{"id":10302,"date":"2013-01-11T16:32:03","date_gmt":"2013-01-12T00:32:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=10302"},"modified":"2021-06-04T05:16:05","modified_gmt":"2021-06-04T13:16:05","slug":"hollywood-we-have-a-problem-the-marrandino-mystery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/hollywood-we-have-a-problem-the-marrandino-mystery\/","title":{"rendered":"Hollywood, we have a problem; The Marrandino mystery"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Ohio<\/strong> casinos had a below-average December, although the blow was softened by table hold of — YEOW! — 23%. That’s borderline-astronomical compared to Las Vegas<\/strong> averages for 2004-2011 period. It’ll help make up for slot revenues that suggest, with six racinos and one full-service casino still to come, the Buckeye State market isn’t what it was cracked up to be. If, per Dr. David G. Schwartz<\/strong>, $200 per day is the average win you’d like to see from your slot machines, the two Penn National Gaming<\/strong> casinos (even in a limited marketplace) are looking a tad pale. Last month, Hollywood Columbus<\/strong> — which competes with nearby Scioto Downs<\/strong> — won a sickly $115\/day, down from a not-exactly-impressive $140\/day monthly average. Hollywood Toledo<\/strong> has been hovering above the Mendoza Line, at $217\/day, but dipped to $175\/day in December.<\/p>\n

\"\"Conversely, Scioto Downs — where the VLT hold is incrementally tighter than Hollywood’s<\/a> — was steady. “We’re happy with our numbers,” said General Manager Troy Buswell<\/strong> — and with good reason. VLTs have also been, very<\/em> surprisingly, a boon to harness-race wagering at the racino. Kudos to MTR Gaming<\/strong> for a hand exceptionally well played. Holiday season or no, Horseshoe Cleveland<\/strong> actually improved<\/em> its monthly slot-win numbers, producing an above-average $265 per slot (up from $254). This led to some irrational exuberance on the part of local TV station WEWS<\/strong>, which erroneously crowed that the Caesars Entertainment<\/strong> property had — at $24.5 million — outgrossed all Atlantic City<\/strong> casinos except Borgata<\/strong>. Not so, my good friends. There’s a little hole in the wall called Harrah’s Resort<\/strong> that led Caesars’ New Jersey<\/strong> pack with $29 million. It must be a bittersweet feeling for Gary Loveman<\/strong> to see his newest casino doing so well — but knowing he’s only going to get a fifth of the proceeds. To Caesars the glory, to Dan Gilbert<\/strong> the spoils. Enjoy them while they last, because Loveman and Gilbert are a few months away from cannibalizing their own market when they open their Thistledown Park<\/strong> racino.<\/p>\n

Ohio, however, looks robust<\/strong> compared to Maryland<\/strong>, where the state’s three gambling facilities grossed but $45 million<\/a> last month (i.e., considerably less than Borgata solamente<\/em>). Four-fifths of that was generated by Cordish \"\"Gaming<\/strong>‘s Maryland Live<\/strong> casino. Even in December, the Arundel Mills<\/strong>-located slot parlor took in $244\/slot\/day. Hollywood Perryville<\/strong> (left<\/em>) had to be content with a lean $128\/slot\/day. Ocean Downs<\/strong> did slightly better ($134) but with far fewer machines: 800 to 1,500. In tragi-comic note, we learn that Penn National tried to give 500 slots back to the state<\/a> last summer but Annapolis<\/strong> wouldn’t take them. So now it looks like 340 of them will just go into storage to make room for table games. At least the fact the Hollywood Perryville is adding<\/em> tables means Penn execs have come to terms with the reality of casino expansion in Maryland, a $44 million dose of psychotherapy. Wall Street<\/strong> may be deeply in love with Penn but you’d expect better performance from its marquee Hollywood brand, in light of all the recent self-aggrandizement coming from Penn HQ.<\/p>\n

\"\"Life after Atlantic City<\/strong>. A week into the post-Don Marrandino<\/strong> era on the Boardwalk, we’ve had more heat than light on the subject of his twilight expulsion from the Caesars empire. Judging by the elegiac tone of local columnists<\/a> and former colleagues, it doesn’t sound like anybody’s buying the official storyline. Philadelphia Inquirer<\/em> columnist Chuck Darrow<\/strong> comes right out and says it, chalking up Marrandino’s exit to a salary dump. He also contends that imperial headquarters back in Vegas was keeping its East Coast tribune on a short financial leash<\/a>. Then again, after recent Caesars run-ins<\/a> with the New Jersey Casino Control Commission<\/strong> and a mass December exodus of slot players, Loveman may have felt he had good cause to administer Marrandino some hemlock. Whatever the case, the palace coup left a sudden vacancy upon the throne<\/a> of the Atlantic City Alliance<\/strong>. The city’s most prominent casino executives are ineligible to fill Marrandino’s vacated seat, so Harrah’s General Manager John Smith<\/strong> finds himself thrust into the spotlight, whether he likes it or not. Since divisional vice presidents are expensive and Loveman can’t abide living in Las Vegas<\/strong>, maybe he should stay close to the eastern properties, just in case he’s needed. He could issue edicts from his dining-room table in Massachusetts<\/strong> and the company would save a bundle on corporate jet usage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ohio casinos had a below-average December, although the blow was softened by table hold of — YEOW! — 23%. That’s borderline-astronomical compared to Las Vegas averages for 2004-2011 period. It’ll help make up for slot revenues that suggest, with six … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[23,60,70,28,154,14,7,67,72,158,71,69,111,25,38],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10302"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10302"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10302\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29666,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10302\/revisions\/29666"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}