{"id":17271,"date":"2015-11-24T15:08:54","date_gmt":"2015-11-24T23:08:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=17271"},"modified":"2015-11-24T15:25:05","modified_gmt":"2015-11-24T23:25:05","slug":"atlantic-city-casinos-make-less-profit-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/atlantic-city-casinos-make-less-profit-more\/","title":{"rendered":"Atlantic City casinos make less, profit more"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a paradoxical development, Atlantic City<\/strong> casinos reported a 61% increase in profitability in Q315<\/a>. That largesse came even as gross \"trump-taj<\/a>gaming revenues only rose 5%. Cost-containment is credited with being the source of the bounty. Caesars Interactive<\/strong> swung from a loss to a profit, while Resorts Digital<\/strong> did the reverse. In addition to climbing the ladder of Boardwalk casinos, Resorts Atlantic City<\/strong> grew profits by 80%. Weirdest of all, even as it fell into last place in revenue, Trump Taj Mahal<\/strong> reported a profit increase 182%, some of that clearly made by then-CEO Bob Griffin<\/strong> off the backs of his workforce, whom he has screwed over royally.<\/p>\n

While the casino industry can bask in a moment of prosperity, there’s no such relief down at City Hall. Mayor Don Guardian<\/strong> (R) has told the Legislature that the city will go bankrupt next April 29, barring some form of financial relief … which Gov. Chris Christie<\/strong> (R) is currently impeding<\/a>. Borgata<\/strong> room revenues ($142) led the market, while Golden Nugget<\/strong> ones ($82) were the most affordable<\/a>, although neither property is suffering.<\/p>\n

A resolution to condemn Revel<\/strong> has been put before the City Council<\/a>. Whoever thought it would come to that dire pass? However, Glenn Straub<\/strong> is moving ahead with a $30 million plan to buy<\/a> the ACR Energy Partners<\/strong> facility. His people are also dropping hints that, if they wrest the Showboat<\/strong> from Bart Blatstein<\/strong>, they will pivot and make that their\u00a0base of operations.<\/p>\n

* Although the Indiana<\/strong> Legislature granted them permission to come onshore, Hoosier State riverboat casinos have been slow to \"Aztar\"<\/a>take advantage of the opportunity. No longer. Tropicana Entertainment<\/strong> will retire the venerable Casino Aztar<\/em> in favor of a 75,000-square-foot, $50 million casino, tucked in between TropEnt’s Le Merigot Hotel<\/strong> and Tropicana Evansville Hotel<\/strong>. The riverboat’s place on the waterfront will be taken up by — get this — an\u00a0LST 325<\/strong> World War II vessel. TropEnt owner Carl Icahn<\/strong> will get $20 million in redevelopment lease credits and the lease itself will be extended through 2055 — by which point you or I may no longer be here but Icahn surely will.<\/p>\n

* Presidential candidate Ben Carson<\/strong> says gaming issues should be left up to individual\u00a0states (you go, Tenth Amendment). In a graceful bit of campaign jujitsu<\/a>, he dissed Sheldon Adelson<\/strong>‘s federal Internet<\/strong>-gambling ban without actually saying anything about it. (If the Swiss can have ‘Net bets<\/a>, why can’t we?) You can’t get much more unequivocal than,\u00a0“Any gaming issue should be a state issue.”<\/p>\n

<\/object><\/p>\n

Springfield<\/strong>, Massachusetts<\/strong>‘ City Council will vote up or down<\/a> on MGM Resorts International<\/strong>‘s revision of MGM Springfield<\/strong> into a smaller, much more expensive project. Have they got any choice but to go along? MGM has presented Springfield 2.0 as a fait accompli and how do you say “no” to $950 million in investment?<\/p>\n

* Congratulations to Rock Gaming Caesars<\/strong> for keeping it classy with its retro holiday displays (including a gorgeously restored antique Christmas tree<\/a>) in the Higbee’s<\/strong> building, of A Christmas Story<\/em> fame. Higbee’s has proven such a congenial fit for gaming that one can easily forgive Dan Gilbert for seemingly forgetting his commitment to build a brand-new casino nearby. Besides, the market won’t support it, at least for the time being.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a paradoxical development, Atlantic City casinos reported a 61% increase in profitability in Q315. That largesse came even as gross gaming revenues only rose 5%. Cost-containment is credited with being the source of the bounty. Caesars Interactive swung from … 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":[23,60,82,154,14,26,185,7,68,22,37,112,11,167,71,33,157,12,129,21,169],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17271"}],"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=17271"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17271\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17276,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17271\/revisions\/17276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}