{"id":22322,"date":"2018-08-23T07:16:29","date_gmt":"2018-08-23T15:16:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=22322"},"modified":"2018-08-23T07:16:29","modified_gmt":"2018-08-23T15:16:29","slug":"good-news-big-and-small","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/good-news-big-and-small\/","title":{"rendered":"Good news, big and small"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last year, commercial casino revenues topped $40 billion for the first time ever, maxing out at $40.3 billion. States with casinos will be happy campers, as that windfall meant $9.2 billion in gambling taxes. The revenue surge was 3.5% according to the \"\"American Gaming Association. Motivating factors were described as “strong macroeconomic trends, job growth and stable operating conditions.” The rising tide did not lift all boats<\/a>. Outside competition pushed West Virginia<\/strong> down 5% and New Mexico<\/strong> was off 2% thanks to\u00a0a slumping energy industry. By contrast, Maryland<\/strong> was up 34% (almost exclusively due to MGM National Harbor<\/strong>) and even though New York State<\/strong>‘s new casinos are underperforming, they still contributed to 16% growth in the Empire State. With Las Vegas<\/strong> being flat and reversals in the Midwest, it will take some doing for the industry to repeat the $40 billion feat this year.<\/p>\n

* Wynn Macau<\/strong> casinos are outpacing the competition in one vital category: win\/table\/day. Their performance is 30% higher than the next-best operator. According to a trio of Sanford Bernstein<\/strong> analysts,\u00a0\u201cEven though Wynn has higher exposure to VIP than other operators, the market is underestimating Wynn\u2018s strong \"\"position in premium mass; its superior operation and marketing capability and strong brand; the continued ramp up growth opportunities at Wynn Palace<\/strong>.\u201d VIP tables are averaging $43,200 win\/table\/day while mass-market ones are doing $13,400 win\/table\/day. (Just try finding those kind of figures at a U.S. casino.) On a cautionary note, the Bernstein trio added that anti-corruption activities in China<\/strong> are building up on a scale not seen since 2015, always something that causes trepidation in the gaming sector. Nevertheless, Wynn Macau stock traded up<\/a> on the positive revenue report.<\/p>\n

Speaking of Chinese displeasure, Apple<\/strong> felt it from state-run media, which criticized it for offering as many as 25,000 gambling applications on the Apple Store<\/strong>. The company beat a hasty retreat, pulling applications by the dozen and saying contritely,\u00a0“Gambling apps are illegal and not allowed on the App Store in China.” The squeeze on Apple was part of a wider anti-Internet-gambling crackdown.<\/p>\n

* Congratulations to the Cowlitz Tribe<\/strong> on a promise kept. Even before its Ilani Casino<\/strong> saw the first pull on a slot machine the tribe was moving to address the potential<\/a> for disordered gambling. Now it has three counselors on staff to help troubled customers. Ilani President Kara Fox-LaRose<\/strong> said the tribe was making good on a commitment to \u201cdedicate a portion of gaming revenue to programs and services in support of its dedication to fostering healthy communities.\u201d The help center is off-site but you can get a referral at the Player Services desk or call 360-947-2247<\/strong>. Remember that the next time somebody bashes tribal gaming.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last year, commercial casino revenues topped $40 billion for the first time ever, maxing out at $40.3 billion. States with casinos will be happy campers, as that windfall meant $9.2 billion in gambling taxes. The revenue surge was 3.5% according … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19430,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[14,37,62,72,101,90,20,246,139,233],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22322"}],"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=22322"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22322\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22323,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22322\/revisions\/22323"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}