{"id":19468,"date":"2017-03-14T10:22:05","date_gmt":"2017-03-14T18:22:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=19468"},"modified":"2017-03-14T10:22:05","modified_gmt":"2017-03-14T18:22:05","slug":"atlantic-city-suffers-february-hiccup-caesars-k-o-d-in-korea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/atlantic-city-suffers-february-hiccup-caesars-k-o-d-in-korea\/","title":{"rendered":"Atlantic City suffers February hiccup; Caesars K.O.’d in Korea"},"content":{"rendered":"

All good things must end and, in the case of Atlantic City<\/strong>, a pretty steady comeback hit a pothole in December, with business down 2%. \"\"Even Borgata<\/strong> ($58 million) was down a percentage point. Citywide, slot revenue was actually up to $132 million (+1.5%) but casinos took it on the chin from table games. Grossing $52 million, they were down 9%. Borgata was schizoid, down 5.5% in slot revenue despite 3% more coin-in. At the tables, revenue and wagering were both down 12%. The bright spot for the city was sensational Internet<\/strong>-gaming growth, up 27% to $19 million.<\/p>\n

Carl Icahn<\/strong>‘s Tropicana Atlantic City<\/strong> vastly outperformed the market, up 28% to $28 million. Harrah’s Resort<\/strong> led the Caesars Entertainment<\/strong> trio in dollars grossed ($29.5 million), although its revenues were flat year\/year. Caesars Atlantic City<\/strong> was up a point, grossing $23 million, while Bally’s<\/strong> lost 5%, grossing $16 million. The Mohegan Sun<\/strong> folks had a sensational month at Resorts Atlantic City<\/strong>, improving grosses by 21%, for a tally of $15 million.<\/p>\n

While we sympathize with Glenn Straub<\/strong>‘s frustration at dealing with New Jersey<\/strong> bureaucracy, it comes at a price. Resort weather is \"\"drawing nigh and Revel<\/strong> has no gaming license, nor much prospect of becoming an operational casino, let alone with brand equity. We wouldn’t rule out a Straub flip of the asset, perhaps to Bart Blatstein<\/strong> or ambitious Hard Rock International<\/strong>, but that just prolongs the timeline.<\/p>\n

* Back when Ohio<\/strong> casinos were being legalized, the death of Detroit<\/strong> gambling was greatly exaggerated. Almost all Motown gambling halls did well last month, with a combined gross of $117 million. MGM Grand Detroit<\/strong> was up 2%, MotorCity Casino<\/strong> was flat, while Greektown Casino<\/strong> was down 1%. Dan Gilbert<\/strong> seems to have the reverse-Midas touch.<\/p>\n

* That’s the end of that. Lippo Ltd<\/strong>. has pulled out of a joint venture<\/a> with Caesars Entertainment to build a resort in South Korea<\/strong>. The move is attributed partly to tensions brought on by the deployment of U.S. missiles in South Korea. As a result, punters are heading back to Macao<\/strong>, despite the greater government oversight they will have to endure. The breakup will cost Caesars, wobbling out of bankruptcy, $23.5 million. Caesars has turned to\u00a0Guangzhou R&F Properties Co. Ltd<\/strong>. to try and keep the project viable.<\/p>\n

* Sheldon Adelson<\/strong>\u00a0has found an ally<\/a> in his fight against Internet gambling in Pennsylvania<\/strong>. The chairman and CEO of Parx Casino<\/strong>, Robert Green<\/strong> and Tony Ricci<\/strong>, are trying to raise fears of cannibalization in Harrisburg<\/strong>. Their testimony was countered by \"\"that of several other casino executives. Green and Ricci failed to quantify their claim, which meant Caesars Senior Vice President David J. Satz<\/strong> was able to trump them with evidence that 80% of the company’s New Jersey online-poker players were from outside the company’s database. \u201cThey’re adding to the pot, they’re not subtracting from the pot,\u201d added Amaya<\/strong>\u00a0Vice President for Government Relations Nicholas Menas<\/strong>. Adelson, if he has indeed sold Sands Bethlehem<\/strong>, wouldn’t be out of the state for at least for six months and a vote on Internet gambling is likely for April or May, giving him plenty of time to make mischief.<\/p>\n

In other news, Isle of Capri Casinos<\/strong> is really struggling at its Nemacolin<\/strong> property, losing an average of $1.5 million a year. Executives blame the $10 admission fee charged to patrons, as well as completion from Golden Entertainmen<\/strong>t’s resurgent Rocky Gap Casino<\/strong>. Isle Nemacolin wants to trade the admission fee for a guaranteed $1 million\/year levy to the state.<\/p>\n

* Correction<\/strong>: Yesterday, I mistyped that Adelson wants to “outlaw state laws [sic<\/em>].” What I meant was that he wants to outlaw online state lotteries, still an overreach by any measure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

All good things must end and, in the case of Atlantic City, a pretty steady comeback hit a pothole in December, with business down 2%. Even Borgata ($58 million) was down a percentage point. Citywide, slot revenue was actually 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":[23,82,154,44,185,97,172,165,7,37,85,62,72,11,167,95,178,157,12,187,21],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19468"}],"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=19468"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19468\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19469,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19468\/revisions\/19469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}