{"id":12494,"date":"2014-01-17T14:32:21","date_gmt":"2014-01-17T22:32:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=12494"},"modified":"2019-06-10T10:53:37","modified_gmt":"2019-06-10T18:53:37","slug":"winter-of-discontent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/winter-of-discontent\/","title":{"rendered":"Winter of discontent"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Foxwoods\"<\/a>It’s been a grim December for regional casino markets. Even Pennsylvania<\/strong>, once a bastion of strength, ended 2013 with a slight year\/year decline<\/a>. In Connecticut<\/strong>, a 15% revenue decline was reported at Foxwoods Resort Casino<\/strong>, with handle off 21%. Mohegan Sun<\/strong> showed less volatility of handle but revenue was 8% down there, too. Foxwoods CEO Scott “Woody” Butera<\/strong> dismissed the numbers as “on par with what our expectations were for December,” in a startling display of candor<\/a>. The pain is being felt in Hartford<\/strong>, whose share of slot lucre fell from $430 million to $296 million in 2013.<\/p>\n

\"Harrahs<\/a>Statewide, Louisiana<\/strong> was off 4% from last year<\/a> — worse when measured on a same-store basis, allowing for Margaritaville<\/strong> in Shreveport<\/strong>. The only riverboats showing more-than-incremental gains were Pinnacle Entertainment<\/strong>‘s two L’Auberge<\/strong>-branded ones. Among those having a particularly rough time of it were Hollywood Baton Rouge<\/strong> (-19%), Harrah’s New Orleans<\/strong> (-18%) and Boyd Gaming<\/strong>‘s Treasure Chest<\/strong> riverboat (-16%).<\/p>\n

Kudos to Caesars Entertainment<\/strong> for a multi-pronged promotional deal with the Chicago Blackhawks<\/strong>. The ingenious promos range from Blackhawks logos on Horseshoe Hammond<\/strong>‘s table games to free-play cards for early arriving fans at Blackhawks games. Team-related events will also be held aboard the ‘Shoe. Congratulations to whoever brainstormed this scheme. (Incidentally, Horseshoe Hammond’s lack of a hotel — unique in its market — cost it a day of business<\/a> during recent snow storms.)<\/p>\n

Betting on fantasy sports<\/strong> could be a real bonanza … provided casinos can find a way to make it work<\/a>. (That shouldn’t be difficult.) The demographics — young, male and unmarried — dovetail with those of the prototypical nightclub patron. So Vegas has a captive audience that it has to figure out how to tap. Daily fantasy wagering is seen as the easiest way to make it work. Matthew Holt<\/strong> of CT Technology<\/strong> “said fantasy sports\u2019 evolution in Las Vegas would be tied to properties creating fantasy games around a loyalty program that lets participants use points they earn for rewards, such as free rooms, meals or concerts.”<\/p>\n

While I agree with anti-gambling activist Kathy Gilroy<\/strong> that allowing MTV<\/strong>‘s\u00a016 and Pregnant<\/em> in Tinley Park<\/strong>, Illinois<\/strong>, would be deplorable, would allowing slot routes be worse? That’s what she’s have us believe. I don’t buy and it doesn’t look like City Hall will either.<\/p>\n

\"adelson\"<\/a>Sheldon Adelson<\/strong> has so little clout in D.C.<\/strong> that he can’t find a sponsor<\/a> for an anti-Internet gambling bill that’s been gathering dust since October. Adelson’s latest ploy is to brandish the “terrorism” bogeyman as an excuse to illegalize i-poker and other games. American Gaming Association<\/strong> President Geoff Freeman<\/strong> dismissed El Bombastico’s bill as “pretend Prohibition,” which pretty much hits it on the nail. Besides, Las Vegas Sands<\/strong> isn’t the industry’s paragon where money handling is concerned.<\/p>\n

Want to get a tour<\/strong> of Vegas from a bonafide Mafia hit man? Frank Cullotta<\/a> is giving nightly bus tours, $99 each<\/a>, jumping off from the Royal Resort<\/strong> (a real throwback joint). It will include some sites where Cullotta put a slug into some unfortunate guy’s noggin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s been a grim December for regional casino markets. Even Pennsylvania, once a bastion of strength, ended 2013 with a slight year\/year decline. In Connecticut, a 15% revenue decline was reported at Foxwoods Resort Casino, with handle off 21%. Mohegan … 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":[60,14,166,7,84,53,167,69,95,30,33,12,74,31,87,9,19],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12494"}],"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=12494"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12494\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24303,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12494\/revisions\/24303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}