{"id":27981,"date":"2020-09-15T09:53:06","date_gmt":"2020-09-15T17:53:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=27981"},"modified":"2020-09-18T09:57:03","modified_gmt":"2020-09-18T17:57:03","slug":"internet-upstages-atlantic-city-detroit-returns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/internet-upstages-atlantic-city-detroit-returns\/","title":{"rendered":"Internet upstages Atlantic City; Detroit returns"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Internet gambling stole the spotlight in Atlantic City<\/strong> last month, as it shot up 114% from August 2019. Even with the renewed option of brick-and-mortar play, New Jersey<\/strong> punters are clearly enamored of online action and it’s here to stay. The i-gaming haul was $88 million, dominated by Golden Nugget<\/strong>‘s 32% market share, with Borgata<\/strong> a plucky second at 23%. Terrestrial casinos grossed $199 million last month, 31% off the previous year’s pace. With no poker available, table revenues were still down only 28%, compared to -31% at the slots. Borgata may be back, baby, but it was singularly unfortunate where Lady Luck was concerned: Slot win plunged 44% and the tables tumbled 38%. The Caesars Entertainment<\/strong> quartet was pretty average, with tables -26% and slots down 26%. That said, CZR properties are tracking down only 28% against JP Morgan<\/strong> analyst Joseph Greff<\/strong>‘s -45% forecast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Star performer was Ocean Casino Resort<\/strong>, beating the crowd-limit odds with a 1.5% increase to $24.5 million. The Golden Nugget may have cleaned up online but it was taken to the cleaners terrestrially, plummeting 55% to $9 million. Borgata was, as usual, the top grosser with $40.5 million but that was a 44% dive. Second-place Hard Rock<\/strong> was off only 14.5% for $33 million. Resorts Atlantic City<\/strong> grossed $14 million, a 26.5% declivity. Getting back into the Caesars foursome, Harrah’s Resort<\/strong> was down 31% to $21.5 million, company favorite Caesars Atlantic City<\/strong> grossed even less\u2014$21 million in a 31.5% slippage, Bally’s Atlantic City<\/strong> ground out $15.5 million for a better than average -17.5% and Tropicana Atlantic City<\/strong> notched an even $20 million, falling 37%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Sports betting was boffo, yielding $39.5 million to the bottom line. Meadowlands<\/strong> is tops in market share with 54%, followed by Resorts Digital<\/strong> with 25%. The $668 million handle was the biggest in any U.S. state ever\u2014yes, even bigger than Nevada<\/strong>‘s best month\u2014and $100 million over the Garden State’s previous apogee. Imagine what the numbers would be like were college football not postponed and the NFL preseason nixed altogether. The NBA<\/strong> lured $166 million in wagers, followed by MLB<\/strong>‘s $150 million. NHL<\/strong> games probably did well but they’re lumped in with $205 million of “other.” Interesting fact: Fewer punters played online, 90% versus July’s 93%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Michigan<\/strong> casinos reopened August 5, just a few days shy of five full months in mothballs. Between a slightly truncated month and draconian occupancy limits (15%), expectations have to be tempered, to say the least. Frankly, we’re surprised that they did as well as the numbers indicate\u2014better than March. MGM Grand Detroit<\/strong> remains king, $28.5 million (-46%), MotorCity<\/strong> is close behind in second place with $25 million (-37.5%) and Greektown<\/strong> rounds out the trio with $16 million (-41.5%). Here’s to better times ahead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Penn National Gaming<\/strong> had its turn in the hot seat with JP Morgan analysts. CEO Jay Snowden<\/strong> and Barstool Sports<\/strong> founder Dave Portnoy<\/strong> took questions, with Barstool being the main topic of interest. Its goals are not modest, aiming to rival DraftKings<\/strong> and FanDuel<\/strong> for market share. “Management believes Barstool\u2019s key competitive advantages include having a large, highly engaged and loyal audience (now 90 million + unique monthly users), a preeminent digital\/social media footprint, and DNA in sports betting, which should allow it to become to a market share leader,” chronicled Greff, a busy man this week. Management plans to do this without significant ad buys, a neat trick if they can pull it off, part of which depends on the competition being winnowed by market forces. In addition to an aggressive expansion strategy for Barstool, Penn looks to further monetize its preexisting alliances with Fox Bet<\/strong>, PointsBet<\/strong>, DraftKings, etc..<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh, what about casinos? Remember them? Their revenues were described as “solid” and stable in regional markets. The South is a bastion of strength, as are Ohio<\/strong> (we’ll say), Indiana<\/strong> and Iowa<\/strong>. A veil of charity appears to be have drawn over Illinois<\/strong>. Snowden blamed health restrictions in St. Louis<\/strong> for Penn’s struggles in that market. Bad news for players: Expect comps to be sweated. As Greff explains, “Management noted it is surprised by how fast their casino business has recovered post-COVID, and in the case of the broader industry, expects operators will embrace the new environment and avoid the pitfall of returning to the old ways of marketing\/promoting.” They’re taking you for granted, folks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Yes, Virginia, the Tropicana Las Vegas<\/strong> is still for sale. Owner Gaming & Leisure Properties<\/strong> says it has executed 16 nondisclosure agreements, “which includes serious buyers and some likely kicking the tires.” Beyond that, despite GLPI’s nascent talk of diversification when it was carved from a rib of Penn National, we are to expect more of the same: “In the wake of the pandemic, management sees ongoing consolidation of assets, particularly smaller\/single assets that are not part of a larger portfolio. GLPI continues to consider opportunities outside of gaming, but has a hard time, especially post-COVID, finding sectors with the compelling value proposition that Gaming offers,” writes Greff. As for i-gaming, GLPI is looking to execute a pincer movement with regulators to squeeze out providers who don’t have brick-and-mortar investments, “limiting access to companies without a track record of paying taxes to the respective states.” We like their thinking.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Internet gambling stole the spotlight in Atlantic City last month, as it shot up 114% from August 2019. Even with the renewed option of brick-and-mortar play, New Jersey punters are clearly enamored of online action and it’s here to stay. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[23,291,244,44,277,278,190,287,165,283,37,53,245,167,207,248,257,69,243,9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27981"}],"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=27981"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27981\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27983,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27981\/revisions\/27983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}