{"id":25845,"date":"2020-01-16T08:41:16","date_gmt":"2020-01-16T16:41:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=25845"},"modified":"2020-01-16T08:42:08","modified_gmt":"2020-01-16T16:42:08","slug":"encore-owns-massachusetts-harrahs-reno-almost-sold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/encore-owns-massachusetts-harrahs-reno-almost-sold\/","title":{"rendered":"Encore owns Massachusetts; Harrah’s Reno (almost) sold"},"content":{"rendered":"

Massachusetts<\/strong> gaming-revenue numbers are out and Encore Boston Harbor<\/strong> is the story. It’s got 65% market share and $1.75 million casino win per day. MGM Springfield<\/strong> is far behind, with 19% market share and \"\"600 dimes win per day, with Plainridge Park<\/strong> bringing up the rear with $330K daily win. Plainridge Park’s $10 million haul represented a devastating 27.5% falloff, as it is caught in a pincer between Twin River<\/strong> in Tiverton<\/strong> and Encore. Players were obviously staying away, as handle was down 22% despite an impressive win\/slot\/day of $274. Also slipping at the slots was MGM, down to $176\/win\/slot\/day, for a gross of $14 million, a dip of 2.5%. MGM had a terrible month at the tables, toppling 30% to $5 million.<\/p>\n

Encore, by contrast, grossed $54 million, with only $22.5% of that coming from slots ($231\/win\/day). Table revenues shot up from November to $31.5 million. Win\/table\/day was $7,085 compared to MGM’s anemic $1,355 table\/day. Given these dynamics, developers like Neil Bluhm<\/strong> should think hard about investing $500 million into a fourth Massachusetts<\/strong> casino but we’ll let the free market be the final arbiter.<\/p>\n

*\u00a0Four heartless heartland states have been called on the carpet for not fully funding their responsible-gaming programs. The scofflaws are Oklahoma<\/strong>, Kansas<\/strong>, Missouri<\/strong> and Louisiana<\/strong>. The accusation has been leveled by the Responsible Gaming Collaborative<\/strong>. We don’t know who’s to blame but, whether you’re a politician who supports legalized gambling or one who opposes it, you nevertheless have a moral imperative to support programs that address its negative side effects.<\/p>\n

* The mystery of the casino shutdown at Harrah’s Reno<\/strong> has been solved. Casino.org<\/strong> reports that Vici Properties<\/strong> is selling the hotel to Reno City Center<\/strong>, whose intent is to convert the property into commercial space. We sympathize, as Reno<\/strong> has all the casinos it can support. (But not more.)<\/p>\n

* No surprise here: JP Morgan<\/strong> analyst Joseph Greff<\/strong> gives two thumbs up to the MGM Grand<\/strong>\/Mandalay Bay<\/strong> sale. The $4.6 billion transaction represents a 15.75X cash flow that would be an insane markup anywhere \"\"but in Macao<\/strong> or on the Las Vegas Strip<\/strong>. Adds Greff, “the proceeds here should serve as an accelerant to MGM achieving its low balance sheet leverage target (1.0x domestic net leverage by year-end 2020,” with the money going a long way toward retiring MGM’s huge debt burden and freeing up development money for Osaka<\/strong>. Buyer Blackstone “who has the potential to be a continued partner down the road for both gaming\/non-gaming transactions and liquidity catalyst with respect to MGM\u2019s soon to be ~55% ownership of MGP.”<\/p>\n

Greff applauds Blackstone’s “stellar reputation and track record in all things” real estate, as well as its commitment of $150 million in equity to \"\"MGM Growth Partners<\/strong>. “Lastly, we believe there were many high-quality real estate bidders for the MGM Grand\/Mandalay Bay [real estate], which underscores the value (private higher than public) these types of RE firms place on LV Strip assets. In general, we think these transactions suggest a pretty favorable operating outlook for the LV Strip and an appreciation for LV Strip real estate values that are not present in public equities like MGM and MGP.”<\/p>\n

* Congratulations to reader Greg Askins<\/strong> for being the first to answer yesterday’s trivia question. The mystery tower next to The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas<\/strong>\u00a0was the since-demolished Harmon Hotel<\/strong>. It holds a unique place in Las Vegas<\/strong> history as the only resort to be torn down without ever hosting a single guest. Through a Jedi mind trick, MGM Resorts International<\/strong> has almost made us forget the Harmon ever existed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Massachusetts gaming-revenue numbers are out and Encore Boston Harbor is the story. It’s got 65% market share and $1.75 million casino win per day. MGM Springfield is far behind, with 19% market share and 600 dimes win per day, with … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16833,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[244,56,140,45,84,112,245,39,115,69,90,79,9,269,38,233],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25845"}],"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=25845"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25845\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25847,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25845\/revisions\/25847"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}