What ails Illinois?; Trump Plaza comes down

As for Penn National Gaming‘s casinos, Empress Joliet scratched out $6 million (-40%) and Hollywood Aurora stumbled 26% to $7 million. Par-A-Dice slid 30% to $4 million. The infusion of DraftKings did nothing for Casino Queen, down 48% to $4 million. Looking at these numbers it seems clear that, when they approved multiple new casinos and racinos, the Illinois Lege and Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) were A) dropping acid and B) setting the stage for a major business debacle.

Indiana casinos slipped too, but not nearly as badly— down 4.5% to reach $165 million (yes, more than double Illinois’ catch). That’s even with $4 million from new table games at Indiana Grand and Harrah’s Hoosier Park. For the most part, casinos are still outperforming JP Morgan analysts’ 3Q20 projections. Caesars was the big dog, with the two top-grossing properties in the Hoosier State: Horseshoe Hammond with its $29.5 million (-13.5%) and Indiana Grand’s $22 million (+7%). Caesars Southern Indiana was flat at $17 million, as was Hoosier Park at $15.5 million, while Tropicana Evansville‘s $10 million was a 13% dip. Also grossing in the double-digits were Ameristar East Chicago ($19 million, +13%) and Hollywood Lawrenceburg ($13 million, -4%).

The performance of the northern casinos suggested, by and large, a massive flight of players from Chicagoland. Both Majestic Star boats were up, grossing $8 million and $5 million respectively, for 9% gains each. On the other hand, Michigan gamers must be playing close to home now, as Blue Chip tumbled 22.5% to $10 million. Elsewhere in the state, French Lick Resort swooned 31% to $5 million, Belterra Resort gained 3% to finish with $8 million and Rising Star slalomed 16% to $4 million. Sports-betting handle staved off a challenge from Illinois with $207.5 million in action. Compare that to $35 million a year ago, the first month in which sports betting was legal.

“Indiana has benefitted from Illinois’ relatively slow launch and its inconsistency with in-person registration requirements, buying Indiana time to continue to capitalize on the Chicago market,” said analyst Jessica Welman. The large handle translated into big revenue by sports book standards: over $14 million. With the Big 10 temporarily sidelined, players went big for the NFL, especially the Indianapolis Colts, racking up $48.5 million in handle. That dominated all sports, NBA playoffs spurred another $34 million, followed by baseball with $30 million. Preeminent choice among online punters was Ameristar/DraftKings, with $89.5 million in wagers, with Blue Chip/FanDuel second at $56.5 million. Belterra/BetMGM has its work cut out for it with $13 million, although French Resort/BetRivers was unexpectedly strong given the no-name brands involved: $6 million. Caesars/Unibet at Horseshoe Hammond was almost a non-factor at $1 million. Hollywood Lawrenceburg’s terrestrial sports book was the most popular, with $10 million exchanged at the wickets.

Meanwhile, state Sen. John Ford (R) is pressing forward to legalize Internet gambling, which would open another significant revenue stream. Concluded analyst Dustin Gouker, “With a maturing online sports betting market, Indiana already has strong infrastructure in place to quickly ramp up. That would put the market on the path of success.” Indeed it should.

In case you missed it on our Twitter feed, Jan. 27, 2021 is the date certain for the Trump Dump, er, Trump Plaza to be imploded … although if one waits long enough the Plaza will crumble into dust of its own accord. [insert metaphor here] We learned that in the course of a highly informative colloquy between Global Gaming Business Publisher Roger Gros and Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small, who—among other things—weighs in favor of maintaining the deed restrictions on the Claridge Hotel and Atlantic Club, saying essentially that the city’s got nine casinos to bring back and that’s plenty. There’s an awkward moment when Gros describes Black Lives Matter to the African-American Small as a “problem.” Small patiently explains that the problem isn’t BLM but local troublemaker Steve Young, who has hijacked the movement to his own, self-aggrandizing ends. While not endorsing BLM as an organization, Small says he’ll institute a Black Lives Matter Day starting next year. We heartily second the motion.

Finally, Eataly at Park MGM might have some issues if this Phoenix-area Italian restaurant branches out to Sin City.