{"id":21637,"date":"2018-05-04T11:29:53","date_gmt":"2018-05-04T19:29:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=21637"},"modified":"2019-09-08T15:46:35","modified_gmt":"2019-09-08T23:46:35","slug":"las-vegas-numbers-perplex-macao-shatters-expectations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/las-vegas-numbers-perplex-macao-shatters-expectations\/","title":{"rendered":"Las Vegas numbers perplex; Macao shatters expectations"},"content":{"rendered":"

While Las Vegas<\/strong>, as mentioned earlier, is slogging through a 10-month visitation slump, you wouldn’t know it from March’s gaming-revenue numbers, which were 9% higher on the Las Vegas Strip<\/strong> ($574 million), although \"\"locals casinos took a 5% hit. Deutsche Bank<\/strong>‘s Carlo Santarelli<\/strong> suggested that the Strip result was a bit of smoke and mirrors. The increase was “due entirely to stronger than expected baccarat drop\/hold …\u00a0given the majority of the Strip operators already reported, the result is largely inconsequential.” Slot revenue was flat at $278.5 million on slightly lower coin-in and tighter holds, while tables ($179 million) were down 8% on the Strip. The star performer was baccarat, up 115% on 52% higher volume and also enjoying a favorable calendar — one more weekend day.<\/p>\n

Downtown<\/strong> ($54 million) got hit hard, off 14%, while North Las Vegas<\/strong> ($24 million) was down 9% and the Boulder Strip<\/strong> ($64.5 million) slipped 6%. Laughlin<\/strong> ($52 million) was up 2%, though, while uncategorized Clark County<\/strong> ($107 million) was 3% off. Given the frequently invoked strength of the Las Vegas economy, Wall Street<\/strong> boffins were at a loss to explain these numbers. Reno<\/strong> ($51 million) was flat while South Lake Tahoe<\/strong> fell 13% to $14.5 million. Out in the boonies, Elko<\/strong> (up 5%) was strong at $27 million and Carson Valley<\/strong> ($9.5 million), even stronger at almost 13% higher.<\/p>\n

Perhaps Nevada<\/strong> would be doing better if weren’t only the third-most “fun” state in America, according to WalletHub<\/strong>. Sure, we’re tops in casinos per capita but only 25th in access to national parks and 30th in \"\"amusement parks. California<\/strong> and New York State<\/strong> best us overall but we edge out Florida<\/strong>\u00a0while\u00a0Illinois<\/strong> comes in a surprising fifth. West Virginia<\/strong> is the least-fun state in America, down there with Mississippi<\/strong> (#49), Delaware<\/strong> (#48) and Rhode Island<\/strong> (#47), which shows that slot machines\u00a0can’t cure everything. Nevada does come in #1 in “nightlife,” a category in which it squeaks past — believe it or not — Wisconsin<\/strong>. States without casinos tended to inhabit the lower half of the list, although New Jersey<\/strong>‘s 27th-place ranking hints that Atlantic City<\/strong> can’t do it alone.<\/p>\n

* Boyd Gaming<\/strong> can’t get into the Illinois slot-route market fast enough. The latest casino revenues from the Land of Lincoln were not impressive: \"\"down over 5%, with foot traffic 6.5% lower than last year. Ironically, Boyd’s Par-A-Dice<\/strong>, which was incrementally better this year, was one of the few casinos to improve its performance, grossing $7 million. Between Harrah’s Joliet<\/strong> and Harrah’s Metropolis<\/strong>, the Caesars Entertainment<\/strong> riverboats grossed $21.5 million, a 7.5% slippage. Penn National Gaming<\/strong> was mostly down — 7.5% off at Argosy Belle<\/strong> ($4 million), 2% down at Hollywood Joliet<\/strong> ($10 million) but 2.5% higher at Hollywood Aurora<\/strong> ($10.5 million). The soon-to-be Eldorado Resorts<\/strong> boat, Grand Victoria<\/strong>, swooned 8%, for a $13.5 million finish.<\/p>\n

Speaking of Eldorado, it blamed “adverse weather” for missing Wall Street earnings estimates. “We believe ERI has positioned itself for multiple years of significant EBITDA growth,” wrote JP Morgan<\/strong>‘s Daniel Politzer<\/strong>, citing a slew of positive factors including growth markets in Reno, Black Hawk<\/strong>, Columbus<\/strong> and southern Florida. Politzer blamed snow in Reno for the 1Q18 shortfall.<\/p>\n

* Santarelli called Macao<\/strong> gaming-revenue growth of 27.5% in April a “big positive surprise,” especially when the Street’s estimate was for 20%. “We believe the VIP segment led the growth in the month of April, as hold was broadly normal, and mass growth again eclipsed 20% … We expect May \"\"to maintain this momentum.” Wynn Resorts<\/strong> gained a smidgen of mass-market play, at the expense of Sands China<\/strong> and Galaxy Entertainment<\/strong>, but it gave it right back in the VIP tranche, where Sands and Melco Resorts & Entertainment<\/strong> excelled. Sands continues to be the mass-market leader, with a 30% share, followed by a scrum of Galaxy (18%), Sociedade de Jogos de Macau<\/strong> (17%), Melco (14%) and Wynn (13%), with MGM Resorts International<\/strong> way back at 7%. Where VIP play is concerned, Galaxy is tops with 28%, comfortably ahead of Wynn (19%), Melco (15%), Sands (15%), SJM (14%) and MGM (8%). The latter is flat on a sequential basis, strongly implying the MGM Cotai<\/strong> isn’t giving it any traction,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While Las Vegas, as mentioned earlier, is slogging through a 10-month visitation slump, you wouldn’t know it from March’s gaming-revenue numbers, which were 9% higher on the Las Vegas Strip ($574 million), although locals casinos took a 5% hit. Deutsche … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4388,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[23,88,60,34,27,164,51,14,199,4,36,201,7,58,76,49,62,222,126,11,35,207,101,78,71,69,79,141,12,213,9,38,139,170,233],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21637"}],"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=21637"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21637\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24865,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21637\/revisions\/24865"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}