopes to go into partnership with Gulfstream Park. It would piggyback onto Gulfstream’s parimutuel license and Gulfstream’s purses would be fattened by revenue from 2,000 Miami slots. Claimed Florida Thoroughbred Breeders & Owners Association CEO Lonny Powell, as reported by the Miami Herald, Continue reading →

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Toxic overconfidence at Wynn; Persistence in Kentucky

Posted on January 8, 2014 by David McKee

Whoops. It seems like Wynn Resorts was a little coy (or careless) about how it intended to clean up a toxic-waste site  (home to “volatile organic compounds, petroleum hydrocarbons, PCBs, and evidence of sulfuric acids and other substances“) in Everett. Bostonians now fear that a delay of Wynn Everettmonths, even years could hold up Wynn’s project. In the course of a 236-page application, the document “contains no cleanup details, and only mentions contamination when touting how a casino will be an improvement over the site’s current condition.” Figures for remediation have swung between $10 million and $30 million. A decontamination plan due in February may not be submitted until June, either.

One is tempted to concluded that Steve Wynn‘s (over)confidence got the better of him and that Continue reading →

Posted in Boyd Gaming, Environment, Internet gambling, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Politics, Sheldon Adelson, Steve Wynn, Taxes | 2 Comments

Illinois freezes; Concierges outsourced

Posted on January 8, 2014 by David McKee

“Dec regional gaming revs should be coming out from the states this week and next and it won’t be pretty.” So warns Todd Jordan, aka Grand Victoria IL@HedgeyeSnakeye. Case in point, Illinois, where revenues tumbled 13%. Even market leader Rivers Casino was down 4%. A statewide market that grossed $145 million in December 2011, is now down to $115 million in December 2013. The figures were brutal for casinos both great and small. Compared to last December, Boyd Gaming‘s Par-A-Dice caromed down 21%. MGM Resorts International’s Grand Victoria dropped 18%, and Penn National Gaming‘s boats suffered: -19% at Empress Joliet, -17% at Hollywood Aurora and -12% at Alton Belle (which, being the smallest, ought to have suffered the most).

Off 15%, Harrah’s Joliet ran into a wall just when Continue reading →

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Freeman vs. the Evil Empire

Posted on January 7, 2014 by David McKee

Macau Sands New CasinoSheldon Adelson. That’s who American Gaming Association President Geoff Freeman is preparing to take on, as the AGA beefs up its lobbying staff. It’s a bipartisan group that includes 2012 Obama campaign guru Jim Messina. Freeman demurs that it isn’t A Sheldon Thing but the timing is difficult to interpret otherwise. Other new lobbyists come from House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s staff, from Big Pharma, from tourism … and from Big Gaming, not to worry. One source predicts that Freeman will reverse field on AGA policy and make Internet gaming a state-level fight. Adelson’s minions, meantime, are trying to Continue reading →

Posted in Cantor Gaming, Internet gambling, Marketing, Penn National, Politics, Racinos, Regulation, Sheldon Adelson, West Virginia | 1 Comment

Britney F. Spears & other Case Bets

Posted on January 7, 2014 by David McKee

Spears.jogStrip gyp: What does $25,000 buy you? At Planet Hollywood it will get you one-twentieth of a minute with Britney F. Spears. Either the currency of celebrity has become inflated beyond measure or our 15 minutes of fame have shrunk to 00:03. Besides, paying to meet your idol is probably a setup to disappointment.

Small is beautiful. Even supporters of New York State casinos say they don’t want Vegas-style product. That leaves some opponents skeptical, as they think it’s a Trojan horse to Continue reading →

Posted in Dining, Entertainment, Genting, Harrah's, Macau, New York, Planet Hollywood, Racinos, Regulation, Sam Nazarian, The Strip | Comments Off on Britney F. Spears & other Case Bets

Wynn’s new man in Macao; Sheldon’s losing hand

Posted on January 7, 2014 by David McKee

WynnSteve Wynn will continue to be CEO and Chairman of Wynn Macau. However, he’s handing off the presidency to Gamal Aziz. It’s another sign that Macao isn’t just a department of a company like Wynn Resorts but an entity unto itself. Wynn has promised the Macanese floral sculptures the size of Rose Bowl Parade floats, so Aziz will have a grandiose mandate to fulfill. Estimates of growth in Macao in 2014 are all over the place right now, ranging from 6% to 24%. However, 2013 was such a door-buster that it will take a great deal to overwhelm those grosses. Closer to home, Wynn promised to match union construction wages with those pledged by Mohegan Sun at Suffolk Downs. That was “george” of them.

The horse is well and truly out of the barn, now that ‘Net-betting accounts in New Jersey have hit the 150,000 mark. (Mind you, many of these are people who are registered with multiple sites.) That’s something Continue reading →

Posted in Atlantic City, Foxwoods, Harrah's, Internet gambling, Macau, Massachusetts, Mohegan Sun, Sheldon Adelson, Steve Wynn, Wall Street | 1 Comment

All things …

Posted on January 7, 2014 by David McKee

NYNY Canopy… come to and end, good, bad or indifferent. I do not speak ill of MGM Resorts International‘s marquee for New York-New York, but 16 years was deemed enough, as MGM reconceptualizes NY-NY’s Strip frontage. Young Electric Sign Co. will trisect the sign and remove it. Afterward, it will be shipped to the Neon Museum for reassembly. (It’s getting crowded in there.) Its erstwhile Strip home will become host to Hershey’s Chocolate World — not exactly an upward move on MGM’s part. Oh well, it could have been worse. (Think “Tapout World.”) Besides, New York-New York never maximized on its considerable Strip frontage, so this is a chance to make amends. As for that $640 million initial project budget, how long did it cost to break even, MGM? Surely NY-NY was in profit eons ago.

Posted in Architecture, Current, history, MGM Mirage, The Strip | 1 Comment

A Murren moment

Posted on January 6, 2014 by David McKee

“I don’t think people are going to stay home in their bunny slippers and play video instead of coming to Bellagio.” You have to like Jim Murren‘s refreshing lack of pretension. I’m taking a wait-and-see attitude on the project onrush of Chinese gamblers. When are analysts going to realize that Macao is the new Las Vegas, not the other way around? You don’t have to have been there to be dazzled by the product. Throw in Singapore and the prospect of Japan, and we’re looking at a seismic shift in the gaming world.

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Defining a Vegas recovery; Big push in New Hampshire

Posted on January 6, 2014 by David McKee

Which would you rather have: More visitors three years straight or more spending per capita? That’s the choice Las Vegas has to make as it defines its recovery. On the bright side, ADRs are catching up with supply, with which we were glutted at the worst possible time. I’m not sure I buy the proposition that more players from China will come to Vegas because of a lack of new attractions in Macao until 2016: Wall Street thinks that everyone is driven, in Pavlovian fashion, by “the next wave of megaresorts” but Chinese gamblers don’t think that way and, during the Great Recession, neither did Americans. Alternate destination resorts are also closer at hand.

We’re becoming more of a tourist destination that has gambling, not the Vatican City of baccarat anymore. And that’s fine. We can live on that. We’ll have to, if “young people have little inclination to play slots,” as Deutsche Bank opines.

New Hampshire kicked over the traces last year when Continue reading →

Posted in Cannery Casino Resorts, Charity, Current, Economy, Iowa, New Hampshire, Ohio, Penn National, Singapore, The Strip, Wall Street, Warner Gaming | Comments Off on Defining a Vegas recovery; Big push in New Hampshire