{"id":29680,"date":"2021-06-08T09:27:03","date_gmt":"2021-06-08T17:27:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=29680"},"modified":"2021-06-12T07:16:48","modified_gmt":"2021-06-12T15:16:48","slug":"illinois-limps-ohio-races-flying-the-friendly-skies-with-hard-rock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/illinois-limps-ohio-races-flying-the-friendly-skies-with-hard-rock\/","title":{"rendered":"Illinois limps, Ohio races; Flying the friendly skies with Hard Rock"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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First, the good news. Illinois<\/strong> gaming revenues held steady from April to May. However … they lagged May 2019 by 9.5%, for a gross of $107 million. The shining exception, as ever, was Rivers Casino Des Plaines<\/strong>, which cornered 39% of the market, up 5% to $41.5 million. One has to commend Churchill Downs<\/strong> for making such a strategic acquisition\u2014and wonder what was going through Neil Bluhm<\/strong>‘s mind when he sold this gold mine. Grand Victoria<\/strong> did respectably, down 2% to $13 million, while Harrah’s Joliet<\/strong> ceded 24% to $11.5 million. Hollywood Aurora<\/strong> slipped 13% to $9 million and Empress Joliet<\/strong> tumbled 26% to $8 million. Par-A-Dice<\/strong> slipped 14% to $6 million and Jumer’s Casino Rock Island<\/strong> proved yet again to be an El Stinko investment for Bally’s Corp<\/strong>., toppling 38% to $4 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Further south, Argosy Belle<\/strong>‘s $3 million was actually a spectacular, 166.5% improvement on its 2019 performance. DraftKings at Casino Queen<\/strong> slid 29% to $6.5 million (maybe the oncoming sports book will help<\/a>) while Harrah’s Metropolis<\/strong> shed 20% to $5 million. Illinois politicians think they can continue to force more golden eggs from the casino goose but with slot routes continuing to expand aggressively<\/a>, the outlook for all but a few Land of Lincoln casinos is bleak, we’re afraid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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Ohio<\/strong> was an entirely different story. Buckeye Staters had money to burn and they incinerated it. The $209 million gross was a 23.5% improvement on May 2019, even if the pace of gambling slackened a wee bit from April. The lifting of mask mandates and capacity limits obviously didn’t hurt a bit. As normality returns to Detroit<\/strong>, no longer does Hollywood Toledo<\/strong> hold the top spot. Instead it reverted to slots-only MGM Northfield Park<\/strong> ($25 million), up $23.5 million. Of the four full-service casinos, Hollywood Columbus<\/strong> fared best, winning $23 million in a 22% jump. Jack Cleveland<\/strong> was next with $22.5 million (+25%), while Hollywood Toledo came next with $21.5 million (+22%). Even hard-luck Hard Rock Cincinnati<\/strong> had a good month, grossing $20 million and nudging up 4.5%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the racinos business was generally even better. Scioto Downs<\/strong> leapt 27.5% to $21 million, Jack Thistledown<\/strong> rocketed 51% higher to $19 million and Miami Valley Gaming<\/strong> gained 26% to $20 million. Belterra Park<\/strong> was the poor relation of the group, notching just $9 million, a 13% upsurge, while Hollywood Dayton<\/strong> vaulted 44% to $14 million and Hollywood Mahoning Valley<\/strong> climbed 25% to $14 million. We think those numbers speak for themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s not exactly the return of the Trump Shuttle<\/strong>, but Hard Rock Atlantic City<\/strong> is going to start flying in high-rollers, starting July 16. They’ll be traveling in style aboard a 30-seat Dornier 32<\/strong>8. The initial round of targeted markets is Baltimore<\/strong> (which has a casino at which nobody plays), Cincinnati<\/strong> (putting Hard Rock in competition with itself), Scranton<\/strong>, White Plains<\/strong>, Norfolk<\/strong>, Portsmouth<\/strong> and such famous VIP hangouts<\/a> as Latrobe<\/strong> and Farmingdale<\/strong>. Hard Rock CEO Jim Allen<\/strong>, who once readily ceded the top spot in Atlantic City to Borgata to this reporter, appears to be upping his game even further now that the MGM Resorts International<\/strong> property looks vulnerable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nothing says ‘going to the mall’ like visiting a slot parlor. That’s what Resorts World<\/strong> hopes New Yorkers will do when it opens a VLT joint in a shopping center<\/a> in Newburgh<\/strong>. The 1,300-slot facility has been approved by the city and $32 million Resorts World Hudson Valley<\/strong> hopes to be in business by March of next year. It’s a bit of a comedown for the tony Resorts World brand but Newburgh is happy: It gets $3 million a year to cover any additional policing costs or other side effects. Genting Group<\/strong> is projecting $160 million in annual gaming revenue, which seems a tad optimistic, given the history of upstate casinos, especially one without table games. The Newburgh mall is unquestionably an improvement on Genting’s first site choice: an abandoned chemical plant. Ick!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\" New Jersey<\/strong> Gov. Phil Murphy<\/strong> (D) is a flimsy reed that bends in the slightest breeze, which hopefully means he will see reason with regard to the bill the Lege has sent him giving much-needed tax relief to Atlantic City<\/strong>‘s casinos (the one area of concern<\/a> for Caesars Entertainment<\/strong>). Tax reductions would be in direct proportion to revenue declines<\/a>, which should help the Boardwalk’s least-competitive casinos the most. Murphy, like the jellyfish that he is, is vacillating on the stimulus bill. Still, with state Sens. Stephen Sweeney<\/strong> (D) and Chris Brown<\/strong> (R) behind it, the legislation has bipartisan heft. It’s not like the casinos are just getting free money: Infrastructure contributions will be taxed and i-gaming revenue will be levied at a higher rate. At least free play will be non-taxable if kept to less than $90 million per casino per year. (Let the comps commence!) Hey, Phil, do the right thing for once.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

First, the good news. Illinois gaming revenues held steady from April to May. However … they lagged May 2019 by 9.5%, for a gross of $107 million. The shining exception, as ever, was Rivers Casino Des Plaines, which cornered 39% … 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":[23,293,60,244,176,277,120,165,58,299,245,91,248,101,71,95,33,92,31,100],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29680"}],"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=29680"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29680\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29682,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29680\/revisions\/29682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}