Nevada casinos won $618 million in a Covid-19-truncated March, with the Las Vegas Strip leading the plunge with a 46% fall to $300 million. Las Vegas locals play was remarkably strong under the circumstances, 
down only 20.5%, although that number may have been fattened by some end-of-February slot win (the month having finished on a weekend). Statewide, casinos were off 40%. For the first quarter the Strip has been doing the worst of the the three major segmentations, down 12%. Baccarat, however, did relatively well in March, down 17% on 25% less wagering (good luck for the house), although non-baccarat table games on the Strip were catastrophic, plummeting 66% on 71% lower betting. Slot revenue wobbled 37% ($185 million) on 57% less coin-in, which has to be one of the tightest holds (12%) we’ve ever seen.
Locals slot win was off 11% despite a 54% plunge in coin-in, reflecting both tight hold (10.5%) and that leftover February win, which wouldn’t have been dumped from the hoppers until the beginning of March. 
Believe it or not, the Boulder Strip actually had a good month, up 2%, to $71.5 million. Downtown fell 46% to $43.5 million while North Las Vegas slipped 13% to $22.5 million and Mesquite tumbled to $7 million, -53%. Laughlin slid 38% to $30.5 million while miscellaneous Clark County fell 36% to $72 million. Reno plunged 55% to $22 million, Lake Tahoe ebbed 43% to $9 million and Wendover, Nevada’s reliable economic barometer, indicated hard times ahead with $9 million, a 58% nosedive.
* As Covid-19 started to spread, even a friendly game of bridge became fraught with peril. Scary stuff. And even though the disease has driven many card sharps to playing online, the resultant revenue is “a drop in the bucket,” bad news for states like Pennsylvania which are heavily addicted to gaming taxes. The Keystone State booked only $154 million in gross gaming revenue last month, while rumors are circulating of additional casino sales in Atlantic City, where Bally’s just changed hands for a feeble $25 million.
* The Who’ll Reopen First steeplechase goes to a dark-horse contender, Montana. Gov. Steve Bullock (D) will reopen the state’s casinos on a nation-leading May 4. Casino stocks perked up at the news, especially Monarch Casino & Resort (+17%), Golden Entertainment (heavily invested in Montana and up 14%), Penn National Gaming (+13.5%) and Boyd Gaming (+10%).
* How much is a Hillary Clinton endorsement of Joe Biden worth? Nothing, from an oddsmaking standpoint. The futures market for Biden was described as “stagnant” at 43 cents compared to Donald Trump‘s 50 cents. William Hill narrowly favors Trump (10/11 … a $100 wager doesn’t even get you all your money back) over Biden’s 11/10.
Jottings: Having been rebuffed for a Greek casino, Hard Rock International is taking its case to court. “Hard Rock International will ultimately win the competition for Hellenikon … Hard Rock is the only company to have developed a project like this before and they will do it 
again,” said spokesman Michael Karloutsos … Aristocrat Leisure is slashing its workforce by 1,200 jobs and CEO Trevor Coker is taking a 30% cut in salary. Aristocrat rationalized the move on the grounds that “people costs” were 70% of the company’s budget. It also donated 1,700 food packets to medical facilities in the hard-hit Philippines … Las Vegas hotels may be discounting their room rates but one industry pundit says don’t. Remarks hospitality revenue manager Dan Skodol, “When demand comes back, the more lucrative customers like business travelers and event or wedding planners will be reticent [sic] to accept price hikes.” Actually we think they’ll be pretty voluble.
