{"id":12678,"date":"2014-02-06T13:19:25","date_gmt":"2014-02-06T21:19:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=12678"},"modified":"2021-04-15T06:17:49","modified_gmt":"2021-04-15T14:17:49","slug":"penn-gets-frostbite-virginia-passes-up-gambling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/penn-gets-frostbite-virginia-passes-up-gambling\/","title":{"rendered":"Penn gets frostbite; Virginia passes up gambling"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"hollywood<\/a>Caught between harsh weather and a tighter competitive squeeze, Penn National Gaming<\/strong> posted 4Q13 revenues that were 13% down from last year. The $645 million loss drew a surprisingly muted reaction from gaming analysts. The company is already drastically reducing revenue and EBITDA expectations for 1Q14. Rent charged to Penn’s REIT parent, Gaming & Leisure Properties<\/strong>, pretty much sank the company’s fourth quarter, with other, aforementioned factors applying the coup de grace<\/em>. Some of the loss was attributable to stock-based compensation<\/a>, a bit of self-dealing that Penn could do very well without right now.<\/p>\n

Penn execs talked up new projects, including two Ohio<\/strong> racinos and a tribal casino near San Diego<\/strong>, as well as the completion of the overhaul of Casino Hollywood St. Louis<\/strong> (formerly Harrah’s Maryland Heights<\/strong>). If chosen for a slot parlor in Massachusetts, Penn predicts it can have a temporary facility up by midsummer or soon afterward. Debt was low, at $1 billion. Although Penn missed revenue estimates, analysts dismissed that as “roughly in line” with revenue projections. Deutsche Bank<\/strong> analyst Carlo Santarelli<\/strong>, for one, had so aggressively lowballed his projections that one would think the quarter an unalloyed triumph for Penn. Credit Penn with a brilliant job of managing expectations.<\/p>\n

It took five years<\/strong> to bring high roller Semion Kronenfeld<\/strong> to trial but it’s finally going to happen. Kronienfeld’s defense is going to be that casino promotions and other enticements are to blame for his debts<\/a>. He’s being brought to justice on defaulted markers of $5 million at Green Valley Ranch<\/strong> and $8 million at the Venetian<\/strong>. Yup, it’s all Sheldon Adelson<\/strong>‘s fault. (Just kidding.)<\/p>\n

Fold ’em<\/strong>. That’s what Virginia<\/strong> state Sen. Louise Lucas<\/strong> (D) decided to do with a casino bill in the Lege, despite having found a sponsor in the House, too<\/a>. Lucas’ idea is to put a casino in the Portsmouth<\/strong> area, enabling the state to scrap much-despised tolls in Hampton Roads<\/strong>. Too bad: It was a good idea.<\/p>\n

Louisiana political campaigns<\/strong> have been very lucrative for a few casinos — and not the ones you think<\/a>. Obscure Paragon Casino & Resort<\/strong> hauled in the most lucre.<\/p>\n

They left<\/strong> their heart in San Francisco<\/strong> and their wallets in Vegas<\/a>. Sin City finishes second to The City as a romantic destination. Maybe we ought to work on that.<\/p>\n

Last month in Macao<\/strong> … three concessionaires controlled two-thirds of the market share. SJM Holdings<\/strong> (23%), Sands China<\/strong> (22%) and Galaxy Entertainment Group<\/strong> (20%) were all tops. Wynn Resorts<\/strong> finished in distant sixth place, garnering only 9% of market share. Of course, if Steve Wynn<\/strong> were here, he’d contend it’s the right<\/em> 9% — and who can contradict him?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Caught between harsh weather and a tighter competitive squeeze, Penn National Gaming posted 4Q13 revenues that were 13% down from last year. The $645 million loss drew a surprisingly muted reaction from gaming analysts. The company is already drastically reducing … 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":[34,84,62,39,71,69,33,90,111,12,61,32,31,38],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12678"}],"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=12678"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12678\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29513,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12678\/revisions\/29513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}