It’s time to pay the piper for Boyd Gaming‘s $1.5 billion takeover of Peninsula Gaming and Boyd employees are the first ones feeling the pinch. Three vice presidents — including 13-year Boyd veteran Dan Stark — and roughly 250 employees got the chop. This sort of thing is never pleasant, especially for the people getting the axe, but at least Boyd 
distributed the pain from top to bottom. Apparent strength in one of Boyd’s biggest territories, Louisiana, was revealed to be flatness when December’s numbers were adjusted to reflect the new business generated by Pinnacle Entertainment‘s L’Auberge Baton Rouge (laying a -28% wallop on Penn National Gaming‘s Hollywood Baton Rouge in the process). All of Boyd’s Pelican State properties save Sam’s Town in Shreveport (-6%) had a revenue-positive month. However, the winter months have been unkind to the mid-American casino states in which Boyd is heavily invested and near-term improvement is unlikely. Lightening of the payroll was to be expected, especially once corporate economies of scale began being applied to the Peninsula acquisitions.
Having some free time (and extra money) on his hands now that he’s left scandal-dogged Peninsula, ex-CEO Brent Stevens just plunked $35 million into Continue reading
MGM Resorts International, that’s who. As predicted, a lawsuit filed to overturn last November’s casino expansion 
It’s not clear what Lady Luck owner Andrew B. Donner has on his mind but he’s been gobbling up obscure little hotels over on the east side of Downtown. It’s out past the defunct Western casino, so we’re talking way off the beaten path. The Dragon Hotel, at 117 N. 9th Street was Donner’s latest purchase. The transfer of deed hasn’t been recorded yet but a Donner rep says he paid $2 million. That’s awfully “george” 
“[W]e are lowering our 4Q12, 2013, and 2014 forecasts given sluggish regional gaming trends, earlier than expected cannibalization impacts, and a slow start at Hollywood Columbus.” — Deutsche Bank analyst Carlo Santarelli, on Penn National Gaming. Hmmmm, 
Sands has even been hinting at it 
Seems there’s no honor among business partners: While lugging Caesars Entertainment on his back from Cleveland to Cincinnati and thence to Baltimore, mogul Dan Gilbert had a side deal of his own going. 
Maximus/Generalissimo Gary Loveman also wants to dictate the manner in which we eke out our “golden years.” Amazingly, 
almost 20 years from that milestone, which means it will undoubtedly have been bumped back several times more before I’m eligible.) Presumably, this was done on the empirical basis that the Bible allots us three score and 10 years, so we’ll all croak before we can collect Social Security, thereby “saving” the system. The simple fact that Loveman seriously believes that Social Security is sufficient 
It’s time we reluctantly stuck a fork in Howard Bulloch‘s South Strip Ferris wheel, Skyvue. It’s besieged by liens and unpaid bills, which Bulloch is going to cover by — wait for it — borrowing still more money. The developer is all happy-days-are-here-again about Skyvue but when 
“[W]ell-connected developer” — but so not well financed — David Nunes (below) just got his casino-application fee across the transom, 
couple of casino aspirants 
To hear the Los Angeles Times tell it, Margaret Elardi — crusty, superannuated, former owner of the Frontier — has called it a day over at Casino Royale. Now redubbed “Best Western Plus Casino Royale,” the small-but-splashy casino 
… keeps fountains running during a hard freeze? A Caesars Entertainment executive, who else? Never mind that pipes have been bursting all over the valley (including one at LVA HQ) and that Lake Tahoe casinos have experienced “
of “boats in moats,” platforms surrounded by water, theoretically inoculating states like Mississippi and Missouri from that icky-poo gambling stuff. However, what would this latest ruling by the Supremes portend for floating — but permanently docked — riverboat casinos. Since they don’t meet the “used for transportation” standard set by Breyer and his colleagues, they suddenly find themselves reclassified as buildings. Will they have to resume nominal cruising? Perhaps 
It’ll cost the Palms 
Ohio casinos had a below-average December, although the blow was softened by table hold of — YEOW! — 23%. That’s borderline-astronomical compared to Las Vegas averages for 2004-2011 period. It’ll help make up for slot revenues that suggest, with six racinos and one full-service casino still to come, the Buckeye State market isn’t what it was cracked up to be. If, per Dr. David G. Schwartz, $200 per day is the average win you’d like to see from your slot machines, the two Penn National Gaming casinos (even in a limited marketplace) are looking a tad pale. Last month, Hollywood Columbus — which competes with nearby Scioto Downs — won a sickly $115/day, down from a not-exactly-impressive $140/day monthly average. Hollywood Toledo has been hovering above the Mendoza Line, at $217/day, but dipped to $175/day in December.
Conversely, Scioto Downs — 
There’s no other way of saying it (although many are trying). Strip casinos got their clocks cleaned in November as Lady Luck favored the punters, not the house. A 13% dropoff on the Strip was driven by a perfect storm of factors. Sports books relearned the old lesson that it’s not whether you won or lost; 
A Wall Street Journal story from yesterday evening reports that Pinnacle Entertainment 
Although the government of Macao enjoys nothing better than to make casino owners wait and fidget for their land leases to be “gazetted,” today is MGM Resorts International‘s lucky day. MGM China 
It looks like S&G will have some competition in the leave-no-word-unminced department: Former Las Vegas Review-Journal Business Editor Doug Puppel has created Vegas WTF (