{"id":23490,"date":"2019-02-08T09:33:45","date_gmt":"2019-02-08T17:33:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=23490"},"modified":"2023-12-18T06:40:26","modified_gmt":"2023-12-18T14:40:26","slug":"churchill-downs-pwns-caesars-kentucky-covets-casinos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/churchill-downs-pwns-caesars-kentucky-covets-casinos\/","title":{"rendered":"Churchill Downs pwns Caesars; Kentucky covets casinos"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cold weather helped chill Indiana<\/strong> casino revenues last month, down 6%. The Hoosier State’s casinos and racinos grossed $154 million. Horseshoe Southern Indiana<\/strong> continues to bleed business<\/a> to Churchill Downs<\/strong>‘ Derby City<\/strong>, hemorrhaging 10% to $16.5 \"\"million. Full House Resorts<\/strong> had a bad month at Rising Sun<\/strong>, sinking 9% to $3 million. Boyd Gaming<\/strong> and Eldorado Resorts<\/strong> were stagnant at Belterra<\/strong> and Tropicana Evansville<\/strong> respectively, grossing $7.5 million and $11 million. Hollywood Lawrenceburg<\/strong> lost a percentage point to bring home $12 million while Hoosier Park<\/strong> slipped 2.5% to $13 million and Indiana Downs<\/strong> gained 2% to finish at $18.5 million. French Lick Resort<\/strong> gained 9% to finish near $7 million. Northward, the effects of severe cold weather are hard to measure. Both Horseshoe Hammond<\/strong> ($28.5 million) and Ameristar East Chicago<\/strong> ($16 million) were battered, shedding 15% and 12.5% respectively. However, Majestic Star I<\/strong> lost only a percentage point, finishing with $6.5 million. Majestic Star II<\/strong> grossed $4 million, a 6% decline and Blue Chip<\/strong> dipped 5% to finish at $10 million.<\/p>\n

Sports betting may be coming to Indiana. The state Senate Public Policy Committee<\/strong> has voted to approve in-person and mobile sports betting on virtually everything except high-school sports and e-sports. The Indiana Gaming Commission<\/strong> would have to \"\"approve prop bets and could yank any sporting event\u00a0where there’s evidence of untoward activity. Reversing a Mike Pence<\/strong> stipulation, the bill would allow Caesars Entertainment<\/strong>‘s two racinos to immediately have table games instead waiting two more years. The Majestic Star license would be bisected, with one facility remaining in Gary<\/strong> and the other going to Terre Haute<\/strong>. Both Tropicana Evansville and French Lick Resort are receiving compensation for the Gary-to-Terre Haute move, and Ameristar and Horseshoe Hammond are making loud noises about the relocation of Majestic Star I closer to their casinos. The bill’s next stop is the Senate Appropriations Committee<\/strong> followed by the full state Senate and the House of Representatives. Still, it sounds judicious to us.<\/p>\n

Kentucky<\/strong> is casting an envious eye to its neighbors to the north. How else to explain a swarm of gambling bills<\/a> in the Lege’s hopper. H190<\/strong> authorizes four brick-and-mortar casinos (for $50 million apiece), plus racinos with slots only ($25 million each). Four bills would permit sports betting. S23 would create a Kentucky Gaming Commission<\/strong> to oversee sports wagers administered by the lottery and horse tracks, taxed at 25%. H12<\/strong> freezes out the tracks, making the lottery the sole purveyor of sports betting. H171<\/strong> would do much the same, but restrict the betting to pro sports. Then there’s H175<\/strong> which includes daily fantasy sports and online card games under its remit. Horse tracks and “professional sports venues” would have the skins, taxed at 10.25% and 14.25% respectively. We’ll see if 2019 is finally the year Kentucky gets something done.<\/p>\n

*\u00a0Tilman Fertitta<\/strong>‘s possible sale of the Golden Nugget<\/strong> chain is a fast-moving story. \"\"The casino owner’s record-making, $2.2 billion purchase of the Houston Rockets<\/strong> is catching up with him. Bond debt is the problem<\/a>. Bonds that were worth $102 now trade for $98 and are the obligation of Golden Nugget Inc,. So Tilman could have a bit of a problem. Still, Wall Street<\/strong> has faith in him. “He has a very, very good reputation and track record in the bond market,” says one Street CEO. “We\u2019ve done a lot of deals with him, and the lenders have made a lot of money.” Let’s hope that continues.<\/p>\n

* Is there really a market for skill-based slots?\u00a0This article<\/a> argues that there is but buries the lead: major layoffs in Gamblit<\/strong>‘s skill-based-games division.\u00a0\u201cBecause skill-based gaming is still in its early days, and without comprehensive analysis of metrics, it\u2019s difficult for some [casinos] to give it valuable floor space,” argues Synergy Blue<\/strong> CEO Georg Washington<\/strong>. Still, a new report by Washington’s company says that 70% of 100 casinos surveyed have added, plan to add or are considering SBS machines.<\/p>\n

* MGM Resorts International<\/strong> has closed its purchase<\/a> of Yonkers Raceway<\/strong>. No surprise \"\"there. MGM Springfield<\/strong> President Michael Mathis<\/strong>\u00a0issued a statement that read, in part, \u201cThe Empire City Casino<\/strong> acquisition in Yonkers<\/strong> is designed to tap into the underserved [New York<\/strong>]\u00a0market, which will complement the MGM Springfield market.” If so, why does MGM need Bridgeport<\/strong>? Other than it’s CEO Jim Murren<\/strong>‘s birthplace. We pause, not long, in little hope of an answer.<\/p>\n

* Gambling only accounted for 34% of Las Vegas Strip<\/strong> casino revenue. That may help explain why the Strip booked $18.3 million in gambling revenue but still posted $1.7 billion in losses. Most of the was driven by the fallout from the Caesars bankruptcy, with the company driving a $27 billion loss by Nevada<\/strong>‘s 289 casinos. Reno<\/strong> fared well, with its casinos grossing $1.7 billion for a $97.5 million profit.<\/p>\n

*\u00a0One company that saw costs outdrawing revenues was Wynn Resorts<\/strong>. While this is propelled by the cost of Encore Boston Harbor<\/strong>, events in Macao<\/strong> were also to blame. “As Macau’s gaming market changes, so should investor expectations for the company’s \"\"casinos,” warned The Motley Fool.<\/em> In 4Q18, revenue at Wynn Palace<\/strong> shot up 13% (to $740.5 million), outpacing Macao’s overall 9%. Mass-market play was primarily credited<\/a> with the growth. Higher room rates help drive that department, which grossed $103.5 million. Wynn Macau<\/strong>, however, saw 6% less gambling revenue, for a $479 million gross as VIPs fled en masse<\/em>. No wonder management is shifting its focus<\/a> to premium-mass players. “Wynn Palace is on its way to a $1 billion EBITDA run rate, and should be the company’s cash cow going forward,” concludes The Motley Fool<\/em>. “That’s where investors’ focus should be now that it’s one of the most profitable casinos in the world.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cold weather helped chill Indiana casino revenues last month, down 6%. The Hoosier State’s casinos and racinos grossed $154 million. Horseshoe Southern Indiana continues to bleed business to Churchill Downs‘ Derby City, hemorrhaging 10% to $16.5 million. Full House Resorts … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21268,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[60,244,176,227,220,199,198,68,37,116,62,53,112,245,101,69,33,111,74,243,31,8,129,38,233],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23490"}],"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=23490"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23490\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32971,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23490\/revisions\/32971"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21268"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}