The last good month; NBA to resurrect in Vegas?

Las Vegas Strip gaming revenue was flat in February at $596 million and probably should have been better, given the presence of an extra weekend day. (Statewide, revenues were up 3%.) Strip slots were robust, gaining 7% on 7.5% higher coin-in, but non-baccarat table win was flat despite 9.5% higher wagering. Baccarat win was the spider at the picnic, falling 11.5% on 1% less wagering. Given that the comparison was a -2% February 2019, surpassing last year shouldn’t have been difficult. Locals casinos were flat, too, especially at the slots, where coin-in was up 3%. Some end-of-January handle got rolled into February but the latter also ended on a weekend, so that will show up in March, where it will really be needed. Despite the ‘meh’ gaming numbers, visitation was 4.5% higher, including 1.5% more conventioneers. McCarran International Airport traffic was 3% higher—6.5% greater before being adjusted for Leap Day. Room rates nudged up to $141/night, at 87% occupancy, 82.5% for conventions, 94.5% on weekends.

Downtown was off 4% to $55.5 million, North Las Vegas slid 9% to $22 million and the Boulder Strip was flat at $65 million. Mesquite was a bright spot, up 6.5% to $12 million. Miscellaneous Clark County was up 2% to $99 million while Laughlin gained 6% to $47.5 million. Reno boomed, up 30% to $58 million and Lake Tahoe leapt 21.5% to $18 million. Elko ($27.5 million) and the Carson Valley ($9 million) also had banner months, gaining 16% and 17% respectively. Wendover, economic thermometer of Nevada, wasn’t feeling any Coronavirus effects yet, jumping 14.5% to $19 million. In a month the narrative will be dramatically different, as the current pandemic shakes the Silver State economy to the core, affecting everything from real estate to your neighborhood barbershop. According to the Los Angeles Times, “A recent study by the Economic Policy Institute found that Nevada is likely to lose 5.3% of private sector jobs.” There’s a sobering thought.

* Las Vegas could, however, catch a much-needed break if the NBA carries through with its just-announced plan to resume its season with an (as-yet-unscheduled) tournament in Sin City, leading into the NBA playoffs. Vegas was deemed “the best location” for rebooting the season, again for reasons unspecified. Hey, we’ll take what we can get. So will NBA Commissioner Adam Silver who’s looking at a $1 billion league loss and wants to salvage something, anything. Even so, “The players are going to experience a fair amount of salary pain,” according to University of Notre Dame professor of finance Richard Sheehan.

Reported CNBC, in a hastily compiled story, “The NBA could decide to cancel the remainder of its regular-season and create a play-in tournament for lower-seeded teams to enter the postseason. The league could then set-up a best-of-five series for the first round, before moving to a one-and-done tournament to determine the two teams that will play in the NBA Finals, which would also be a best-of-five, people familiar with the planning said.” Surprisingly, the venue will neither be T-Mobile Arena, which the NBA could fill, nor Mandalay Bay Event Center, home to a WNBA franchise. No, it would be the Thomas & Mack Arena, perhaps in the interests of crowd containment.

Silver not only wants to test Sin City as the site of a future in-season tourney but to salvage $400 million in revenue lost to a human-rights controversy with China. (Call it groveling for dollars.) One owner, Mark Cuban, has already gone on record as favoring a resumption of the season in empty stadiums. Cuban told CNBC viewers the NBA should restart “as early as we can, without spectators, just on TV and streaming and just give people something to celebrate.”

* Although casinos continue to hang onto their non-perishable foodstuffs (for understandable reasons), they’re still being generous with perishables. For instances, Station Casinos graced Three Square Food Bank with a “george” contribution of food, including 36,000 eggs, 2,800 gallons of orange juice and 1,000 cases of vegetables. One thing’s for sure: Nobody’s going to perish of scurvy during this crisis.