{"id":28120,"date":"2020-10-09T08:09:40","date_gmt":"2020-10-09T16:09:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=28120"},"modified":"2020-10-15T09:08:01","modified_gmt":"2020-10-15T17:08:01","slug":"what-ails-illinois-trump-plaza-comes-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/what-ails-illinois-trump-plaza-comes-down\/","title":{"rendered":"What ails Illinois?; Trump Plaza comes down"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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In a month that saw Ohio<\/strong> casino revenues grow 6% and Iowa<\/strong> almost 1% (to $119.5 million), Illinois<\/strong> casinos plummeted 27% to a measly $82 million. Even a sub-50% capacity restriction doesn’t begin to explain away the problem. Predictably, Rivers Casino Des Plaines<\/strong> suffered least, down 8% to $34 million. This is proving to be one of many astute investments by Churchill Downs<\/strong>. At the other end of the spectrum, how does Argosy Belle<\/strong> stay afloat? Its $2 million gross was a 51% drop-off. New Twin River Holdings<\/strong> property Jumer’s Casino Rock Island<\/strong> looks like a turkey, barely reaching $3 million and tumbling 45%. Good luck recouping the $120 million purchase price on those kind of numbers. Nearest to Rivers Casino was Grand Victoria<\/strong>, grossing $9 million (-26.5%), while Harrah’s Joliet<\/strong> fell 42% to $8.5 million and Harrah’s Metropolis<\/strong> (above<\/em>) slipped 21% to $4.5 million. A recent player at Metropolis called it “a very distant outpost of the Caesars\/El Dorado empire. Lots of deferred maintenance here in the Midwest …” Deferred maintenance at a Caesars Entertainment<\/strong> property? The ghost of Gary Loveman<\/strong> must still be calling the shots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

As for Penn National Gaming<\/strong>‘s casinos, Empress Joliet<\/strong> scratched out $6 million (-40%) and Hollywood Aurora<\/strong> stumbled 26% to $7 million. Par-A-Dice<\/strong> slid 30% to $4 million. The infusion of DraftKings<\/strong> did nothing for Casino Queen<\/strong>, down 48% to $4 million. Looking at these numbers it seems clear that, when they approved multiple new casinos and racinos, the Illinois Lege and Gov. J.B. Pritzker<\/strong> (D) were A)<\/strong> dropping acid and B)<\/strong> setting the stage for a major business debacle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Indiana<\/strong> casinos slipped too, but not nearly as badly\u2014 down 4.5% to reach $165 million (yes, more than double Illinois’ catch). That’s even with $4 million from new table games at Indiana Grand<\/strong> and Harrah’s Hoosier Park<\/strong>. For the most part, casinos are still outperforming JP Morgan<\/strong> analysts’ 3Q20 projections. Caesars was the big dog, with the two top-grossing properties in the Hoosier State: Horseshoe Hammond<\/strong> with its $29.5 million (-13.5%) and Indiana Grand’s $22 million (+7%). Caesars Southern Indiana<\/strong> was flat at $17 million, as was Hoosier Park at $15.5 million, while Tropicana Evansville<\/strong>‘s $10 million was a 13% dip. Also grossing in the double-digits were Ameristar East Chicago<\/strong> ($19 million, +13%) and Hollywood Lawrenceburg<\/strong> ($13 million, -4%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The performance of the northern casinos suggested, by and large, a massive flight of players from Chicagoland<\/strong>. Both Majestic Star<\/strong> boats were up, grossing $8 million and $5 million respectively, for 9% gains each. On the other hand, Michigan<\/strong> gamers must be playing close to home now, as Blue Chip<\/strong> tumbled 22.5% to $10 million. Elsewhere in the state, French Lick Resort<\/strong> swooned 31% to $5 million, Belterra Resort<\/strong> gained 3% to finish with $8 million and Rising Star<\/strong> slalomed 16% to $4 million. Sports-betting handle staved off a challenge from Illinois with $207.5 million in action. Compare that to $35 million a year ago, the first month in which sports betting was legal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIndiana has benefitted from Illinois\u2019 relatively slow launch and its inconsistency with in-person registration requirements, buying Indiana time to continue to capitalize on the Chicago<\/strong> market,\u201d said analyst Jessica Welman<\/strong>. The large handle translated into big revenue by sports book standards: over $14 million. With the Big 10<\/strong> temporarily sidelined, players went big for the NFL<\/strong>, especially the Indianapolis Colts<\/strong>, racking up $48.5 million in handle. That dominated all sports, NBA<\/strong> playoffs spurred another $34 million, followed by baseball with $30 million. Preeminent choice among online punters was Ameristar\/DraftKings, with $89.5 million in wagers, with Blue Chip\/FanDuel<\/strong> second at $56.5 million. Belterra\/BetMGM<\/strong> has its work cut out for it with $13 million, although French Resort\/BetRivers<\/strong> was unexpectedly strong given the no-name brands involved: $6 million. Caesars\/Unibet<\/strong> at Horseshoe Hammond was almost a non-factor at $1 million. Hollywood Lawrenceburg’s terrestrial sports book was the most popular, with $10 million exchanged at the wickets. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, state Sen. John Ford<\/strong> (R) is pressing forward to legalize Internet gambling, which would open another significant revenue stream. Concluded analyst Dustin Gouker<\/strong>, \u201cWith a maturing online sports betting market, Indiana already has strong infrastructure in place to quickly ramp up. That would put the market on the path of success.\u201d Indeed it should.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In case you missed it on our Twitter feed, Jan. 27, 2021 is the date certain for the Trump Dump, er, Trump Plaza<\/strong> to be imploded … although if one waits long enough the Plaza will crumble into dust of its own accord. [insert metaphor here] We learned that in the course of a highly informative colloquy<\/a> between Global Gaming Business<\/em> Publisher Roger Gros<\/strong> and Atlantic City<\/strong> Mayor Marty Small<\/strong>, who\u2014among other things\u2014weighs in favor of maintaining the deed restrictions on the Claridge Hotel<\/strong> and Atlantic Club<\/strong>, saying essentially that the city’s got nine casinos to bring back and that’s plenty. There’s an awkward moment when Gros describes Black Lives Matter<\/strong> to the African-American Small as a “problem.” Small patiently explains that the problem isn’t BLM but local troublemaker Steve Young<\/strong>, who has hijacked the movement to his own, self-aggrandizing ends. While not endorsing BLM as an organization, Small says he’ll institute a Black Lives Matter Day starting next year. We heartily second the motion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally<\/strong>, Eataly<\/strong> at Park MGM<\/strong> might have some issues if this Phoenix<\/strong>-area Italian restaurant<\/a> branches out to Sin City.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a month that saw Ohio casino revenues grow 6% and Iowa almost 1% (to $119.5 million), Illinois casinos plummeted 27% to a measly $82 million. Even a sub-50% capacity restriction doesn’t begin to explain away the problem. Predictably, Rivers … 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":[109,23,60,244,82,176,18,277,278,198,58,68,37,86,245,259,69,33,242,265,243,269],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28120"}],"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=28120"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28120\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28122,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28120\/revisions\/28122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}