As we saw earlier today, Las Vegas and Reno are pretty badly screwed for at least the next month. What about perennial problem child/comeback kid Atlantic City? Just when it’s back on its feet and roaring again, along comes Coronavirus to knock it off its pins. Global Gaming Business talked 
to gaming advisor Cory Morowitz about the Boardwalk’s indefinite shutdown. Morowitz likened Covid-19 to Hurricane Katrina … if Katrina had devastated the entire U.S. “Everyone’s in survival mode,” said Morowitz. “The people I’m talking to are thinking about emergency planning: How do you marshal cash to get through the next couple of months? If you own your building, how do you pay your bond payments? If you’re part of a REIT, how do you pay your rent? Will there be a federal response that’s going to be helpful?” (Yeah, those REIT rentals were a problem nobody foresaw when REITmania was sweeping the gaming industry.)
Big Gaming, Morowitz said, is “figuring out how to be fiscally responsible” and making recovery strategies, although that must be difficult when Continue reading
window. Finally displaying some leadership, Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak (D) 
Casino CEOs have no shame. They are capitalizing on the Coronavirus crisis to go to Congress, palms extended, cadging for a bailout. In an outrage-inducing story in today’s Washington Post, it is reported that the gaming industry’s wish list includes:
made at Encore Boston Harbor, with 61% market share. MGM Springfield grossed $22 million and Plainridge Park scooped up the remaining $12 million (14% market share). Win per day at Encore was $1.8 million, more than double MGM. That has to pass for good news, as the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, one of the most activist in the country, voted to suspend casino operations on March 14, a decision it will reassess in two weeks.
temporary-ness, MGM Resorts International‘s being the most radical.) Meanwhile, the damage continues to radiate through the regional gaming industry. 
the impact upon sports betting looks to be deep and dire. Last March, Nevada casinos saw $499 million in handle and $39.5 million in revenues with $349 million of that estimated to have been bet on March Madness—which has been scrapped this year. In New Jersey it was $106 million handle and $10 million revenue. If any other marquee sports events are played, it will not be for months. This causes complications for bettors who already had skin in the games. Disaster set in too quickly for nascent markets like Michigan and Illinois to have been greatly affected but it will be quite another story in established territories.
—many are—but others are being forced to close or making the difficult choice to go dark on their own. Shareholders won’t like it but it shows courage. (Points to remember about an adjustment reaction: “It is automatic. It comes early. It is temporary.”) Said an S&G source, “It’s crazy here in Las Vegas. We are literally competing to get food. It’s ridiculous. The food bank said they may lock our area down as we are right behind the Strip. All store deliveries stopped. All store pickup stopped with a few exceptions. Can’t find [toilet paper] period. I’ve never seen anything like this.”
sporting and cultural events (here and abroad) comprise a list longer than our arm. Larry “Airtight” Kudlow says that Americans are panicking but he’s been wrong about Covid-19 so many times before that now we actually do feel the temptation to panic. But it’s a passing thought. Despite some mitigation efforts observed by S&G sources and readers like Mike Zidik (thanks, all of you), the casino industry has been hanging tough. While it has to answer to state authorities in most cases (Florida being a 
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available through July. The league stated, “following last night’s news that an NBA player has tested positive for coronavirus–and given that our leagues share so many facilities and locker rooms and it now seems likely that some member of the NHL community would test positive at some point–it is no longer appropriate to try to continue to play games at this time.” Although the Las Vegas Golden Knights do not 
Association of Broadcasters pulled the plug on its April convocation, scheduled for the Las Vegas Strip. “We knew that if we could not deliver on … expectations, we would not move forward. More importantly, keeping the community safe and healthy is NAB’s highest priority; therefore, we are deferring to the developing consensus from public health authorities on the challenges posed by coronavirus,” wrote CEO Gordon H. Smith, hinting at a possible online version of the NAB show. As convention cancellations go, this is a biggie and other dominos are now certain to topple.