{"id":14508,"date":"2014-09-08T09:39:10","date_gmt":"2014-09-08T17:39:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=14508"},"modified":"2014-09-08T09:59:19","modified_gmt":"2014-09-08T17:59:19","slug":"dispatches-from-iowa-and-illinois","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/dispatches-from-iowa-and-illinois\/","title":{"rendered":"Dispatches from Iowa and Illinois"},"content":{"rendered":"

August was a good month for Iowa<\/strong>, as casino revenues rose 4%. The big winner was Pinnacle Entertainment<\/strong>‘s Ameristar Council Bluffs<\/strong>, up 7% with a $15 \"Iowa<\/a>million gross. Caesars Entertainment<\/strong> had mixed results, with Horseshoe Casino<\/strong> ($16 million) down 3% but Harrah’s Council Bluffs<\/strong>, which used to be the poor relation of the company, up 6%. It grossed $7 million. Embattled Isle of Capri Casinos<\/strong> also had good news to report. Its Iowa properties posted a 3% increase in revenue. The news was less good for Boyd Gaming<\/strong>, whose Diamond Jo Worth<\/strong> and Diamond Jo Dubuque<\/strong> riverboats sprang leaks, metaphorically speaking. The duo was down 6%, grossing $13 million. The total for Iowa is minus Argosy Sioux City<\/strong>, which closed Aug. 1 but plus Hard Rock Sioux City<\/strong>, which notched a boffo $7.2 million<\/a> in its first full month of operation.<\/p>\n

* Comparatively, Illinois<\/strong>‘ situation is one of “It could have been worse.” The state’s casinos declined 5.5%, which isn’t that bad considering the spread of slot routes across the state. Foot traffic, however, was 7.5% off and customers spent 2% less than a year ago. Penn National Gaming<\/strong>‘s Empress Joliet<\/strong> was the only casino to post a gain, up 5% ($11.5%). Even the redoubtable Rivers Casino<\/strong> was 1% off, though it grossed $36 million. Its closest competitor was Harrah’s Joliet<\/strong>, down 6% but grossing $18 million. MGM Resorts International<\/strong>‘s Grand Victoria<\/strong> went into a tailspin, down 15% for a $15 million gross. Boyd’s Par-A-Dice<\/strong> grossed $8 million, down 7%.<\/p>\n

Penn’s two other Illinois properties didn’t fare as well as Empress Joliet. Marginal Argosy Alton<\/strong>\u00a0grossed $5 million, down 11.5%, while Hollywood Aurora<\/strong> raked in a healthier 11% but was still 9% off last year’s pace. Penn in-law, East St. Louis<\/strong>‘ Casino Queen<\/strong> grossed $9.5 million for owner GLPI but was still down 10%. At least Harrah’s Metropolis<\/strong> has eased its slide, winning $7 million and slipping only 4%.<\/p>\n

* Trump Plaza<\/strong> isn’t going so gently into that good night. Tenant Rainforest Cafe<\/strong> says it can operate as a standalone — provided that it’s given three months to hook up the requisite infrastructure. (Its ingress and egress are off the Boardwalk.) The dispute will land Trump Entertainment Resorts<\/strong> in a familiar place … court<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

August was a good month for Iowa, as casino revenues rose 4%. The big winner was Pinnacle Entertainment‘s Ameristar Council Bluffs, up 7% with a $15 million gross. Caesars Entertainment had mixed results, with Horseshoe Casino ($16 million) down 3% … 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":[60,7,58,86,85,11,91,69,30,169,146],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14508"}],"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=14508"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14508\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14511,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14508\/revisions\/14511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}