{"id":12541,"date":"2014-01-24T10:44:24","date_gmt":"2014-01-24T18:44:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=12541"},"modified":"2014-01-24T10:44:24","modified_gmt":"2014-01-24T18:44:24","slug":"igt-disappoints-gop-hesitates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/igt-disappoints-gop-hesitates\/","title":{"rendered":"IGT disappoints, GOP hesitates"},"content":{"rendered":"

International Game Technology<\/strong> reported 1Q14 results that were great, if you read the Las Vegas Review-Journal<\/em>, \u00a0and disappointing if you read Wall Street<\/strong> analysts. Profits were up 21%<\/a> — but revenue growth slowed to 2%. Social gaming was credited with much of what revenue increase there was. Investors were also warned that the cost of the DoubleDown<\/strong> purchase would begin to be felt.<\/p>\n

\"WeidmannBoard\"<\/a>Domestic sales of machines grew but 7%, not impressive when compared to interactive revenue (up 41%) or DoubleDown Casino, soaring 57%. Visitation to the site is also up 17% from a year ago, as punters visited more often and played more. However, DoubleDown founders\u00a0Greg Enell<\/strong> and Cooper DuBois<\/strong> have up and left IGT<\/a>, causing even more agita<\/em> among analysts, although they may have been merely serving out non-compete agreements. A company spokesman tried to assure all and sundry that “a strong senior leadership team is in place to continue the success of IGT\u2019s DoubleDown<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Deutsche Bank<\/strong> analyst Carlo Santarelli<\/strong> blamed “softer-than-expected product sales and gaming operations revenues, softer-than-expected gaming operations gross margins, and higher-than-expected adjusted … R&D expenses<\/em>” for IGT’s miss of Strip expectations. Analyst consensus projected 30 cents of earnings per share. They got $0.25.<\/p>\n

J.P. Morgan<\/strong> analyst Joseph Greff<\/strong> also lowered his price guidance, for very similar reasons. He warned against “stagnating North American slot \"web1_WEB-IGT-LOGO\"<\/a>replacements, lower year-over-year activity in new\/expansion markets in the US, a no\/negative growth US gross gaming revenue environment, and heightened competition in its core product sales and gaming operations segment<\/em>.” He also faulted the company for “less than stellar” timing of its stock buybacks, tending to buy high or just before a share-price drop. He also quoted IGT as predicting cost reductions as a protective measure. He called the quarterly report “mostly negative.”<\/p>\n

\"Harmon<\/a>An unprecedented amount<\/strong> of lobbying is going into making Las Vegas<\/strong> the site of the 2016 GOP convention. Let’s be clear about this: It would be great for the local economy but it means courting<\/a> a number of people for whom Sin City’s signature activities are anathema. Fortunately, casino-friendly Haley Barbour<\/strong> is on the steering committee that’s fielding the charm offensive<\/a> from LV2016<\/strong>, as it’s called. A promotional video re-paints Las Vegas in family friendly terms (“531 places of worship”) — but who thought to include the infamous Harmon Hotel<\/strong> in the montage? It also touts our high ethnic-minority demographics, something of concern to the Grand Old Party as it strives to reinvent itself.<\/p>\n

The effort, in which both Sheldon Adelson<\/strong> and Steve Wynn<\/strong> are involved, has \"Sheldon<\/a>indulged in some light trash-talking of other cities. (“Las Vegas can guarantee: There will be no hurricanes.”) Casino gambling? “It\u2019s just an issue that is no longer on the table,” says Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki<\/strong> (R). Infrastructurally, Vegas has everything the GOP needs … except a venue. All of our convention halls are too small, although you could at least do the mandatory balloon drop at Mandalay Bay Event Center<\/strong>.\u00a0Alas, LV2016 is running into predictably shirty responses, like Iowa<\/strong> power broker Tamara Scott<\/strong>‘s \u201cIt\u2019s Vegas \u2014 it\u2019s known for anything but wholesome. I have reservations as soon as I hear the word \u2018Vegas.\u2019\u00a0<\/em>\u201d This is one lobbying gig for which the mayoral showgirls will have to be left at home. Las Vegas is, in many respects, overdue for a presidential convention, but some people just don’t get it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

International Game Technology reported 1Q14 results that were great, if you read the Las Vegas Review-Journal, \u00a0and disappointing if you read Wall Street analysts. Profits were up 21% — but revenue growth slowed to 2%. Social gaming was credited with … 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":[14,29,37,33,9,19,38],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12541"}],"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=12541"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12541\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12543,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12541\/revisions\/12543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}