As expected, Penn National Gaming bought a significant position in Barstool Sports, investing $135 million cash, $28 million PENN shares, and getting 36% of the two board seats and 36% of the company. The remainder is split between Chernin Group (36%) and Barstool employees 
(28%). Come 2023, Penn invests another $62 million, gets half of the company and two more board seats (out of seven). JP Morgan analyst Joseph Greff was bullish on the transaction, writing that “If PENN saves ~$15m in annual customer acquisition costs, the deal almost pays for itself … and any upside profits flows straight to equity value.” He added that Barstool’s younger, heavily male demographic would be complimentary to Penn’s largely female “and much older customer demographic, and should help address/mitigate the unfavorable demographic trends that most regional operators have been grappling with. Barstool has 66m monthly unique visitors across all of its channels versus PENN’s 20m casino patrons in its My Choice loyalty program.” Still no confirmation from Penn on that supposedly consummated Tropicana Las Vegas sale. Barstool gives Penn a shiny object with which to distract Wall Street in the meantime.
* We’ve no new word on Chinese New Year attendance in Macao. However, the coronavirus epidemic has knocked a second prop out from under Macao’s expected 2020 recovery. Chinese New Year grosses are 
already a goner. Now the assumed recovery of China‘s economy is expected to slow. That’s not music to casino owners’ ears. So far the U.S. stock market has shrugged off most of the immediate economic damage and there are those who think the disease is “a nothing burger,” like Boston College political science professor Robert Ross. “The death rate for this virus is far lower than it is for the flu in U.S.,” he says, noting a tendency for the Chinese government to overreact to crises. According to the Boston Globe, “Investors worried the shutdown of Chinese factories and transportation networks would disrupt the supply chains that U.S. companies rely on, while curbing Chinese demand for U.S. products.”
Casino executives have been counting on Donald Trump‘s trade-war truce and a ramping up of Chinese exports to put some tailwind behind Macao. “I think it could have an effect by chilling the Chinese economy, which was on pretty weak legs to begin with,” says Tufts University‘s Michael Klein. “If this weakens Chinese GDP, that could have spillover effects.” And one of those spillover effects is called gross gaming revenue.
* Here’s an idea about which we’re somewhat ambivalent. Reno-based ACS is rolling out a new hardware, PlayOn, at The D and Golden Gate. What PlayOn does is enable you to charge anywhere from $50 to $3,000 on your debit card without leaving the table game. Yes, you can drain your bank account without leaving your seat. There’s something to be said about the pause for deliberation that occurs when you have to stop gambling in order to find an ATM. While the vast majority of gamblers are likely to use PlayOn responsibly, there’s a vulnerable minority for whom this might be one temptation too many.
* As befits a sport that’s played with a puck, a new restaurant at Downtown Summerlin is a partnership between Wolfgang Puck and five Las Vegas Golden Knights players. According to Eater Vegas, the restaurant features “dishes dedicated to the players, custom lockers lining the walls, and, if fans are lucky, frequent sightings of the NHL players.” The offerings at Wolfgang Puck Players Locker run to finger foods like poutine, and the restaurant is adorned with liquor lockers dedicated to the likes of Shaquille O’Neill, Wayne Gretzky and Golden Knights owner Bill Foley. And yes, you can rent your own locker … and bring your dog.
* Unemployment numbers in Nevada hit a 20-year low, as jobs grew 2%. Reno drove the bus, adding 4% more jobs, while Las Vegas‘ job growth was 2.5% (24,800 new jobs). Only a couple of outlying counties 
manifested job decline. “December also continued the recent trend of slower job growth, with both the total change in jobs as well as the growth rate falling to lower levels than we have seen in over six years. Despite those challenges, all three [metro areas] continue to grow at rates faster than the national average of 1.4 percent … Our state sustained a massive economic blow at the start of the decade but enters the next with solid job growth and low unemployment, which should continue to provide opportunities for job seekers across the state,” said Department of Employment, Training & Rehabilitation Chief Economist David Schmidt.
* Oscar screenplay odds have shifted slightly, according to DraftKings. Aided by a big ad push in the trades, Greta Gerwig (Little Women) is now edging Steve Zaillian (The Irishman) for Best Adapted Screenplay, while Quentin Tarantino holds a minute lead for Best Original Screenplay on Parasite‘s Bong Joon Ho. Best-acting favorites Joaquin Phoenix and Renée Zellweger, meanwhile, continue to lengthen the odds on their competition. 1917 manages to stave off Parasite‘s charge for Best Picture (the latter is a -10,000 fave for Best International Feature, a lock if ever there was one). Little Women is a solid picture (not as good as Gerwig’s Lady Bird) but you have to have a lot of X chromosomes to really dig it.
* Looking for compromising documents in the Rhode Island/IGT lottery scandal? Try the nearest dumpster.
