Pennsylvania, Lousiana flagging; All eyes on Macao

Casino winnings in Pennsylvania stuttered last month, hitting $311 million, flat with March 2022. Spreading more gaming wealth among a greater number of properties obviously isn’t helping on a same-store basis. Parx Casino maintained its supremacy with $53 million, despite a 5% slippage. Elsewhere in the Philadelphia area, Philadelphia Live jumped 5.5% to $22 million, besting nearby rival Rivers Philadelphia ($21.5 million, -6%). Harrah’s Philadelphia plunged 10% to $14 million, falling tantalizingly close to Valley Forge Resort, whose $13 million represented a 2.5% gain. In the Pittsburgh market, Rivers Pittsburgh was flat at a still-impressive $33.5 million. Rival Hollywood Meadows galloped 17.5% faster to hit $19 million while Pittsburgh Live gained 5% to reach $10.5 million.

As for the outstate casinos, Wind Creek Bethlehem dipped 1% to a massive $45 million, leaving behind Mohegan Sun Pocono ($19 million, -2%) and smoky Mount Airy ($16 million, +8%). Presque Isle Downs was down 11.5% to $9 million, Hollywood Penn National slipped 3.5% to $16.5 million and Lady Luck Nemacolin plunged 21% to $1.5 million. Amongst the satellites, Hollywood York leapt 14% to $9 million, Hollywood Morgantown vaulted 22.5% to $6.5 million and Parx Shippensburg booked $3 million.

Sports betting operators made $50.5 million but turned around and blew $16 million of that on promotions. Market-share leaders were (in order) FanDuel, DraftKings, BetMGM, and Barstool Sports and Caesars Sportsbook in a tie for fourth place. Internet casinos brought in $148 million, with $62 million of that going to the Hollywood Casino license (under whose umbrella Penn Entertainment, BetMGM and DraftKings all huddle), with BetRivers at $30.5 million, continuing to cede ground to FanDuel ($32 million), not a good trend for the home team.

Further north, in Massachusetts, casino revenue nudged 2.5% upward, led by Encore Boston Harbor with $66 million, up 2%. MGM Springfield, the obsession of George Assad, was flat at $24 million while Plainridge Park made $14 million, a 10% jump. Sports betting operators made $47 million on $548 million of handle (less whatever they splurged on promo offers). Market share was disclosed as FanDuel (35%) edged favorite son DraftKings (34.5%) in the first month of contention, surely an embarrassment for Jason Robins. Others garnering significant share were BetMGM (16%), Barstool Sports (6%), WynnBet (4.5%) and Caesars (4%). Despite all the emphasis placed on getting retail sports books up and running, they were much less of a factor than OSB-first operators.

I-gaming has become such a powerhouse in Michigan that Detroit casinos are practically ignored by Wall Street analysts. What we are able to glean is that, compared to 2019, casino revenue dipped 2.5% to $118 million. Greektown Casino stumbled -14% to $27.5 million while MGM Grand Detroit slipped 3% to a dominant $54.5 million, leaving MotorCity with $36 million, secure in the middle ground. Internet casinos yielded $172 million, led by BetMGM’s $56 million. Followers were DraftKings ($38.5 million), FanDuel ($34 million), BetRivers ($9 million), Caesars Entertainment ($7 million), WynnBet ($4.5 million), Barstool Sports ($4 million), FoxBet ($3 million), BetGLC and BetAmerica ($2 million each), with “Other” garnering $10 million in aggregate.

Sports betting engendered $408 million in handle and revenue of $44.5 million, less $13 million in promotions. FanDuel romped with $15 million, distantly segued by BetMGM ($7 million), DraftKings ($6 million), Barstool Sports ($1.5 million) and Caesars Sportsbook ($1 million). Five other operators made a big, fat nothing while two—Bet Rivers and PointsBet—gave away more to players than they got back. With strategy like that, it’s no wonder that PointsBet is on the U.S. canvas, throwing in the towel. As for Barstool, it (or rather, its lack of contribution) factored into a dramatic reduction of the Penn Entertainment price target by J.P. Morgan analyst Joseph Greff. He lopped $5 off his $39 price target, as the stock languished at $28/share. Simply put, Greff doesn’t see significant revenue and cash-flow growth from Barstool in the future. Hold onto your seats.

