{"id":16177,"date":"2015-06-05T10:14:44","date_gmt":"2015-06-05T18:14:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=16177"},"modified":"2015-06-05T12:58:06","modified_gmt":"2015-06-05T20:58:06","slug":"smooth-sailing-in-illinois-iowa-bad-legislative-bet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/smooth-sailing-in-illinois-iowa-bad-legislative-bet\/","title":{"rendered":"Smooth sailing in Illinois, Iowa; Bad legislative bet"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just when Illinois<\/strong> casinos are trying to stave off another expansion of gambling, May\u00a0brought a most inconvenient uptick in gambling revenues, albeit only half a percentage point, which can presumably be \"Grand<\/a>accounted for by the fact that this May had one more\u00a0weekend day than 2014’s did. Northern Illinois revenues were a mixed bag, with Harrah’s Joliet<\/strong> down 9% and Rivers Casino<\/strong> up 2%. Penn National Gaming<\/strong> saw Hollywood Aurora<\/strong> rise 1% and Empress Joliet<\/strong> gain 5%. In fact, it was a good month all around for Penn, which was up 2.5% at resurgent Argosy Alton<\/strong>. Meanwhile,\u00a0MGM Resorts International<\/strong>‘s Grand Victoria<\/strong> slipped 1% and Boyd Gaming<\/strong>‘s Par-A-Dice<\/strong> was flat. The novelty factor continues to drive business to Harrah’s Metropolis<\/strong>, up 15% for the month. Casino Queen<\/strong> and Jumer’s Casino Rock Island<\/strong> were flat. Alas, lawmakers are liable to look at these numbers and misinterpret them as a mandate for more, more, more new casinos.<\/p>\n

* Iowa had a better month, with revenues increasing 6%, lifting the Isle of Capri Casino<\/strong> flotilla an aggregate 5%. Caesars Entertainment<\/strong>‘s \"HET<\/a>two Council Bluffs<\/strong> properties were a bit off the pace, down 1%. Pinnacle Entertainment<\/strong>, however, had a banner month at Ameristar Council Bluffs<\/strong>, seeing revenue rise 8%. The two Boyd casinos,\u00a0Diamond Jo Worth<\/strong> and Diamond Jo Dubuque<\/strong>, also surpassed analyst expectations with a 7% increase. Hard Rock Casino<\/strong>, in Sioux City<\/strong>, had an above-average $7 million gross. Three of the state’s smaller casinos — Riverside Casino & Golf Resort<\/strong>, Rhythm City Casino<\/strong> (presently being rebuilt) and Grand Falls Casino & Golf Resort<\/strong> — all received permission to consolidate their ownership<\/a>\u00a0under the banner of Elite Casino Resorts<\/strong>. Rhythm City boss Dan Kehl<\/strong> will be their CEO.<\/p>\n

* If you have money in a Nevada<\/strong> investment fund, be afraid. Be very \"sandoval_t178\"<\/a>afraid. Gov. Brian Sandoval<\/strong> (R) has signed into law a bill that permits mutual funds based in the Silver State to place sports wagers<\/a>. Investment is a calculated risk but this is carrying it a little far. Imagine if your mutual fund had bet on the Indianapolis Colts<\/strong> to cover the spread in their 7-45 playoff annihilation by the New England Patriots<\/strong>. Sorry, but I have trouble seeing an upside to this new law.<\/p>\n

* Under the pretext of helping their casino industry, Pennsylvania<\/strong> lawmakers are debating a set of pricey quid-pro-quos. As state Sen. Tommy Tomlinson<\/strong> (R) put it, “the thing driving this, more than \"Valley<\/a>anything, is the need for money to settle a budget, where there’s not a lot of people who want to vote for a tax increase.” Instead, the state is considering permitting alcohol service around the clock and approving midget casinos of 250 slots apiece<\/a>. A sweetheart provision for Ira Lubert<\/strong> would remove the resort-casino casino restrictions on his Valley Forge Casino Resort<\/strong> in return for a $5 million payment. Not surprisingly, the bigger casinos are opposed to this cushy deal, having paid $50 million for their licenses. Interne<\/strong>t gambling is still in the legislative mix but it looks like a long shot at this point.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just when Illinois casinos are trying to stave off another expansion of gambling, May\u00a0brought a most inconvenient uptick in gambling revenues, albeit only half a percentage point, which can presumably be accounted for by the fact that this May had … 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":[60,190,7,58,37,85,11,69,95,30,33,74,31,38,146],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16177"}],"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=16177"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16177\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16184,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16177\/revisions\/16184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}