{"id":13224,"date":"2014-04-07T11:06:42","date_gmt":"2014-04-07T19:06:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=13224"},"modified":"2014-04-07T11:06:42","modified_gmt":"2014-04-07T19:06:42","slug":"penn-tanks-in-illinois-bluhm-ascends-the-casino-transfer-that-wasnt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/penn-tanks-in-illinois-bluhm-ascends-the-casino-transfer-that-wasnt\/","title":{"rendered":"Penn tanks in Illinois, Bluhm ascends; The casino transfer that wasn’t"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"alton<\/a>There were two clear winners in Illinois<\/strong> last month and one big loser — Penn National Gaming<\/strong>. Performing worse than expected, \u00a0Penn had double-digit declines at all four of its casinos: Empress Joliet<\/strong> (-14%), Hollywood Aurora<\/strong> (-14%), Alton Belle<\/strong> (16%) and parent GLPI<\/strong>‘s new acquisition Casino Queen<\/strong> (-14%). In contrast to these listing ships, Harrah’s Joliet<\/strong> sailed on an even keel, posting flat revenues from last year. And Neil Bluhm<\/strong>‘s Rivers Casino<\/strong> in Des Plaines<\/strong> was 4% up. Boyd Gaming<\/strong>‘s Par-A-Dice<\/strong> slipped 10% and the bloom is definitely off the rose for Casino Rock Island<\/strong> (-14%). I won’t belabor what these comparisons mean for Illinois’ casino industry. Responsible lawmakers should be able to look at the numbers and reach a responsible conclusion. Whether they can is the $139 million (statewide gaming gross) question.<\/p>\n

Thanks a lot<\/strong>. That’s probably what some Massachusetts<\/strong> lawmakers are thinking about Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh<\/strong>. His bigfooting of the casino-licensing process will push the payment of $85 million in licensing fees into that next fiscal year<\/a>. Much of that money is earmarked for the rainy-day fund but, in an irony sure to be keenly felt at Suffolk Downs<\/strong>, it also contains horse-racing subsidies.<\/p>\n

\"Greektown\"<\/a>Whoops!<\/strong> When a casino changes hands in Detroit<\/strong>, the mayor and city council are supposed to give it their blessing. This didn’t happen<\/a> when Dan Gilbert<\/strong> purchased Greektown Casino-Hotel<\/strong> and Gilbert apparently didn’t seek civic approval either. The relevant law is pretty clear that Gilbert couldn’t have purchased Greektown, “nor may any party other than the designated developer operate a casino or casino complex pursuant to the development agreement, unless the mayor and City Council give their consent to the sale or transfer<\/span><\/em>.\u201d (Emphasis added.)<\/p>\n

Greektown is in good standing with state regulators but the Detroit City Council<\/strong> seems at sixes and sevens over how to handle the matter. Said a flummoxed council President Brenda Jones<\/strong>, \u201cWe have been talking about this since last year. We should be able to get some type of response of what\u2019s going on, and know what\u2019s going on as a body who is supposed to approve what has happened.\u201d The city council could try to unravel the months-old deal but would probably rather find some way to ratify the inevitable, especially since Gilbert is a homeboy.<\/p>\n

\"horizon2\"<\/a>Lake Tahoe<\/strong>‘s eternal volatility is the subject of an in-depth report<\/a> from the Reno Gazette-Journal<\/em>. Despite steep declines over the last decade (36.5%), owners continue to wax optimistic about the market, even if some commentators do not.\u00a0“It’s a seesaw that Tahoe always has,” remarks gaming consulting Ken Adams<\/strong>, referring to the too-little, too-much snow vagaries which shape Tahoe’s fortunes.<\/p>\n

However, Full House Resorts<\/strong> has pulled off a double-digit increase in business after renovations to the Hyatt Grand Lodge<\/strong> Casino. Both the Horizon Casino Resort<\/strong>\u00a0(pictured<\/em>) and the Cal-Neva Resort Spa & Casino<\/strong> are closed for upgrades, and Caesars Entertainment<\/strong> is putting in new slots and carpeting at Harrah’s Lake Tahoe<\/strong>. When you think about all the tribal competition that interdicts the Sacramento<\/strong>-Lake Tahoe commute, it’s impressive that so many casinos there are still standing after the last decade.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There were two clear winners in Illinois last month and one big loser — Penn National Gaming. Performing worse than expected, \u00a0Penn had double-digit declines at all four of its casinos: Empress Joliet (-14%), Hollywood Aurora (-14%), Alton Belle (16%) … 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":[60,154,44,7,67,76,112,91,69,25,31],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13224"}],"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=13224"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13224\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13225,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13224\/revisions\/13225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}