Despite the infusion of Horseshoe Lake Charles, gambling revenues in Louisiana were down 1.5% last month. Sports betting contributed $32 million on handle of $249 million. Brick-and-mortar focus was of course on Lake Charles, as visitors came to casinos 2.5% more statewide but spent 4% less. Horseshoe made inroads on the competition rather than growing the market, as it pulled in $9 million. Golden Nugget was flat at $29.5 million and, although it led the area, L’Auberge du Lac ceded 4.5% even as it topped $30 million. Delta Downs slipped 5% to a still-healthy $15 million. In Baton Rouge, it remains to be seen whether a name change from Hollywood Baton Rouge (above) to The Queen Casino can reverse its flagging fortunes. It was 6.5% down to reach $5 million. L’Auberge Baton Rouge slipped 6% but did more than triple the business, grossing $18 million, leaving but $1 million for antediluvian Belle of Baton Rouge, a 21% plunge.

All casinos in New Orleans were also revenue-negative, especially under-redevelopment Treasure Chest, which plummeted 21% to $7.5 million. Harrah’s New Orleans dipped 3.5% but remained tops with $22 million. Boomtown New Orleans tumbled 19% to $11 million and Fair Grounds racino limped -5% to $4 million. Amelia Belle sank 19.5% to $4 million and Evangeline Downs slid 10% to $6.5 million. (All in all, a month to forget for Boyd Gaming. At least the overall picture is robust.) In a crowded Shreveport/Bossier City that’s about to get crowdier with the entrance of Cordish Gaming, supremacy was with Margaritaville, bouncing 8% up to $20 million. Erstwhile rival Horseshoe Bossier City fell 12% to $14 million. Best of the rest was Bally’s Shreveport, down 1.5% to $10 million. The remainder were Boomtown Bossier ($5 million, -9%), Sam’s Town Shreveport ($4 million, -6%) and Louisiana Downs ($4 million, +8%), finally seeing a post-Caesars uptick.

Chinese players are now second-class citizens in Macao. Aping similar rules in South Korea and Vietnam, the Macanese government has instituted foreigner-only gambling sections in 12 casinos (and counting, no doubt). The rationale is that this better enables City Hall to track how much gross gaming revenue is coming from international sources. Operators get a 5% tax rebate on this GGR if it they market more heavily outside of China. Said Macao Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng, “The operators are also sending private planes to bring clients to Macao and the government has provided good airport services in this regard.” Given the disrepute of the Macanese airport, some would snicker at that last remark but improvements are promised. While not all the participating casinos were identified, they include such biggies as The Londoner Macao, The Venetian Macao (both Las Vegas Sands), MGM Macau, MGM Cotai (MGM) City of Dreams, Studio City (Melco Resorts & Entertainment), Grand Lisboa Palace (SJM Holdings) and Galaxy Macau (Galaxy Entertainment).

Greff, meanwhile, predicted that Macao will be back to full strength by the end of next year, even though VIP play for Sands China is just at 15% of pre-Covid levels and mass-market play (Sands’ sinecure) is still down 47%. “We continue to believe that LVS shares represent an appealing China re-opening play, given improving travel and spend trends since the market has become more accessible and current trends reflect pent-up demand that is not dissimilar to what U.S gaming and leisure travel markets experienced earlier in their respective recovery,” he wrote.

Jottings: Clark County is expecting a $1.3 billion economic infusion from Las Vegas Grand Prix visitors (some 170,000 strong). Projections for an even bigger splash than from the 2024 Super Bowl are predicated by the fact that Formula One racing is accelerating a normally slow, autumn weekend whereas the NFL title tilt falls in a normally busy period. Formula One is also expected to draw more international tourists, always a plus … To celebrate its fifth anniversary, Ocean Casino Resort plans to add a helipad. It would be part of an $85 million capex infusion into the high-performance property and would go atop the parking garage. Are autogyros welcome? … As part of the ongoing crackdown on the marketing of sports betting, Ontario may soon ban athletes from endorsing sports books. No more Wayne Gretzky shilling for BetMGM up north. Also gone would be celebrities who“reasonably expected to appeal to minors.” The proposed fatwa is still at least three months away and currently subject to a comment period … Relocated Eagle Mountain Casino in California is set to open on May 9. Flooding of ancestral lands had forced the casino to up and move. It will have 1,750 slot machines and 20 table games … Congratulations to Christy Eingenrauch (below), who was named assistant GM of Durango Casino & Resort earlier this week. A third-generation casino employee, Eigenrauch has been with Station Casinos for 12 years, prefaced by a six-year stint at Ameristar Casinos. Her most recent billet was at Sunset Station.

Quote of the Day: “Each morning on every sports-highlight show has to include a segment in which some pasty white guy chimes in from Zoom to tell you how he, and only he, knows who’s going to cover in the NHL that night.”—Will Leitch, on the inescapility of sports betting.