In the face of iffy local support for its Suffolk Downs project, Caesars Entertainment has surrogates going door to door in East Boston, selling voters on the proposal’s virtues. Given the Latino majority among Easties, that’s where Caesars is targeting its efforts. Don’t sell Caesars’ chances short: A similar get-out-the-vote among company employees helped Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) crush the casinophobic Sharron Angle back in 2010.
Tewksbury voters, meanwhile, are expressing a certain degree of surprise at the sudden manifestation of Continue reading
Place is $401.5 million, you could say he got a bargain. He certainly Pinnacle where he wanted it, since it was under Federal Trade Commission-imposed duress to sell the property and soon. Icahn called it a “
“The U.S. market is getting to the point where it’s robbing Peter to pay Paul. From the bank’s perspective, it’s ‘if you merge, then you’re just taking money from yourself.’” — the University of Nevada-Reno’s Institute for the Study of Gambling & Commercial Gaming‘s Mark Nichols on the prospects for future consolidation in the casino industry.
made enormous progress in many different ways, including continued growth in wide-area progressive units, record gaming operations revenue, (and) significant success in new markets like Canada, Illinois, and South Africa,” CEO Ramesh Srinivasan told investors. The management-systems division was the main driver, increasing its revenue by 32%. Bally’s $0.95/share profit in 4Q13 was just slightly above Wall Street’s reputation. It comes at a good time, because 
After a calamitous and incoherent venture into the U.S. gaming industry, James Packer has stuck pretty close to the markets he knows best: Australia and Macao. But he’s feeling his oats again, looking toward Manila, Sri Lanka (which I still think of as Ceylon) and the big sashimi, Japan. This puts Packer somewhat at cross-purposes with business partner Lawrence Ho, who is targeting the Japanese market via a project in Vladivostok. But there’s no substitute for going straight to the source. Packer says, “If Japan comes on it will be the second-biggest gaming market in the world. It has 100 million people who are all mad gamblers but they are all doing it through horse racing and pachinko.” Early estimates of the Japanese market forecast annual revenues of $10 billion. Packer’s got two Aussie casinos and a third (Studio City) in Macao underway, so Japan remains a long-term prospect for the time being.
That controversial “You Can’t Lose” promotion being fielded by Revel Resort is a hit with players even as it’s been 
choosing which operator gets the green light. Boston Mayor Thomas Menino has made it clear he would rather perform unnatural acts than allow Steve Wynn to build a casino in neighboring Everett. So if Menino (and his successor) can keep playing the How the Grinch Stole Everett, Caesars’ chances improve significantly. Mind you, Menino’s administration 
Despite not being zoned for gambling, Caesars’ Macao golf course is evidently drawing several bidders, with Pearl Dynasty Investments Ltd. emerging as the winner. It’s one of the few contexts in which selling the land at $2.5 million per acre (a 24% markdown) can be counted as a “win.” Union Gaming Research Macau analyst Grant Govertsen speculates that the government will want most of the land to be used for residential development, something that comes at a premium in the enclave. Whatever the case, it’s good riddance to a bad investment.
“The casinos in Ohio are in giving free play a serious test run. In July, some of the casinos gave away as much as 30 percent of casino “win” in free play … Those marketing wars are just beginning; over the next few years the competition between casinos in Connecticut, Delaware, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia is going to intensify.” — columnist Ken Adams. Ya think?
Lumiere Place sale done by autumn, meeting the last of the FTC covenants on the deal. However, cagey buyers may want to hold back: If it can’t unload Lumiere Place, Pinnacle would have to put the considerably more lucrative Ameristar St. Charles out on the market. Deutsche Bank analyst Carlo Santarelli likes today’s news, particularly because — with Ameristar’s Lake Charles property already sold to Tilman Fertitta — Pinnacle can start deleveraging yesterday. He also thinks the company can realize greater savings in terms of savings than it is leading investors to expect. Between obtaining a plump, juicy conquest and acting with lightning swiftness to make it happen, Pinnacle’s Anthony Sanfilippo has made a strong case for being gaming’s CEO of the year.
Menino‘s administration seems to be expending considerably more energy trying to thread a loophole whereby it could kill Wynn Resorts‘ project in adjoining Everett. Since public support for Suffolk Downs has been considerably more lukewarm than that for Steve Wynn‘s sales pitch, it would be far easier for Menino to stop Wynn than to push the Suffolk Downs package on its own merits. The latter has until Halloween to cut a deal with Menino and is taking its own sweet time. 
MGM Resorts International‘s proposal — out in West Springfield — 
deadline for background checks is a good question. What’s sauce for Plainridge, which flunked state scrutiny, ought to be sauce for every other slot parlor. To do otherwise would penalize companies like Rush Street Gaming and Cordish Gaming who have kept their noses clean. Had Plainridge 
benefactor of various local charities while Joseph “Tomato King” Procacci 
MGM Resorts International CEO Jim Murren 
Suffice it to say that Murren has thousands upon thousands of rooms of his own to fill, and probably doesn’t lie awake nights worry about how to improve the ADRs charged by the Sultan of Sands. “We know the market here … We provide the most jobs, the most tax revenues and the most community support,” zinged Murren. If he didn’t come right out and call Adelson an out-of-touch old geezer, he came close enough. Coming off a surprisingly strong quarter, Murren has bragging rights, while Adelson is sulking about disappointing results in 2Q13, hence his titanic sulk.
Forget about Macao. That’s the implicit message from Caesars, which unloaded its overseas albatross, its $578 million golf course in Macao. In doing so, CEO Gary Loveman is taking a bath, since the resale price was $438 million. And, in a truly shocking move, 
“The level of detail here goes into such things as regulations on roulette balls.” — Massachusetts Gaming Commissioner James McHugh on 
“I think the Macau government has made it very clear that it will treat every junket application in a fair and equitable way. So if anybody gets a licence I don’t see any problem for any of the concessionaires to allow a junket operator which is approved by the Macau government to operate.” — Sociedade de Jogos de Macau CEO Ambrose So, talking completely around the question of what happens if Triad member and Stanley Ho pal Wan Kuok “Broken Tooth” Koi buys into a VIP-junket operation.
Last month was good for Atlantic City in the sense that revenue was only 4% off last year’s pace. The upper-tier properties fared exceptionally, with Borgata ascending 19%, driven by a two-third increase in table win, and Revel, fueled by its “You Can’t Lose” promotion, up 33%. At $23 million, Revel was firmly in the middle of the pack, no longer helping to bring up the rear. It’s obviously not impinging on Revel’s 
business, but some of the middle-market properties were hurt, particularly Tropicana Atlantic City (-26%), Showboat (-19%), Bally’s Wild Wild West (-14%, right) and Harrah’s Marina (-11%). Resorts Atlantic City actually posted a 6% increase, besting all the other middle- and low-end casinos. And would the last person to leave Trump Plaza (-25%, $8 million) please turn off the lights?
My mother, Rev. Linda Maloney (seen here with the best mascot in all of sports) is in town for the next 36 hours, so I’ll be powering down S&G for a day or so. Never having seen Hoover Dam up close, that will be high on our agenda, along with Stones in his Pockets at McMullan’s Irish Pub. In the meantime, as they say in The Hunger Games (wretched movie — good book, I’m told), may the odds be ever in your favor — especially in 6/5 blackjack.
Today it was MGM Resorts International‘s turn to do the “We didn’t lose as much money as last year” thing. The size of the decrease, at least, was impressive and MGM China