{"id":19251,"date":"2017-01-06T11:44:57","date_gmt":"2017-01-06T19:44:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=19251"},"modified":"2017-01-06T11:44:57","modified_gmt":"2017-01-06T19:44:57","slug":"national-harbor-boffo-for-mgm-icahn-keeps-them-guessing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/national-harbor-boffo-for-mgm-icahn-keeps-them-guessing\/","title":{"rendered":"National Harbor boffo for MGM; Icahn keeps them guessing"},"content":{"rendered":"

In its first month, MGM National Harbor<\/strong> has been both good and bad for Maryland<\/strong>. Although the MGM Resorts International<\/strong> property, acclaimed by some as being Las Vegas Strip<\/strong>-caliber, did blockbuster numbers, the rest of the Maryland casino industry \"MGMwas down 4%. Had National Harbor been open a full month, the cannibalization would have been worse still. The new casino on the block grossed nearly $42 million, or $1.75 million a day. Maryland Live<\/strong> took it in the shorts, its market share diminished from 55% to 36% virtually overnight. (Of course, having 36% market share is still pretty good.) How big is MGM? Deutsche Bank<\/strong> analyst Carlo Santarelli<\/strong> projected 2017 results of $561 million but has revised that number upward to $637 million.<\/p>\n

Despite being down 11%, Maryland Live<\/strong> grossed $48 million, propelled by a well-above-average $256\/win\/day at the slots. Horseshoe Baltimore<\/strong> actually gained ground — up 10% to almost $30 million. Little Ocean Downs<\/strong> ($4 million) was up 6% and Golden Entertainment<\/strong>‘s Rocky Gap<\/strong> casino nudged 1% higher on a $3.5 million. Things were much as usual at Penn National Gaming<\/strong>‘s Hollywood Perryville<\/strong>, ceding 4% for $6 million.<\/p>\n

Speaking of Penn, up in Massachusetts<\/strong>, the Gaming Commission<\/strong> furrowed its brow over Plainridge Park<\/strong>‘s “failure” to generate $300 million in its first year. The conclusion, though not put in so many words, was that it was the latest manifestation of the Penn National Effect, whereby exaggerated revenue figures are used to get a casino approved. In this case, both the commonwealth and Penn were guilty of using advisors who cooked the books to show Plainridge grossing an insane $660\/slot\/day. Hopefully, the results of the study will be made available to lawmakers in other states that may be pondering legalized gambling.<\/p>\n

* Carl Icahn<\/strong> likes to keep the casino industry guessing. Although he’s surrendering his Trump Taj Mahal<\/strong> gaming license and imposing a five-year deed restriction, prospective buyers can have gambling back for a premium<\/a>. That being said, Icahn has indicated he’s in \"Icahnno hurry to liquidate the mastodon-like casino. “We are not looking to sell it, not at today’s prices. I made my fortune buying things cheap,” Icahn told the press, although obtaining an Icahn-worth resale price for the Taj could entail a long wait. Remember, Glenn Straub<\/strong> got multibillion-dollar Revel<\/strong> for $82 million. Nor is Icahn entirely ruling out reopening the Taj himself, although he’s made that more difficult, never mind the epic clash with Unite-Here Local 54<\/strong> that would be fomented.<\/p>\n

Icahn’s moves seem to be payback for a bill sitting on Gov. Chris Christie<\/strong>‘s desk. The ‘get Icahn’ legislation would strip for five years the casino license of any Atlantic City<\/strong> owner who ceased operations after January 2016. In other words, a certain Carl Icahn. Of state Senate President Stephen Sweeney<\/strong> (D), who was the driving force behind the bill, Icahn had this to say:\u00a0“When a guy like Sweeney goes after someone who saved the Tropicana<\/strong> and 3,000 jobs when no one else would, who would invest in New Jersey<\/strong>? The worst thing about New Jersey is they have Sweeney as head of the Senate. The best thing about New Jersey is they didn’t make him governor.”<\/p>\n

* Pennsylvania<\/strong> state Sen. Jay Costa<\/strong> (D) is ready to try, try again to bring Internet<\/strong> gambling to the Keystone State. The ingredients of his bill are familiar<\/a>. For $10 million \"costa\"apiece, each of the commonwealth’s 12 casinos could have an online presence and ‘Net bettors like William Hill PLC<\/strong> could piggyback onto those licenses for $25 million a ride. The Internet wagering would be taxed at 25%, with “15 percent going to the Property Tax Relief Fund<\/strong> and 10 percent deposited into an account with the Commonwealth Financing Authority<\/strong>, to go to towards economic development projects in the Commonwealth. Half of the funds in said account will be for projects in a casino\u2019s surrounding counties.” Other forms of Web wagering, such as online lotteries and daily fantasy sports, would also be legalized.<\/p>\n

Costa’s bill also resurrects the prospect of slot routes at Pennsylvania airports, at $2.5 million per license and a 25% tax. These would be ‘trial’ slots, with a five-year sunset provision, although — once legalized — the sun never goes down on gambling. Costa hasn’t filed the bill yet, merely stated his intent to do so. But Pennsylvania came justthisclose to legalizing a similar gambling expansion last year, so we like the odds this time around.<\/p>\n

* Much of The Rio<\/strong>\u00a0remains enshrouded in darkness<\/a>, as the resort labors to get its physical plant online. Thanks to a leak in the fire-suppression system (troubling in and of itself, 500 rooms remain out of circulation, as do the rooftop lounge and restaurant. Caesars Entertainment<\/strong> is definitely starting the new year on the wrong foot.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In its first month, MGM National Harbor has been both good and bad for Maryland. Although the MGM Resorts International property, acclaimed by some as being Las Vegas Strip-caliber, did blockbuster numbers, the rest of the Maryland casino industry was … 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":[82,70,185,97,7,37,72,112,11,69,95,33,157,92,31,9,21,196,38],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19251"}],"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=19251"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19251\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19253,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19251\/revisions\/19253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}