Showing something less than his usual decisiveness, Sheldon Adelson continues to send mixed signals with regard to his intentions in his native Massachusetts. He’s re-upped with Boston-based lobbyist firm Donoghue Barrett & Singal. However, despite years of scouting the market, Las Vegas Sands says it is still “considering locations.” The Boston Herald draws a strong contrast between Sands’ indecision and the growing number of casino contenders who have settled upon hard and firm locations. Of course, that’s still a matter for local voters. Secretary of State William Galvin is trying to paper over a gap in state laws, in order to apply closer scrutiny — but not donation restrictions — to pro- and anti-casino campaigns. It was rather careless of lawmakers to permit a loophole the size of a locomotive, so the onus is open them to create transparency.
Happy New Year, Macao. Of course, it’s not the new year yet over there but Macanese casinos closed out 2011 with another 25% upsurge. And that was a poor month for casinos, given that luck was on players’ side in December. Since Big Gaming gets all pissy if Continue reading
… is Texas. With the presidential aspirations of Gov. Rick Perry (R) tottering on their penultimate leg, that’s very bad news for Lone Star State lawmakers who’d like to pass casinos — or at least racinos — into law. It’s not such glad tidings either for Texans who’d like to gamble without having to travel to adjoining states. By the same token, there’ll be a collective sigh of relief passing through casinos in Oklahoma and Louisiana today, since they count on Texans for so much of their business. As long as Perry is sitting in the governor’s mansion, there won’t be any casino gambling in Texas, you can count on it. That means a collateral loser is Penn National Gaming, which put its money on a pair of Texas racetracks, an investment that shows no sign of paying off anytime soon.
Santa Claus was a little over-generous this year, was my waning flu was topped off with a Christmas Night onset of acid reflux, in St. Nick-sized portions. Being almost 40 lbs. overweight, feeling the tightness in my chest, and with the untimely deaths of Jeff Simpson and Sarah Ralston fresh in mind … well, let’s say I feel lucky I’m typing this from my home office (with the faithful J’Adoube close at hand) and not from a hospital bed. Also, continuing to eat dishes like the one pictured above is probably another way to plant myself in an early grave, especially since I lost my gallbladder early in my Las Vegas Business Press tenure, on Thanksgiving weekend, 2005. However, if Las Vegas Strip restaurants continue to shovel large portions of such things into the stomachs of the douchebagerie, perhaps we will be rid of those unsightly, TAG-sprayed, tattoo-covered boors sooner than we ever dared hope.
Enforced convalescence had the spiritually salubrious effect of enabling me read Craig L. Symonds‘ 
Alas, most of the work week has been lost to a sudden onset of the flu. After answering a few “Question(s) of the Day” I was a goner … even though news of the casino industry marches implacably onwards. Anyway, as Christmas Eve approaches, I write to you literally as that oft-maligned critter, the pajama-clad blogger. I hope the holiday season finds you all with the people who matter most and that — whether you celebrate Hanukkah or Christmas or some wintry variant thereof — that you find yourself and your loved ones blessed with that which you require most.
“Nothing optional — from homosexuality to adultery — is ever made punishable unless those who do the prohibiting (and exact the fierce punishment) have a repressed desire to participate.” — just one of the 
“[Erin] Burnett, despite her youth, is a relic of a bygone age. She embodies ’90s ‘market populism,’ to use 
This has been a terrible fortnight for S&G but, hey, we’ve got some good news from Pennsylvania. Last month’s gambling revenues were reported this morning and they’re up 12%, thanks mostly to the growing popularity of table games. (Atlantic City, beware.) As for what might be called the “Aqueduct Effect,” of which I had grown skeptical, here it is: Sands Bethlehem‘s slot revenues are on pace to come up maybe $4 million-$5 million short of Wall Street projections. That’s it. In terms of growth (40%), if not sheer dollar volume ($54 million), Keystone State tables had a blockbuster month. The aberration was Mohegan Sun Pocono Downs, which was 1.5% million off last year’s pace — flat, in unadjusted dollars — which seemingly betokens a combination of bad marketing and much worse luck. In terms of percentage gain, The Meadows racino “only” rose 12%, while Sands was up an astronomical 107%, also enjoying the biggest dollar-for-dollar increase, too. Other than Parx Casino (up 59% and tops overall with almost $11 million), the high-jumpers included newbie SugarHouse (32%, passing Harrah’s Chester Downs in dollars won) and erstwhile laggard Rivers Casino, up 46%. Throw in double-digit gains in 
There’s regular arithmetic and then there’s Walmart math. I mean, who ever knew that a 29% price increase constituted a “rollback”? Perhaps I shouldn’t be sharing this novel concept with the gaming industry, giving them ideas, but S&G readers deserve a bit of holiday levity.
