Strip loses, locals joints win; Aristocrat hooks Big Fish

Given the robustness of October 2017, last month’s Las Vegas Strip revenues ($529 million) were already facing a difficult comparison and the Stephen Paddock shooting spree didn’t help matters. Gambling revenues fell 6% last month along Las Vegas Boulevard. (Statewide, gaming revenues were flat.) A 6% drop-off in baccarat wagers translated into flat casino win, while non-baccarat table games were big losers — down 13% — for the house, as wagering slipped  7%. The only place where the house was even slightly lucky was slot win, down 3.5% on 4% less coin-in.

A tough, +10% comparison with last year didn’t deter locals casinos, who won 13% more this year, pretty phenomenal when you think about it. Admittedly, a little bit of September revenue was stashed in there, the month having ended on a weekend, but if that’s the case what’s the Strip’s excuse? Downtown ($63.5 million) did just fine, up 10%, while the Boulder Strip ($79 million) shot up 17%. North Las Vegas ($27 million) was good for an 11.5% jump and miscellaneous Clark County ($104 million) was up 11%. Laughlin ($42 million) even eked out a 2.5% climb. Reno ($53.5 million) was up 3% and Lake Tahoe ($16.5 million) was as volatile as ever, up 16%.

* Churchill Downs has announced the sale of its Big Fish Games offshoot to Aristocrat Technologies. The $990 million sale price is deemed “a fair value” by JP Morgan analyst Daniel Politzer. If it looks like Aristocrat paid a pretty penny for Big Fish, it did: 12X cash flow. Morgan analysts had valued Big Fish at $937 million, so Aristocrat was evidently willing to fork over a premium to get it. Politzer looked favorably on Churchill Downs’ pivot away from social gaming, and back toward racinos and horse tracks. It’s a profitable cashout for Churchill, which bought Big Fish three years ago for $835 million. The transaction is expected to close at the end of March.

* Now that Penn & Teller are in the slot-machine business, could we see a slot version of Desert Bus, ominously dubbed “the worst video game ever made.” (Hey, even Homer nods.) Considering that the new incarnation of Desert Bus is an Oculus Rift-powered virtual-reality incarnation, it’s no great stretch of the imagine to foresee it popping up alongside skill-based slots in places like MGM Grand‘s Level Up lounge.