This won’t help A.C. and other case bets

Posted on January 6, 2014 by David McKee

Handle at Meadowlands Racetrack rose 32% (or $55 million) last year. That’s not what Atlantic City casinos need to hear at a time when they’re just trying New Jersey flagto tread water. It’s bad enough that Caesars Entertainment and Tropicana Entertainment are dancing on the grave of the Atlantic Club Hotel.  At least Resorts Atlantic City is being “george” about the whole thing, offering to honor free-play and match-play coupons through the end of next month. Kudos, gentlemen, and also to Cordish Cos., which will scout for potential Maryland Live employees among the newly orphaned Atlantic Club workforce.

There’d be even more jobs at Maryland Live were many of them not Continue reading →

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Quote of the Day

Posted on January 6, 2014 by David McKee

Suffolk Downs 2“I’m worried about a meteor hitting, too. But there’s not much I can do about it.” — Suffolk Downs COO Chip Tuttle, on the prospect of repeal of casino licenses.

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Not your father’s AGA; Harmon’s end

Posted on January 6, 2014 by David McKee

American Gaming Association President Geoff Freeman continues to show that change is the new order of the day. This morning brings news of five new lobbyists, most of them new to the gaming industry, presaging a big push on a variety of fronts — or “proactive communication,” as Freeman calls it. Predecessor Frank Fahrenkopf‘s style was to be low-key and poker-faced, but Freeman continues to make it clear that he’s his own man and is remaking the sedate AGA in his own image.

HarmoniniIt’s the beginning of the end for Harmon Hotel, as MGM Resorts International begins removing “loose junk” (no, not Bobby Baldwin) from the derelict hotel. This move is preamble to a floor-by-floor dismantling of the building. Nobody is objecting to the cleanup but a Perini Building Co. attorney snarked, “I didn’t know you were in such need of money that you have to sell the scrap.” That’s a Continue reading →

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Taiwan in 2019?

Posted on January 3, 2014 by David McKee

william_weidnerIt could happen. Enabling legislation to put casinos on Taiwan‘s outer islands has a good chance in parliament, it is reported. Matsu is expected to be the principal beneficiary but, if it can change voters’ minds, Claremont Partners has a clear shot at Penghu. Only William Weidner (right) is openly interested in Matsu, but where there is Weidner there are surely others lurking in the shadows. Gary Loveman kicked the tires of Taiwanese gambling a while back, as did Weidner’s old boss, Sheldon Adelson. This would be his opportunity to make up for having Blown It when Macao was in play. Either way, it’s a five-year project, Matsu’s infrastructure being woefully inadequate to support casino resorts at present.

With parliament dead set against casinos on Taiwan itself, Matsu’s chances look Continue reading →

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Playing with trouble

Posted on January 3, 2014 by David McKee

Pennsylvania 064Pennsylvania is already pretty maxed out on casino capacity. Now it’s going to cannibalize its gaming economy even further with small-stakes games in bars and comparable edifices. Slot routes aren’t on the table yet. The legal framework is described as “Under the new law, any establishment with a retail alcoholic beverage license is eligible to apply for a gaming license, except for casinos, grocery stores, venues that hold professional sporting events and businesses with either a club and catering club license or an eating place retail dispenser license ...”

New Hampshire lawmakers aren’t even waiting to Continue reading →

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Caesars turns up heat on Crosby

Posted on January 3, 2014 by David McKee

Suffolk revisedPerhaps realizing that the previous version of its lawsuit against Massachusetts Gaming Commission Chairman Stephen Crosby was a dog that wouldn’t hunt, Caesars Entertainment has reloaded with an amended complaint. Now it says that Crosby urged Steve Wynn, when the latter bridled at the Massachusetts regulatory process, to stay in the game. The presumed motive is that Continue reading →

Posted in Colony Capital, Cordish Co., Economy, Florida, Harrah's, Massachusetts, Regulation, Steve Wynn | 1 Comment

Goa, Goa, Gone & other Case Bets

Posted on January 2, 2014 by David McKee

Officials in Goa, a former Portugese protectorate off the western coast of India are so worried about gambling that they’re barring locals from entering Goa’s casinos. Considering what a sorry bunch of hulks to the Goanese casino fleet is, the politicians may be doing the locals a favor.

