{"id":16644,"date":"2015-08-26T15:27:09","date_gmt":"2015-08-26T23:27:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=16644"},"modified":"2024-01-24T04:40:41","modified_gmt":"2024-01-24T12:40:41","slug":"atlantic-city-profits-grow-good-and-bad-news-for-caesars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/atlantic-city-profits-grow-good-and-bad-news-for-caesars\/","title":{"rendered":"Atlantic City profits grow; Good and bad news for Caesars"},"content":{"rendered":"

Second-quarter operating profits in Atlantic City<\/strong> were up everywhere except for — you guessed it — Trump Taj Mahal<\/strong>. The \"Golden<\/a>Taj swung from a $2 million profit in 2Q14 to a $900,000 loss, another testament to CEO Bob Griffin<\/strong>‘s inspiring\u00a0leadership. Despite the drag exerted by the Taj, cash flow was up 28% in the market. The increased profitability is actually greater if defunct turkeys like Revel<\/strong>, the Atlantic Club<\/strong>, Trump Plaza<\/strong> and the martyred\u00a0Showboat<\/strong> are added to the year\/year splits. The Golden Nugget<\/strong>‘s ability to draw in refugee players from the closed casinos was reflected in a 902% increase (that’s not a typo) in profitability, nearly $8 million.<\/p>\n

Resorts Atlantic City<\/strong> also continues to climb the ladder, up 153%. (Having the lowest ADRs in town can’t hurt.) High ADRs at market-leader Borgata<\/strong> may have shooed some players over to \"Caesars<\/a>Caesars Atlantic City<\/strong>, which reported 94% occupancy. The Taj was the emptiest, at 68%. Borgata had the lowest percentage increase in profit (5%) but the greatest dollar volume, at $45 million, while Resorts’ $5 million was the smallest dollar volume. Instead of fighting with Trump Taj workers, owner-to-be Carl Icahn<\/strong> should ask the inept management team why it deserves not to be sacked en masse<\/em> when he takes charge.<\/p>\n

* If you think the Baha Mar<\/strong> morass is deep, think how much worse it would be if then-Harrah’s Entertainment<\/strong> CEO Gary Loveman<\/strong> \"loveman\"<\/a>hadn’t pulled his company out of the megaresort. You’d have a bankrupt Caesars Entertainment<\/strong>, a wannabe-bankrupt Baha Mar Ltd<\/strong>. and an inept China Construction America<\/strong> all pointing fingers, instead of only two out of three<\/a>. The smart money’s on the Bahamanian government steering the project away from current ownership and into Genting Group<\/strong>‘s money-laden arms.<\/p>\n

* Caesars has reached a settlement with FinCEN<\/strong> over money-laundering “lapses” at Caesars Palace<\/strong>. These included taking sportsbook action from betting rings<\/a>, among other instances of being asleep at the switch. Compared to the $47 million fine levied on Las Vegas Sands<\/strong>, Caesars got off lightly, dunned to the tune of $20 million.<\/p>\n

* Harrah’s Ak-Chin Casino<\/strong> is obviously betting on the controversial\u00a0Tohono O\u2019odham Nation<\/strong> to open its nearby casino project. As a pushback measure, it’s adding 200 hotel rooms<\/a>, at $500,000 apiece.<\/p>\n

* Gaming is quickly gaining traction in Georgia<\/strong>. Gov. Nathan Deal<\/strong>‘s opposition notwithstanding, the Legislature will be holding hearings on casino gambling and parimutuel horse racing next month. Meanwhile, Caesars and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians<\/strong>\u00a0are creeping up on Georgia’s flank with $110 million\u00a0\"caesarscasino_1\"<\/a>Harrah’s Cherokee Valley River Casino<\/strong>, less than two hours’ drive from Chattanooga<\/strong>. It’s a smaller\u00a0version of\u00a0Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort<\/strong>, with 1,050 slots and 70 tables, but no spa or concert hall and only a food court. Endearingly named General Manager Lumpy Lambert<\/strong> characterizes the property as a “day-trip destination” rather than a resort. The 900 jobs it brings should be quite a boost to Murphy<\/strong>, North Carolina<\/strong> (population 1,627), although the casino’s location outside of town will make it difficult for Murphy to draw foot traffic to its downtown tourist attractions<\/a>. With one more casino license in their pocket, Caesars and the Cherokee aren’t done yet, either.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Second-quarter operating profits in Atlantic City were up everywhere except for — you guessed it — Trump Taj Mahal. The Taj swung from a $2 million profit in 2Q14 to a $900,000 loss, another testament to CEO Bob Griffin‘s inspiring\u00a0leadership. … 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":[109,23,60,82,120,152,7,140,22,167,33,25,157,12,8,9,129,20,169],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16644"}],"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=16644"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16644\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33003,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16644\/revisions\/33003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}