{"id":20036,"date":"2017-08-07T10:36:53","date_gmt":"2017-08-07T18:36:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=20036"},"modified":"2017-08-07T10:37:51","modified_gmt":"2017-08-07T18:37:51","slug":"slippage-in-illinois-mgm-carries-maryland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/slippage-in-illinois-mgm-carries-maryland\/","title":{"rendered":"Slippage in Illinois; MGM carries Maryland"},"content":{"rendered":"

One less weekend day than last year proved costly for casinos in Illinois<\/strong>, where gaming revenue fell 2.5% in July. (It had been flat in \"\"2016.) True, the creeping effect of slot routes may have played a role but speculation can carry one only so far. Defying the odds were Rivers Casino<\/strong>, up 2% ($38.5 million) and MGM Resorts International<\/strong>‘s Grand Victoria<\/strong>, up 3% to $15.5 million. Hollywood Joliet<\/strong> ($11 million) was flat but everyone else was revenue-negative. Most seriously affected was Harrah’s Metropolis<\/strong> (-9.5%), making $7 million, while Harrah’s Joliet<\/strong> was down 6.5% to $15 million. Gaming & Leisure Properties<\/strong>‘ Casino Queen<\/strong> slipped 8% to $8.5 million.<\/p>\n

As for GLPI\/Penn National Gaming<\/strong>\u00a0properties elsewhere in the state, Argosy Belle<\/strong> eked out $4 million, down 8.5%, while Hollywood Aurora<\/strong>\u00a0missed by 4.5%, grossing $10 million. Boyd Gaming<\/strong>‘s Par-A-Dice<\/strong> casino in Peoria<\/strong> bled\u00a0somewhat, down 5.5% to $7 million, while independent Jumer’s Casino Rock Island<\/strong> slid 8% to $6.5 million.<\/p>\n

* There’s no “one less weekend day” glossing over a sorry performance by Maryland<\/strong>‘s casinos, which would have been down 15% were it not for MGM National Harbor<\/strong>, good for a 33.5% upward push, churning along at a $1.65 million\/day pace. The latter \"\"weighed in with a $51 million gross, slightly below Wall Street<\/strong> estimates. Of some worry, perhaps, to MGM execs would be the tilting of the balance of play toward highly taxed slots ($27.5 million) and away from low-tax table games ($23.5 million). Except for Rocky Gap Casino<\/strong>, which was flat with 2016, every other Free State casino was revenue-negative. Maryland Live<\/strong>‘s $47 million compared impressively to National Harbor’s gross, but it still represented a 22.5% falloff from the good old days of not so long ago.<\/p>\n

Horseshoe Baltimore<\/strong> pulled in $23 million, making for an 8%. Hollywood Casino Perryville<\/strong> reverted to its underperforming ways, down 2.5% to a $6.5 million gross. Ocean Downs<\/strong> (slots-only) grossed the same amount, taking a 1.5% step down. Although West Virginia<\/strong>‘s revenue-gathering is not congruent with Maryland’s (it goes from the 29th to the 29th), it showed gaming revenue down 6%, with tables particularly affected, off 16%. GLPI\/Penn’s Charles Town<\/strong> racino continues to represent an exaggerated version of this trend, with slots down 7% and tables games falling 22% on an unspecified gross, for -10% overall.<\/p>\n

* Las Vegas<\/strong>‘ most intriguing tourist attraction<\/a> is hidden away in the back of a Louis Vuitton<\/strong> store in Crystals<\/strong> and may only be viewed by appointment. Akhob<\/strong> by James Turrell<\/strong> takes its name from an ancient Egyptian word meaning “pure water.” The installation is described as “circular openings leading into two huge chambers filled with slowly changing, rotating light … The effect created is one of giving your eyes a gentle, soothing bath in the most brilliant colors imaginable. Vibrant hues shift imperceptibly from one to another, bleeding in and out of each other on a cycle that lasts 24 minutes.” Bookings require as much as a month’s advance notice, so make this the first item on your to-do list when planning a Vegas trip. Speaking of trips, with marijuana use now legal in Nevada<\/strong>, we imagine that some Akhob<\/em> viewers will enhance their experience of the installation with a cannabis infusion. Whatever expands your consciousness, man.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One less weekend day than last year proved costly for casinos in Illinois, where gaming revenue fell 2.5% in July. (It had been flat in 2016.) True, the creeping effect of slot routes may have played a role but speculation … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12200,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[56,70,190,97,7,58,72,11,91,69,111,9,19,139],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20036"}],"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=20036"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20036\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20037,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20036\/revisions\/20037"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}