In a month that saw Ohio casino revenues grow 6% and Iowa almost 1% (to $119.5 million), Illinois casinos plummeted 27% to a measly $82 million. Even a sub-50% capacity restriction doesn’t begin to explain away the problem. Predictably, Rivers Casino Des Plaines suffered least, down 8% to $34 million. This is proving to be one of many astute investments by Churchill Downs. At the other end of the spectrum, how does Argosy Belle stay afloat? Its $2 million gross was a 51% drop-off. New Twin River Holdings property Jumer’s Casino Rock Island looks like a turkey, barely reaching $3 million and tumbling 45%. Good luck recouping the $120 million purchase price on those kind of numbers. Nearest to Rivers Casino was Grand Victoria, grossing $9 million (-26.5%), while Harrah’s Joliet fell 42% to $8.5 million and Harrah’s Metropolis (above) slipped 21% to $4.5 million. A recent player at Metropolis called it “a very distant outpost of the Caesars/El Dorado empire. Lots of deferred maintenance here in the Midwest …” Deferred maintenance at a Caesars Entertainment property? The ghost of Gary Loveman must still be calling the shots.
It was sagacious of Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (whose family used to co-own the Grand Victoria casino in Elgin) to temporarily suspend his state’s rule requiring in person registration for sports betting. Last month, the Land of Lincoln saw $140 million in handle. Illinoisans may not want to go to casinos but mobile wagering got a big thumbs-up, even with FanDuel on the sidelines for almost all of August. Still, PlayIllinois.com‘s Zack Hall notes that “in-person registration rules remain inconsistent and tenuous.” So there’s work to be done. Added analyst Dustin Gouker, “August’s results are a testament to just how lucrative a market Illinois truly can be. “In-person registration was stunting growth and that ended on Aug. 21 … Even with that, Illinois found itself ahead of Colorado [$128.5 million], which has matured much more quickly, and on the heels of Indiana [$169 million], the country’s fourth-largest market.”
Before the ink was dry on a deal for BetMGM to become the official wagering partner of the Tennessee Titans, inescapable Covid-19 rippled through the Titans’ ranks, forcing indefinite postponement of a tilt against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Incidences like this and tonight’s delayed Kansas City Chiefs/New England Patriots face-off are starting to make themselves felt in NFL betting lines. “The first few weeks in the NFL went so well, it would have been easy to forget that a single positive test can send waves through the schedule,” said Brett Collson, lead analyst for TheLines.com. “Oddsmakers are accustomed to factoring in injuries, but both bettors and oddsmakers are dealing with an extremely fluid situation where active rosters and schedules can change in a flash. So far, it appears that hasn’t dampened the enthusiasm for bettors overall.”
How successful is Barstool? In its first four days of going live in the Keystone State, it “recorded 30,000 app downloads in Pennsylvania and registered 24,000 customers, with 12,000 of these customers first-time depositors … depositing an average $243.” Color us impressed. That translated into $11 million handle, 22% of which was directly driven by Barstool picks. “Across the U.S., the app recorded 180,000 downloads, 95% of which were new to PENN’s ecosystem. The app was the number one most downloaded sports betting and sports app in the country, and, importantly, these results came with zero external marketing spend.” Next up at Barstool: Michigan and Illinois. And it’s coming to market at a propitious time, as sports betting handle reaches record levels, and a plethora of collegiate and major-league sports are on the tote board. Besides, the advent of cooler weather will incentive Internet gambling, Greff believes, and he projects Penn to capture 15% of domestic market share.