GuardianA thoroughly heterodox character, Atlantic City‘s new mayor, Don Guardian could be described as a rebel with a cause. “I’m an openly gay, white Republican Roman Catholic. I’m a good man, and I make good decisions. I bring that to the job,” says Guardian, whose Franciscan ideas including giving idle land free to the indigent, with the eventual intent of bringing it back onto tax rolls eventually. At first blush, it looks like the Boardwalk made the right choice.

While the erstwhile Margaritaville Biloxi is being demolished for Continue reading →

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Macao rules

Posted on January 2, 2014 by David McKee

Sands CotaiToday’s big story is pretty obvious: The 19% year-over-year revenue growth of Macao, which posted $45 billion in gross gaming dollars. (2012’s increase was similarly dramatic.) Analysts offer a somewhat cloudy picture for next year. No, there will be no megaresort openings but there will be improved infrastructure to bring more punters and their families to the world’s gambling capitol. Macao finished out the year strongly, with Deutsche Bank analyst Carlo Santarelli‘s 13% projected increase far exceeded. Macanese casinos grew revenue by 20% after the third quarter and 24% in the fourth. And don’t forget Macao’s single-month high last October. This bodes well for Continue reading →

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Quote of the Day

Posted on January 2, 2014 by David McKee

Abboud“This is our Joe Camel moment … It could very well be the demise of our industry” — Las Vegas Sands Vice President of Government Affairs Andrew Abboud wringing his hands in opposition to Internet gambling at a recent congressional hearing.

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Test time in Massachusetts; Penn, PokerStars fight over scraps

Posted on January 2, 2014 by David McKee

Move over, Tolstoy: MGM Resorts International has submitted its formal application for a Massachusetts casino … and it’s 7,000 pages long. The Massachusetts Gaming Commission had better clear its calendar. But that’s nothing compared to 16,034-page Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority pitch for Suffolk Downs. Hoping to impress with its characteristic flair, Wynn Resorts submitted “more than 18,000 pages in leather-covered, gold-embossed notebooks and flash drives. The shipment to the commission weighed more than 440 pounds.” Gives a whole new meaning to ‘heavy reading,’ no? For their part, applicants had to fill out Continue reading →

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Nevada finishing year strong; Christie’s choler

Posted on December 31, 2013 by David McKee

casino-chipsWith a little help from one extra weekend day, Nevada gross gaming revenues shot upward 12% statewide in November and 23% on the Strip. Baccarat players lost their shirts, with the house winning 94% more than the previous year. Less play and looser hold meant less win for the house at slots (-4%) but non-baccarat table win rose 34%. However, what was sauce for the Strip was not so for outlying jurisdictions. Downtown Vegas was off by a point, Laughlin fell 14%, but Reno was up 17% and the Carson Valley area rose 7%. Locals were keeping their purses tight: The Boulder Strip dropped 9% and North Las Vegas fell 14%. Looking ahead, room rates on the Strip are estimated to be 14% higher in the first quarter of next year.

If so, we end 2013 with Continue reading →

Posted in Atlantic City, Boulder Strip, Cordish Co., Current, Downtown, Economy, Harrah's, Laughlin, Maryland, Massachusetts, MGM Mirage, North Las Vegas, Penn National, Regulation, Reno, Steve Wynn, The Strip, Tilman Fertitta, Trump Entertainment Resorts | 2 Comments

Britney: It sucks, bitch

Posted on December 31, 2013 by David McKee

A ways back, when Gary Loveman was all Q-crazy, I pointed out that the letter ‘X’ also carries a high Scrabble value. Little did I suspect that the Aladdin britney-spearsTheater for the Performing Arts would become “the AXIS.” Programming will be done by Live Nation, giving the vendor simultaneous control of MGM Grand Arena and Mandalay Bay Event Center. Ironically, Caesars Entertainments‘ new Britney Spears headliner show would fare better in those steeply raked venues. Unless you’re planning to spend the whole of the Spears spectacle on your feet, being a dancing fool, you’re unlikely to see the damned thing, which the New York Times termed “listless,” among other endearments.

Ms. Spears’ vocals were so heavily reprocessed that she might as well have Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Cosmopolitan, Entertainment, Harrah's, MGM Mirage, The Strip | 1 Comment

Quote of the Day

Posted on December 28, 2013 by David McKee

Barton“Just about the only thing you can’t do anymore on the Internet is play poker.” — Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX).

