{"id":10784,"date":"2013-05-10T12:24:51","date_gmt":"2013-05-10T20:24:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=10784"},"modified":"2013-05-14T08:19:21","modified_gmt":"2013-05-14T16:19:21","slug":"nevada-the-recovery-continues-elsewhere-not-so-much","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/nevada-the-recovery-continues-elsewhere-not-so-much\/","title":{"rendered":"Nevada: The recovery continues; Elsewhere: Not so much"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"After a boffo February<\/a>, the Silver State also posted extraordinary numbers in March. As Deutsche Bank<\/strong> headlined its report, “Different Month, Same Tune.” Analyst Carlo<\/strong> Santarelli<\/strong> cautioned, “we believe the underlying trends are not as strong as the headline would suggest<\/em>,” pointing toward slippage in slot handle and in table drop (down 10.5%), excluding baccarat. But Strip revenues have risen 7% in the first quarter, as have statewide ones. March numbers on the Las Vegas Strip<\/strong> leapt like a frog, up 13%. Even with less coin-in, tighter holds pushed slot win up 6%. Baccarat action was back in a big way (as in 93%), with casinos winning $77 million. By comparison, the bump in all other table win on the Strip (5%) seemed unspectacular. We get so spoiled sometimes.<\/p>\n

J.P. Morgan<\/strong> analyst Joseph Greff<\/strong> called the numbers a harbinger of “continued uneven recovery,” expecting a 7.5% boost when April’s numbers are released. Whatever munificence the tourists — whose attendance was almost identical with last year’s, are experiencing isn’t being felt at the local level. While the Average Joe in Clark Count<\/strong>y was playing (and losing) quite a bit more last spring, March’s numbers were flat. Downtown<\/strong> was up 5% (even if Tony Hsieh<\/strong> thinks people shouldn’t be gambling<\/a> there), while the Boulder Strip<\/strong> and North Las Vegas<\/strong> experienced very modest declines. Laughlin<\/strong> dealt itself\u00a0 a bad hand, though, down 13%. Life was good to Reno<\/strong> (+11%) and Elko<\/strong> (8%) but not Lake Tahoe<\/strong> (-11%), which has become pretty small potatoes as a market.<\/p>\n

P<\/strong>icking through a few<\/strong> regional markets, Iowa<\/strong> had another “blah” month, down 2%. Caesars Entertainment<\/strong> and Ameristar Casinos<\/strong> came out slightly ahead but Isle of Capri Casinos<\/strong> had a slow month, down 3% overall. And is Penn National Gaming<\/strong> just phoning it in on Argosy Sioux City<\/em>, now that it’s contract with the state isn’t going to be renewed<\/a>? How to explain that 11% decline? Except for a 32% dropoff aboard Rhythm City<\/em>, there were no dramatic fluctuations to report. Independent operators generally had a good month, up 5%.<\/p>\n

\"\"Missouri<\/strong> would have been down 5% last month were it not for the customers repatriated by Isle’s Cape Girardeau<\/strong> casino, good for almost $6 million. That softened the blow of a terrible month in the St. Louis<\/strong> area. But even with an 18% plunge at Hollywood Casino St. Louis<\/strong>, its $20 million gross still dwarfed the $13 million of Pinnacle Entertainment<\/strong>‘s Lumiere Place<\/strong> (left<\/em>), solidifying my conviction that Pinnacle will shed another vestige of the Dan Lee<\/strong> era and put Lumiere Place on the market if\u00a0 the Federal Trade Commission<\/strong> frowns upon one casino company owning almost 75% of one market. Factoring in Illinois<\/strong>-side Casino Queen<\/em> and Alton Belle<\/em> might dilute the numbers just enough for Pinnacle to appease the feds, although Lumiere Place does seem ripe for divestiture.<\/p>\n

River City<\/strong> was steady, year over year, and declines at Ameristar St. Charles<\/strong> and Lumiere Place<\/strong> were in the 3-4% range. We’ve now lapped the one-year anniversary of Penn’s Kansas Speedway<\/strong> casino and the Kansas City<\/strong> market \"\"appears to have adjusted to absorb the newcomer. Except for Penn’s Argosy Riverside<\/em> (up 3%, believe it or not), the declines were smallish: -3% at Ameristar Kansas City<\/em>, -3% on Isle of Capri Kansas City<\/em> and -5% aboard Harrah’s North Kansas City<\/em>. As bad as seasonal flooding can be in the Show-Me State, one is happily surprised that the numbers weren’t worse.<\/p>\n

Speaking of anniversaries, Revel<\/strong> just passed its one-year mark, although this isn’t a context in which one thinks of popping champagne corks. Caesars Atlantic City<\/strong> rose 6% and the Atlantic Club<\/strong> (possibly with the help of some \"\"PokerStars<\/strong> subsidies) was up 37%, while Trump Taj Mahal<\/strong> (-1%) and Borgata<\/strong> (-1.5%) held their ground, consistent with previous trends. (Wherever Revel<\/strong> is getting its customers, it’s not<\/em> from the other high-end properties; so much for that theory.) For everybody else, if April wasn’t the cruelest month she was a mean bitch: double-digit declines up and down the Boardwalk. Reporting a beyond-pathetic $6 million, Trump Plaza<\/strong> fell 32% while half-rebuilt Bally’s Atlantic City<\/strong> still posts sickly numbers, down 29.5%. But … but … and again, but<\/em> — Revel somehow managed to fall 40% off the very modest business ($13.5 million) recorded during its protracted soft opening, landing in next-to-last place with an $8 million thud. Assuming that any reputable casino company wants to take on this white elephant, nothing short of a total rebranding seems enough to salvage a casino so arrogant that — and I still can’t believe this — it didn’t have a players’ club, among other missing amenities<\/a>. Where’s Sheldon Adelson<\/strong> when you really could use him?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After a boffo February, the Silver State also posted extraordinary numbers in March. As Deutsche Bank headlined its report, “Different Month, Same Tune.” Analyst Carlo Santarelli cautioned, “we believe the underlying trends are not as strong as the headline would … 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":[40,23,88,60,3,28,145,42,51,14,7,58,86,85,45,76,49,53,39,78,69,30,79,157,9,19,38],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10784"}],"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=10784"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10784\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10792,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10784\/revisions\/10792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}