Rockin’ hard; Miller gives anti-smokers hope; Packer’s wrist slapped

Hard Rock International CEO Jim Allen (left) is bullish on the New York City market, if not downright aggressive. In maybe the highlight to come out of the East Coast Gaming Congress, Allen asserted his company’s interest in a New York City casino—and also one at the Meadowlands, only nine miles away. Granted, breaking Atlantic City‘s casino monopoly (from which Hard Rock currently benefits) would take a major upheaval in the New Jersey Lege, as well as a constitutional amendment, but we’re not counting Allen out. This double-whammy strategy with respect to NYC (whose casino licenses will be issued in 2023) would normally have us saying the company has drunk its bathwater … but there’s no better brand in gaming nowadays than Hard Rock, so if anybody could pull this parlay off, they could. Also, if any brand belongs in or near Manhattan, Hard Rock has the vibe for it.

“We’re interested in both markets, and if God is good enough to allow us to operate in both, we would be happy to do so,” Allen told reporter Wayne Parry, no doubt cognizant of the fact that Garden State voters nixed a Meadowlands casino in 2016, so he’s bucking the odds. He added he was “100%” certain that New York City could support three casinos, pointing out that Atlantic City is carrying nine. “It may be possible that a market as robust as metro New York City could support two properties,” said UNLV gaming supremo David G. Schwartz, waxing more skeptical than Allen. Actually, the Big Apple does support two casinos, if VLT-only Resorts World New York and MGM Empire City Yonkers count. (We agree with Allen, presuming that the third casino is more attractive than a converted racetrack.)

Our East Coast bureau has been busy this week, reporting that a customer who won at Parx Casino was followed from Bensalem to northern New Jersey (“not a short distance”) and murdered outside of his home. That’s a chilling scene to imagine. In other news, Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small‘s wife La’Quetta Small will be the new superintendent of schools in A.C., pulling down a princely $210,000 a year. (Nepotism much?) Polls continue to tighten in Gov. Phil Murphy‘s reelection campaign, now putting him only six points ahead of his GOP opponent. Anti-smoking advocates better hope that Murphy pulls it out. And finally, Harrah’s Philadelphia is getting some scathing online reviews, such as “Ashtray.” (Are you paying attention, Gov. Tom Wolf [D]?) Other billet-doux include “Most depressing casino EVER! Harrah’s Philadelphia.This place should be permanently closed as an embarrassment to humanity! No acceptable restaurants, no adequate services and a crowd of smokers and potential covid spreaders.” Is casino upkeep a priority with Pennsylvania regulators? If not, maybe it should be.

While on the subject of smoking, we note a subtle but potentially very important shift coming from the American Gaming Association. President Bill Miller, in a purely factual statement, noted that the temporary ban on smoking on the Boardwalk “hasn’t led to a decrease in business.” Doubling down, Miller noted that casinos that have gone smoke-free have done so “without detrimental effect.” Americans for Nonsmokers Rights was all over this like a cheap suit but frankly we didn’t expect Miller to go as far as he did, getting out in front of Big Gaming’s consensus. At minimum, he’s signaling to anti-smoking forces to keep up the fight. We don’t know if Miller’s assertions will get him any thanks from his patrons but he’s got ours, as it was pretty brave of him to tackle the smoking issue in the way he did. (Previously he said there were concerns that going smoke-free would hurt the bottom line “but it’s not necessarily true,” suggesting that he’s trying to nudge the industry toward a less-regressive stance.)

While saying the AGA has no official position on smoking (fair enough), Miller put his remarks in context as follows, “You know, I think that’s up to the individual states and even the individual localities, and frankly, the individual properties. And so that is going to be an issue that continues to work itself out. But we’ve already seen some properties make decisions around smoking, post-Covid, that they were forced to make during Covid, and without detrimental effects.” In other words, your move, casinos.

Crown Resorts essentially beat the rap in its money-laundering scandal in Australia. A Royal Commission found the company “disgraceful,” and guilty of “unethical, exploitative, illegal and dishonest” business practices. And what was its punishment? Two years’ probation and the potential loss of its Melbourne license if it doesn’t straighten up and fly right. Oh, and James Packer must sell down to less than a 5% stake in Crown by 2024. Given that he’s been seeking a buyer (fruitlessly) for two years already, one is hard-pressed to believe he will meet the deadline. Oh, and Crown was handed a ‘Get out of jail free’ card in the form of the probable approval of its Sydney casino. If a company can flout the law as flagrantly as Crown did and get off so lightly, would there be any malfeasance bad enough to be stripped of one’s Australian license? Apparently not, as companies like Crown can threaten to take local economies hostage.

