{"id":18234,"date":"2016-05-12T13:00:07","date_gmt":"2016-05-12T21:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=18234"},"modified":"2016-05-12T13:35:50","modified_gmt":"2016-05-12T21:35:50","slug":"poker-stars-changes-atlantic-city-landscape-mgm-budges-slightly-on-parking-fees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/poker-stars-changes-atlantic-city-landscape-mgm-budges-slightly-on-parking-fees\/","title":{"rendered":"Poker Stars changes Atlantic City landscape; MGM budges (slightly) on parking fees"},"content":{"rendered":"

An extra month helped Atlantic City<\/strong> post a banner April, up 6%. Citywide, 5% higher slot handle produced a corresponding increase in revenue, while 4.5% table-game wagering \"Harrahstranslated into 10% more winnings for the house. Borgata<\/strong> ($56 million) was up 4.5%, riding its slot win. Table players wagered 7% less and the house won 14% less. At the slots, however, Borgata was able to ride 12% higher coin-in to a 13% revenue gain. Borgata also continues to lead the market in Internet<\/strong>-gambling market share (23.5%), although Resorts Atlantic City<\/strong> — thanks to PokerStars<\/strong> — is now a serious contender<\/a>, with 20.5%. In fact, the market is pretty evenly divided between all five players, with Caesars Interactive<\/strong> holding 19%, nipping at the heels of the Golden Nugget<\/strong> (19.5%), while Tropicana Entertainment<\/strong>\u00a0hangs in there with 18%.<\/p>\n

As for traditional casino games, despite a 4% drop in revenue, Trump Taj Mahal<\/strong> ($15 million) managed to stay out of last place, occupied by Resorts ($14 million, +14%), while Golden Nugget’s 16% gain was good for a $17 million gross. As for the Caesars Entertainment<\/strong> threesome, Harrah’s Resort<\/strong> was down 1% but still led the trio with $19 million. Bally’s<\/strong> continues to gain traction, up 12% to $18 million. Caesars Atlantic City<\/strong> ($25 million, +10%) held the middle ground. Tropicana Atlantic City<\/strong> gained 9% for a healthy $25 million. Say what you like about Atlantic City’s civic finances: Its casinos have definitely gotten it together.<\/p>\n

* With the conspicuous exception of Illinois<\/strong>, which was flat (I blame the slot routes), all the Upper Midwest casino states did quite well last month. Add Iowa<\/strong> to the tally, 8% up year\/year — 5.5% when newbie Wild Rose Jefferson<\/strong> is subtracted from the mix. Of all \"Diamondthe various operators, Isle of Capri Casinos<\/strong> led the pack with a 5%. For instance, Isle Casino & Hotel at Waterloo<\/strong> was 9% higher, leading the Isle archipelago. Boyd Gaming<\/strong>‘s pair of Diamond Jo<\/strong>-branded properties (Dubuque<\/strong> and Worth<\/strong>) were 3% improved last month, while Ameristar Council Bluff<\/strong> ($15 million) enjoyed an almost 5% lift. The two Caesars Entertainment properties went in opposite directions, with Harrah’s Council Bluffs<\/strong> down 2.5% ($6 million) and Horseshoe Casino & Bluffs Run Park<\/strong> ($16 million) up 6%. Rival racino Prairie Meadows Racetrack & Casino<\/strong> was tops in the state, grossing $17 million, an 8.5% increase.<\/p>\n

Golden Entertainment<\/strong>‘s Terrible’s Lakeside<\/strong> was flat, at $4 million, while the most spectacular gain was at Hard Rock Casino<\/strong> in Sioux City<\/strong> ($8 million), vaulting 22%. Aside from Harrah’s, the only casino to post a revenue-negative month was Grand Falls Casino Resort<\/strong> ($5 million), off 3%.<\/p>\n

* The American Gaming Association<\/strong> reports that Dallas Cowboys<\/strong> owner Jerry Jones<\/strong> is “open” to the idea of moving the [your city here<\/strong>] Raiders <\/strong>to Las Vegas<\/strong>. (Too bad that Jones was also open to ill-advised plastic surgery that left him permanently disfigured.) However, Jones is a maverick among NFL<\/strong> owners, and more-respected figures like John Mara<\/strong> remain opposed<\/a>. Considering the wild proliferation of sports betting in the league’s preferred overseas market — London<\/strong> — it’s difficult to understand why team owners get their knickers\u00a0in a twist over sports books in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n

* MGM Resorts International<\/strong> has pushed the start of its paid parking on the Las Vegas Strip<\/strong> to June 6 — beginning with New York-New York<\/strong>, Bellagio<\/strong>, Aria<\/strong>, Vdara<\/strong> and Monte Carlo<\/strong>, and culminating with Mandalay Bay<\/strong> and Delano<\/strong> on June 13. Nevadans can avoid the fees, at least for the time time, through a complicated formula<\/a> that requires close study. Although admittedly taken aback by the firestorm of criticism MGM has drawn, CEO Jim Murren<\/strong> is holding firm, telling the Las Vegas Review-Journal<\/i>, \u201cWe took an amenity that had been free for decades and decided to charge for it. We knew that would cause a tremendous amount of discussion.\u201d That has to count as the understatement of the year.<\/p>\n

* TV news correspondent Ed Henry<\/strong> got married in Las Vegas<\/strong> — at Wynn Las Vegas<\/strong> — and his nuptials may come unraveled here<\/a> as well. Henry is alleged to have taken a mistress in the form of Sapphire Gentleman’s Club<\/strong> stripper Natalia Lima<\/strong> (an assumed name). Henry has gone into seclusion, to patch up his marriage to National Public Radio<\/strong> Editor Shirley Hung<\/strong>, while Lima’s friends and co-workers are putting out conflicting reports of just how deeply she and Henry were involved. Sure, it’s tawdry and entertaining, but also almost too cliched for words.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An extra month helped Atlantic City post a banner April, up 6%. Citywide, 5% higher slot handle produced a corresponding increase in revenue, while 4.5% table-game wagering translated into 10% more winnings for the house. Borgata ($56 million) was up … 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":[40,23,60,56,97,7,22,37,86,85,11,167,30,178,111,74,9,21,146],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18234"}],"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=18234"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18234\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18242,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18234\/revisions\/18242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}