{"id":13746,"date":"2014-06-10T11:13:07","date_gmt":"2014-06-10T19:13:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=13746"},"modified":"2020-10-13T05:59:55","modified_gmt":"2020-10-13T13:59:55","slug":"indiana-struggles-ohio-flourishes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/indiana-struggles-ohio-flourishes\/","title":{"rendered":"Indiana struggles, Ohio flourishes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Customers visited 8% in Indiana and spent 4% less. There were some salutary results<\/a>. Pinnacle Entertainment<\/strong>‘s Ameristar East Chicago<\/strong> was up 2% and Boyd Gaming<\/strong>‘s Blue Chip<\/em> saw revenues rise 3%. It was a big month for the racinos, with Hoosier Park<\/strong> reporting 15% higher grosses and Indiana Downs<\/strong> up a whopping 25%.<\/p>\n

Other casinos took a whipping. In the north, Majestic Star II<\/em> was down \"belterra\"<\/a>20%, while casinos in the greater Cincinnati<\/strong> area continued to suffer. Belterra<\/strong> posted an 18.5% decline and low-grossing Rising Star Casino Resort<\/strong>\u00a0was practically wiped out, 26% off last year’s pace. Penn National Gaming<\/strong>‘s Hollywood Lawrenceburg<\/strong> was hammered, too, down 27%. Even Casino Aztar<\/em> saw a rare (albeit small) revenue declivity. Caesars Entertainment<\/strong> didn’t have a great month, what with Horseshoe Hammond<\/strong> off its feed\u00a0(-5%) and some incremental cannibalization in the south, at Horseshoe Southern Indiana<\/strong> (-4.5%). Indie French Lick<\/strong> took a licking though, down 15%.<\/p>\n

Racinos are coming on strong next door<\/a> in Ohio<\/strong>, where they represented $56 million of the total, $127 million gaming gross. Even so, Penn managed a 3% increase at Hollywood Toledo<\/strong> and a 9.5% boost at problem child Hollywood Columbus<\/strong>. Nearby rival Scioto Downs<\/strong> saw a 7% increase. Horseshoe Cleveland<\/strong> remained the state’s top-grossing casino, despite a 3% slippage, while Thistledown Racino<\/strong> fell 4%. However, the opening of Pinnacle’s Belterra Park<\/strong> racino seems to have complicated life for Horseshoe Cincinnati<\/strong> which fell a surprising 12.5%. The state’s racinos are on a steady upward curve, complicating life for the full-service casinos, of which only Horseshoe Cleveland is on an unequivocally upward trajectory.<\/p>\n

Kennedy out, Isaacs in<\/strong>. A bit sooner than expected, Gavin Isaacs<\/strong> has \"GavinIsaacs\"<\/a>taken the CEO’s chair at Scientific Games<\/strong>, displacing interim president David Kennedy<\/strong>. Wrote Deutsche Bank<\/strong> analyst Carlo Santarelli<\/strong>, “<\/em>the timing was a bit ahead of schedule given the SHFL<\/strong>\u00a0non-compete implied a Fall appointment …\u00a0we think Mr. Isaacs arrival is a net positive for the Company given his successful track record and respect amongst industry peers. However, we continue to see SGMS as a company with significant headwinds given equipment industry challenges<\/em>” among other issues. <\/span><\/p>\n

The stock has been on a steady downward march since an October apogee of $19.03, which may explain why Isaacs is taking the reins sooner than expected. Company Chairman Ronald Perelman<\/strong> called Isaacs “the ideal choice to lead our efforts to achieve greater profitability and increased cash flow.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

* Horseshoe Baltimore<\/strong> will be bringing a distinctively Vegas element when it opens with 14forty<\/strong>, a round-the-clock bar. Bottle service and a two-story video screen<\/a> will be some of the Vegas-like amenities it offers. For those who prefer a local touch, B’More Beers<\/strong> will have 32 local brews on tap.<\/p>\n

* The Macanese government plans to continue curbing the employment of UnionPay Co<\/strong>. debit cards as instruments of payments at Macao<\/strong> casinos. \"Macao<\/a>The idea is to inhibit the practice of buying expensive items then receiving the cash value rather than the item itself. “The Macau Monetary Authority<\/strong> ordered jewelry stores and pawnshops operating on casino floors to remove their UnionPay card terminals by July 1.” <\/span><\/div>\n
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Already China<\/strong>‘s government has restricted the use of UnionPay card swipers on casino floors, which has been blamed for slower-than-expected gambling action. The object, as always, is to curb the unauthorized removal of funds from China. Even VIPs, who obtain credit from junket operators, will be hurting. U.S. casinos are keeping a stiff upper lip about the matter. Such are the joys of operating in a controlled economy.<\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Customers visited 8% in Indiana and spent 4% less. There were some salutary results. Pinnacle Entertainment‘s Ameristar East Chicago was up 2% and Boyd Gaming‘s Blue Chip saw revenues rise 3%. It was a big month for the racinos, 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":[40,60,18,7,62,72,158,71,69,30,111,25,160,107,21,38],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13746"}],"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=13746"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13746\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28153,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13746\/revisions\/28153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}