Indeed, Crown shares leapt 10% on the news, making Packer instantly $175 million richer for his misdeeds, which included preying on problem gamblers. Remember the Crown 18, jailed in China in 2016? They weren’t the only Crown employees at risk: “Despite knowing that staff who worked in Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan and Singapore were also likely contravening their local laws, Crown let them carry out promotional activities as the chance of them being charged was not significant. To have done so after the China arrests is nothing short of appalling,” wrote Judge Ray Finkelstein. Even so, “Breaking the law doesn’t do it. Ignoring the safety of vulnerable gamblers isn’t enough. And so endangering its own staff that they land in a Chinese jail doesn’t meet the threshold—nor does hiding bank accounts that facilitate money laundering,” observed columnist Elizabeth Knight. She pointed out that the alleged economic calamity foreseen by Finkelstein was a canard: There’s no reason Crown couldn’t be forced to sell its casinos, bringing in another, better operator. But the Royal Commission hid under the table.

Showing a genius for understatement, Packer allowed that “many oversights” had occurred on his watch—like not having anyone on the corporate board who was conversant with anti-money-laundering regimens. He added, “I did not believe at that point in time that Crown Perth was engaged in money laundering,” putting him at odds with the Royal Commission. The billionaire didn’t even deign to testify in person and performed miserably on the witness stand. Among the things the former board chairman could remember was that he hadn’t attended a board meeting in four years. As for punishments that would hurt Packer in the pocketbook, Crown settled a shareholder class-action lawsuit involving the Crown 18 for $94 million. Shareholders were irate at Crown for keeping them in the dark about the high-risk (and illegal in China) marketing activities it was up to. Don’t feel to bad for Packer: Crown expects to recover most of the settlement via insurance, keeping anybody’s ass from being too badly chapped.

JP Morgan has initiated coverage of Golden Entertainment with a price target of $60/share by the end of next year (the stock currently trades around $49). Analyst Omer Sander suggested the stock was underrated and that Golden “is a structurally better business post COVID-19 with a better balance sheet and valuation that has not kept up with peers.” He particularly likes Golden’s 90% market exposure to Southern Nevada “the most attractive gaming market in the country given a low tax rate, limited supply growth, and population migration to Nevada (top-five population growth state),” among other factors. “Additionally, GDEN is an overlooked way to play improved gaming fundamentals and avoid the volatility/noise from potential valuation compression in online sports betting and iGaming stocks,” Sander continued. Aside from Rocky Gap Resort in Maryland, Golden’s casinos are divided between Pahrump (3), Laughlin (3) and Las Vegas (3), most notably The Strat. In addition, Golden has over 700 slot-route locations in Nevada and 300-plus in Montana, for a little extra diversity. (We believe it has ambitions in Illinois but haven’t heard anything about that in a while.)

Starting March 5, Illinois sports bettors will not longer have to go to a casino to register to place wagers, regulators having lifting the online-registration ban permanently. It’s the sane thing to do and, as one analyst observed, a revenue tailwind heading into March Madness. In a related development, the General Assembly has approved wagering on in-state collegiate games. There are a couple of big “buts,” one of which is that the wager can only be on the outcome of the game and the other being that the bet must be placed in person. (Two steps forward, one step back.) It’s a trial program that will be reassessed in two years. The Assembly also nixed “push taxes” on slot-route betting, such as that currently being considered in Galesburg and other Land of Lincoln cities. Finally, the Lege voted that “semen from an Illinois stallion may be transported outside of the state.” We are so relieved.

Jottings: Scientific Games sold its lottery business to Brookfield Business Partners for $6 billion. Credit Suisse analyst Ben Chaiken called the deal “likely a discount to what SGMS’ bulls were expecting through a public listing” … Heading off a potential scandal, New York State Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) recused herself from any dealings that involve Delaware North, for whom her husband is general counsel. (Delaware North is pursuing an OSB contract with the Empire State.) In a symmetrical move, William Hochul recused himself from oversight of the government affairs division and corporate compliance at Delaware North (which vowed not to make any Kathy Hochul campaign contributions), a company that hasn’t gotten this much publicity in years … A slot by another other name: Ellis Entertainment has announced a simulcast facility for Owensboro, Kentucky, that would feature ‘historical racing’ machines (parimutuel gambling devices). General Manager Jeffrey Inman said, “we believe the new venue will create $6 million to $8 million in additional purse money per year at Ellis Park, which will help improve the quality of racing for the summertime leg of the Kentucky Thoroughbred circuit.” … 2022 will be curtains for dog racing in Iowa. That’s when Iowa Greyhound Racing in Dubuque will shut down, its annual subsidy having expired. Score one for man’s best friend … Four Winds, the only tribal casino in Indiana, has not only gone to Class III gaming, it has topped off its hotel. The casino is also being expanded by 40,000 square feet.