{"id":19281,"date":"2017-01-18T10:37:47","date_gmt":"2017-01-18T18:37:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=19281"},"modified":"2017-01-20T08:38:41","modified_gmt":"2017-01-20T16:38:41","slug":"mgms-big-rake-in-washington-resort-projects-power-massachusetts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/mgms-big-rake-in-washington-resort-projects-power-massachusetts\/","title":{"rendered":"MGM’s big rake in Washington; Resort projects power Massachusetts"},"content":{"rendered":"

It should come as no surprise that Washington, D.C.<\/strong>, the land of smoke-filled rooms where sleazy deals are made, should be deliver a bumper crop of players to MGM National Harbor<\/strong>‘s 39-table poker room. Even with a truncated month of operation, \"\"MGM was responsible for $1.4 million<\/a> of Maryland<\/strong>‘s $3.9 million poker haul. “We are either at capacity or near capacity most days, and we are regularly getting 100-150 name waiting lists for some games. It\u2019s been incredibly high volume,” Manager Johnny Grooms<\/strong> told CardPlayer.com<\/strong>. He likens the room to the one at Aria<\/strong>, with a touch of Bellagio<\/strong> in the mix. The early results vindicate Groom’s early hypothesis “that there was an under-served population in Southern D.C. and Northern Virginia<\/strong>, and in the more expansive area down to North Carolina<\/strong>.” So far, the narrative that National Harbor will expand the market, not cannibalize it, seems to be largely holding true.<\/p>\n

MGM’s also using its position near the nation’s capital to set up a lobbying shop<\/a>\u00a0on C Street<\/strong>\u00a0for gaming interests (specifically MGM’s, although some will obviously be universal to the industry). Senior Vice President for Federal Government Affairs Ayesha Khanna<\/strong> will be MGM’s point person on Capitol Hill<\/strong>. If Caesars Entertainment<\/strong> would lease some office space from MGM, it would save Jan Jones Blackhurst<\/strong> a lot of jet lag.<\/p>\n

* At the risk of taking a premature victory lap, Massachusetts Gaming Commission<\/strong> Chairman Stephen Crosby<\/strong> declared the Bay State’s megaresort-development program a success, even though none is close to opening. However, he cited various macro criteria<\/a> \"\"they have achieved, including integration with other economic forces in the area, a high level of capital commitment and a “mid-range” (25%) tax rate. While he had kind words for Wynn Boston Harbor<\/strong>, which will certainly help Everett<\/strong> keep its recent ranking as one of the 10 best places to live in Massachusetts<\/strong>, Crosby reserved most of his laurels for MGM Springfield<\/strong>, which he credited with spurring billions in new, local investment. “Projects that may not have been possible without the casino, or that could have been mere one-off initiatives, like the Chinese railroad car assembly plant or the renovation of Union Station<\/strong>, have merged with MGM Springfield to attract other economic development, including a new innovation center, a cultural district, and a regional bike-share program,” he wrote.<\/p>\n

Crosby also indirectly credited MGM Springfield with helping the city replace its minor-league hockey team (MGM and hockey are the new sports lovebirds.) After the Springfield Falcons<\/strong> flew the coop, Mayor Domenic Sarno<\/strong> and MGM execs prevailed upon the Portland Pirates<\/strong> to metamorphose into the Springfield Thunderbirds<\/strong> — anybody sense an avian theme here? Anyway, we agree with Crosby that casinos have been good corporate citizens in Massachusetts. Now about\u00a0that third casino license in Taunton<\/strong> … that one’s at the mercy of the Donald Trump<\/strong> administration.<\/p>\n

* Thanks to exaggerated revenue projections (both by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts<\/strong> and Penn National Gaming<\/strong>), there’s been a perception that Plainridge Park<\/strong> is struggling, even through it generates the most win\/slot\/day of any Penn-run casino. Another component of that perception was that Plainridge had been losing customers, drifting back to Twin River Casino,<\/strong> in Rhode Island<\/strong>. November’s numbers, however, were modestly up, according to Wall Street<\/strong> analysts, and December could fairly be called a blockbuster month. Plainridge’s slots shot up 12%, helped by an extra weekend and despite lower coin-in. Even lower hold didn’t hurt. Can we declare Plainridge a success and move onward?<\/p>\n

* Let’s not get carried away with ourselves but there’s a glimmer of hope for sports betting. \"\"The U.S. Supreme Court<\/strong> has requested an opinion from the solicitor general (whoever it turns out to be) on New Jersey<\/strong>‘s petition to overturn the federal ban on sports wagering. Said American Gaming Association<\/strong> President Geoff Freeman<\/strong>, \u201cWe are encouraged that the U.S. Supreme Court has expressed interest in the problems posed by” the Bradley Act.<\/strong> The Supremes’ request doesn’t necessarily betoken a change of mind but it sounds like they’re open to some new thinking on the issue, which is always welcome. Don’t expect swift action<\/a>, however.<\/p>\n

* \u201cWhile we are very happy to finally see VIP turn positive, we remain cautious on the outlook for this segment, which is driven by increasing concerns on Beijing<\/strong>\u2019s stance on capital flight,\u201d cautioned Union Gaming Group<\/strong> analyst Grant Govertsen<\/strong>. What led him to advise caution? A dramatic, 13% increase in VIP play<\/a> in Macao<\/strong> in the final quarter of 2016. Also, some mass-market tables are billed as “VIP” to exempt them from smoking restrictions. However, the Chinese government may be succeeding at curbing capital flight to far-flung gaming destinations like Manila<\/strong> and Singapore<\/strong>, deciding it’s better to keep it in Macao.<\/p>\n

* Vietnam<\/strong> has outlined its new, softer stand on casinos. Citizens will be allowed to gamble at either of two remote casinos, but only if their monthly income threshold hits $440. But the average Viet makes $183 a month<\/a>, so one shouldn’t\u00a0expect a stampede of players.<\/p>\n

* With state budget deficits spiraling toward $2 billion, Pennsylvania<\/strong> lawmakers are going to have to expand gambling whether they like it or not. Some lawmakers say such a move is just around the corner<\/a> but we’ve heard that before.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It should come as no surprise that Washington, D.C., the land of smoke-filled rooms where sleazy deals are made, should be deliver a bumper crop of players to MGM National Harbor‘s 39-table poker room. Even with a truncated month of … 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":[65,42,174,190,22,37,62,72,112,11,69,95,192,33,25,141,108,74,32,31,19,177,38],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19281"}],"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=19281"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19281\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19289,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19281\/revisions\/19289"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}