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Overexuberance in New Jersey, generosity in Maryland

Posted on December 27, 2013 by David McKee

GovChristie.380New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) is setting himself up for a fall with his blue-sky projections of Internet-gambling revenue. Eilers Research has projected that it will take two or three years for gambling revenue to reach $227 million … well short of what Christie has been predicting. The flow-through to state tax coffers would be $34 million. Two other studies peg it at $39 million and yet another expects only $31 million. Christie, however, expects to book $160 million by June — an aggressive projection, to say the least. The Eilers dossier looked at all 50 states and crunched “existing land-based gaming revenue trends, propensity to gamble, and what forms of online gaming will likely be permitted within each state.” It expects that it will take seven years to get the U.S. market to $2 billion in revenue. Far more aggressively, various Wall Street firms Continue reading →

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Case Bets: Britney, Bally, Sheldon & O’Shea’s

Posted on December 27, 2013 by David McKee

Tonight’s a big night for Planet Hollywood, as it debuts its new, Britney Spears headliner show. However, judging from public disinterest in Spears’ recent TV special, Caesars Entertainment may be drawing to a weak hand.

“Bally Technologies Inc. received some coal in its Christmas stocking this Bally_logo1year,” writes Chris Sieroty of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. The slot manufacturer is alleged to have taken a cavalier attitude toward registering its employees with the state. Registrations have been anywhere from 2.5 months to 10 years (!) behind the curve. The problem isn’t widespread, comprising 28 registrations, but that’s probably not insignificant enough to keep Bally out of the penalty box. It’s a rerun of a 2008 scenario, in which Continue reading →

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Quote of the Day

Posted on December 27, 2013 by David McKee

“In Pennsylvania, as in every jurisdiction, there is a finite market for gaming products whether in bars, casinos, race tracks, online or hosted in a variety of locations by the lottery.  Every time more supply is added, the existing suppliers are going to pay a price … Ohio’s egg laying goose was born enfeebled – everyone over estimated the market and underestimated the competition.  In 2014 it is going to become more feeble.” — Ken Adams, on imprudent gambling expansion.

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Optimism in Boston; Sands is #1

Posted on December 26, 2013 by David McKee

What are the chances that Suffolk Downs could become the most profitable casino in the Western Hemisphere? Not good, you’d think, but Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority is willing to bet on it. If annual revenue reaches Suffolk Downs 2$1 billion, then Revere gets $40 million in tax dollars. That’s the icing on the cake of an elaborate revenue-sharing scheme. Revere gets $1 million if Suffolk Downs grosses so much as $850,000,001 in Years One through Three. Distributions increase on a sliding scale during the first seven years, maxing out at $30 million in year seven (unless Suffolk Downs grosses in excess of $900 million).

It’s an elaborate and hard-to-resist Continue reading →

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Kentucky: Let’s try this again; The smell of money

Posted on December 26, 2013 by David McKee

SteveBeshear_190x266There will be yet another push for casino gambling in the Kentucky Legislature, with hopes of getting a constitutional amendment on the 2014 ballot. The move has bipartisan sponsorship. Dan Seum (R) is carrying the ball in the state Senate and Larry Clark (D) is pushing for it in the lower house. As drafted by Seum, the bill would simply permit seven casinos (Clark wants eight). Locations would be set in other, as-yet-unwritten legislation. Horsemen will be beneficiaries of the casino bill, to the tune of 10% of taxed revenues.

“I don’t harbor false hopes, but I’m encouraged that for the first time we’re getting some very meaningful conversations from both sides of the aisle in both houses,” said Gov. Steve Beshear (D, right), who’s been trying to sell the Bluegrass state on casino gambling since 2007.

A growth period in Las Vegas air traffic flattened out in November, ending four months of gains. The problem seems to lie, in part, in Continue reading →

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Quote of the Day

Posted on December 26, 2013 by David McKee

“I think it’s the only place that’s going to have the Chicago Bears at one end and Beyonce at the other end, and an arena in both places. It’s a unique place — it’s not like Kansas City. It can support more than one event.” — aspiring arena developer Jackie Robinson, on the Las Vegas Strip.

Posted in Entertainment, Sports, The Strip | 2 Comments

Merry Christmas to all …

Posted on December 24, 2013 by David McKee

And we were there! Miraculously, we were able to score fourth-row tickets to this very special TV taping at the Venetian (which went incognito on the TV telecast, masquerading as a Broadway theater). Kelly Clarkson is the cat’s pajamas.

Posted in Entertainment, TV | 1 Comment