{"id":18757,"date":"2016-08-25T10:15:01","date_gmt":"2016-08-25T18:15:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=18757"},"modified":"2016-08-26T13:09:16","modified_gmt":"2016-08-26T21:09:16","slug":"caesars-crashes-burns-in-louisiana-dfs-takes-two-steps-forward-one-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/caesars-crashes-burns-in-louisiana-dfs-takes-two-steps-forward-one-back\/","title":{"rendered":"Caesars crashes, burns in Louisiana; DFS takes two steps forward, one back"},"content":{"rendered":"

Despite having an extra weekend day, Louisiana<\/strong> casinos saw revenue fall 7% in July. (JP Morgan<\/strong> analyst Joseph Greff<\/strong> blames flooding for the waterlogged numbers.)\u00a0Pinnacle Entertainment<\/strong> did the best among major operators, up 4%, while Caesars Entertainment<\/strong> went into the toilet, down 29%, led by a catastrophic 38% plunge at Harrah’s New Orleans<\/strong> ($22.5 million). I don’t think we can blame the smoking ban, a smoke-free Fair Grounds<\/strong> racino was only 4% off its feed ($3 million). Across the river, where you smoke,\u00a0Boyd Gaming<\/strong>‘s Treasure Chest<\/strong> was up 3% ($9 million) but Pinnacle’s Boomtown New Orleans<\/strong> dipped 5%, still good enough for a $10 million gross. Outlying Boyd properties suffered, with Amelia Belle<\/strong> down 8% ($4 million) and Evangeline Downs<\/strong> slipping 6.5%, to $7 million.<\/p>\n

Lake Charles<\/strong> revenues — $85.5 million — almost doubled those in New Orleans<\/strong>. No surprise, L’Auberge du Lac<\/strong> was out front with $34 million and a 7% increase, followed by Golden Nugget<\/strong>, grossing $24 million for a 4% uptick. Newly sold Isle Grand Palais<\/strong> was 6% down, to $12 million. Boyd’s Delta Downs<\/strong> slipped 4%, raking in $16 million. Given its location, Grand Palais really ought<\/em> to have sold for more than 8% cash flow, casting doubt on the new leadership at Isle. Baton Rouge<\/strong> casinos were dominated by L’Auberge Baton Rouge<\/strong>, up 6.5% to almost $15 million. Straggling along were Tropicana Entertainment<\/strong>‘s Belle of Baton Rouge<\/strong> (-12%, $5 million) and Gaming & Leisure Properties<\/strong>‘ Hollywood Baton Rouge<\/strong> (-7%, $5 million).<\/p>\n

Despite a 17% loss of business, Horseshoe Bossier City<\/strong> led the Shreveport<\/strong> market with a symmetrical $17 million gross. Customers were also avoiding Caesars’ Louisiana Downs<\/strong>, off 11% for a $3.5 million gross. The biggest gainer was Margaritaville<\/strong>, with a 7% increase and a $14 million gross. Eldorado Shreveport<\/strong> was flat, taking in $13 million, while Pinnacle and Boyd suffered mild setbacks: Boomtown Bossier City<\/strong> was down 2% ($5 million) and Sam’s Town Shreveport<\/strong> conceded 4%, grossing $7 million. While the Louisiana market has been ailing of late, the Caesars numbers were so dramatic they must have caused some sticker shock at One Harrah’s Court.<\/p>\n

* The Golden Nugget<\/strong> has introduced a new wrinkle into Atlantic City<\/strong>‘s Internet<\/strong> gambling. As you walk to the casino from the parking garage, you’ll pass a glassed-in studio from whence a video feed of live dealers is transmitted<\/a> to online punters. Ezugi NJ<\/strong> created the infrastructure, which operates for eight hours daily. So far blackjack, roulette and Dragon Bonus Baccarat are the only game offerings but casino owner Tilman Fertitta<\/strong> plans to enlarge the repertory at an unspecified date.<\/p>\n

* Internet<\/strong> gambling continues to be one legislative session away<\/a> in Pennsylvania<\/strong>. Of more pressing concern to casinos, a “temporary” 14% tax on table games (up from 12%) has been raised to a “temporary” 16%. Expect casinos to be livid at Gov. Tom Wolf<\/strong> (D) and rightly so.<\/p>\n

* In other Internet-gambling news, Massachusetts<\/strong> solons have given themselves until the middle of next year to codify Attorney General Maura Healey<\/strong>‘s approval of daily fantasy sports into law. Defending the delay, Rep. Joseph Wagner<\/strong> said, \u201cWe have dealt with the issue of legality here in the short-term. But I think there has been a sense in the legislature in each branch that we want to take a deeper dive on this.\u201d Meanwhile, Stop Predatory Gambling<\/strong> — which sounds like a Sheldon Adelson<\/strong> front but isn’t — is shilling for plaintiffs to challenge New York State<\/strong>‘s new DFS law in court. (A quirk in the new law, which doesn’t permit betting on individuals, may put NASCAR<\/strong> and professional golf out of DFS players’ reach.) And up in Maine<\/strong>, when lawmakers hear “DFS” they think “tax dollars” but are waiting on an opinion from Attorney General Janet Mills<\/strong>, who sounds mighty conflicted about the whole thing, saying, \u201cIt\u2019s fun to, you know, to pretend you are the manager of a gazillion teams, you are going to put this quarterback together with this linebacker … That can be a lot of fun, but when it comes to putting a lot of money at risk and putting your family savings at risk, that\u2019s something that causes me great concern.\u201d<\/p>\n

* Photographed from 10,800 feet up in the air<\/a>, Las Vegas<\/strong> looks at times like a model-train set and often like the world’s largest circuit board.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Despite having an extra weekend day, Louisiana casinos saw revenue fall 7% in July. (JP Morgan analyst Joseph Greff blames flooding for the waterlogged numbers.)\u00a0Pinnacle Entertainment did the best among major operators, up 4%, while Caesars Entertainment went into the … 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":[23,60,176,199,190,7,37,85,84,147,112,101,95,30,90,74,31,8,9,129,21],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18757"}],"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=18757"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18757\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18779,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18757\/revisions\/18779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}