Pennsylvania isn’t anywhere near done with building casinos but it is feeling market saturation. A $40 million decline in slot winnings pushed casinos to sub-2013 levels. The proliferation of casino product did not help. “When I came here six years ago, there were 
four casinos within 175 miles of the Meadows. Now there are 12. There are more casinos and not much growth in population,” lamented Meadows Racetrack & Casino Vice President Sean Sullivan.
Still, the casinos and racinos finished the year strong, especially Sands Bethlehem. There, a $21 million gross pushed the Las Vegas Sands casino to its best year ever. (And to think Sheldon Adelson almost sold the place.) The annual gross for Sands was $470 million, with $180 million of that coming from table games. The place was packed on Dec. 26, with a game going at every table and few slot machines open. Jested one player, “Why are we here? Because we’re stupid. It’s almost sacrilegious.”
Running Sands’ Far Eastern operations can’t be an easy job and, after five years, Edward Tracy is calling it a day. Once the Parisian is open, he will step down as CEO of Sands China. The company was quick to assure investors there were no hard feelings involved and, indeed, it will retain Tracy as a consultant. Tracy’s exit seems to have prompted by factors closer to home. He said he’d be returning to the U.S. to tend to his health and to family matters. Although he’s been one of the innumerable executive to pass through the revolving door of Donald Trump‘s casino fiefdom, he’ll be best remembered for his work in Macao.
* Speaking of Donald Trump, it wouldn’t be a week if he didn’t manage to make an ass of himself. This time he was claiming credit for making the celebs on his comedy show famous. He also offered some bogus claims for his program’s ratings. Well, it wouldn’t be a Donald Trump event if there weren’t an extra-large helping of B.S. involved.
* “It’s the non-casino things that people get on airplanes and put up with body searches and 
stuff like that for,” said Steve Wynn, outlining the grand-hotel appeal of his Everett project as he took a victory lap at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center. He also hoped that litigation by Boston Mayor Martin “McCheese” Walsh wouldn’t gum up the works of the construction process. “Hopefully the mayor doesn’t slow us down. It’s a $100 million a month benefit to everybody the day we open,” Wynn said. Unfortunately, El Steve was not in an expansive mood and took no questions from reporters.
* The Olympics have been held sacrosanct from Nevada sports wagering, largely because they are a (nominally) amateur event. But that may soon change. Hoping to get a cut of the big money that is laid offshore on the Olympiad, sports books are lobbying the Nevada Gaming Control Board for a rule change. They also want Nevada law rewritten to allow for betting on the Academy Awards, among other competitions. Michael Gaughan is taking point on this proposed alteration, although Cantor Gaming is not far behind. They’re already getting a positive signed from NGCB Chairman A.G. Burnett, who says, “I think the time was right.”