Well, slightly Vegas anyway. Holly Madison has managed to become the single most ubiquitous celebrity in town (unless you count food-stained wretch Robin Leach, which I don’t). This year, she’s gracing Nevada Ballet Theater‘s The Nutcracker, which is playing a limited run at Paris-Las Vegas. I don’t get Ms. Madison’s 
Remember how, back when the Planet Hollywood casino-hotel was assimilated into the Caesars Entertainment matrix, former owner Robert Earl was going to 
Colony Capital has a Nevada gaming license. Ronald P. Johnson does not, even though he’s been advising Goldman Sachs on its gaming operations for the past year. 
Las Vegas made the Sunday funny pages this week. One could get all irate about Mike Peters‘ dig at gambling and the Strip. However, if he wanted to equate casinos with fleapits, he could have chosen more wisely than he did. I mean, who doesn’t like making jokes about Circus Circus and Imperial Palace? One could argue that Peters’ selection — Wynn Las Vegas, Bellagio, MGM Grand, Caesars Palace and Flamingo Las Vegas — testifies to their brand equity. And, that being the case, why is Caesars Entertainment effacing as much as possible of the Flamingo brand rather than capitalizing upon it? For certain markets — Florida being an obvious one — it more sense than stamping “Horseshoe” on every new property.
October’s revenue figures for Nevada emerged today and it was a good month statewide ($961 million, +8%) and a great one for the Las Vegas Strip ($560.5 million, +13%). Mind you, October 1 was a Saturday, meaning that some Sept. 30 slot revenues may have been rolled into the next month’s tally — per Nevada’s unique method of reporting — making fluctuations appear more volatile than they really were. Booming baccarat play and strong hold — as you probably guessed already — drove the Strip numbers, which included $159 million in baccarat win. Poker aside, table revenues were up 21% (a slightly less impressive +9% when baccarat is backed out). Bigger slot play and higher hold both propelled the one-armed bandits, up 5% year/year.
With the help of a remade Plaza Hotel, the Downtown market enjoyed an 8% bounce, while some of the most encouraging auguries were once the performance of casinos in North Las Vegas and the Boulder Strip. Coming off a bad September (mind what I said about volatility earlier), those markets were up 15% and 14%, respectively. Drive-in traffic was slow, so to speak, and outlying markets suffered from it. Laughlin was off 3%, Reno an alarming 12%, coming off a 21-point drop the year previous … even though nearby Lake Tahoe had a nice, 4% boost. (The State of Nevada doesn’t bust out numbers for Mesquite and Primm specifically, not that all-important weather vane 
First, the good news: Borgata — accounting for more than one-fifth of the entire market share — continues to vastly outpace the rest of the Atlantic City market. Last month, it raked in $50 million for a 2% gain, driven by strong slot play … and despite looser hold (8.3% vs. 8.9%) than A.C. overall. Among Wall Street analysts, Joseph Greff of J.P. Morgan was in the Glass Half-Full Dept., reporting that Borgata had exceeded his expectations. Deutsche Bank‘s Carlo Santarelli took the opposite tack, having pegged Borgata to gross $2 million more than it did, in a traditionally weak month.
Leave it to the marketing geniuses at Comme ça (in The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas) to come up with the dopiest — no, not “dopest,” dopiest — publicity photo of 2011. How do you publicize your fine,