{"id":5434,"date":"2010-12-24T14:24:00","date_gmt":"2010-12-24T22:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=5434"},"modified":"2022-05-28T04:52:46","modified_gmt":"2022-05-28T12:52:46","slug":"oh-little-casino-of-bethlehem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/oh-little-casino-of-bethlehem\/","title":{"rendered":"Oh little casino of Bethlehem"},"content":{"rendered":"

There’s a little something extra in the stockings of Pennsylvania<\/strong> casinos … a rather big something extra, actually. \"\"Keystone State casinos grossed 22% more than last November. Throw in a $15 million month at SugarHouse<\/strong> (below<\/em>) and it’s a 31.5% increase. Table games — to the tune of $38.5 million — drove the overwhelming bulk of the increase, with slots up only 2%. One notable exception was Sands Bethelehem<\/strong> (above<\/em>), whose 36% pole vault was heavily boosted by slot play (up 13%). At least as far as the $724 million initial phase of Sands Bethlehem is concerned, Sheldon Adelson<\/strong> still might be able to make his lavish expenditures pencil out over the medium term.<\/p>\n

\"\"By contrast, Penn National Gaming<\/strong>‘s improved performance (+13%) at its namesake racino was entirely a function of table play, with slot performance flat from November ’09. The closest thing to an actual disappointment was Harrah’s Chester Downs<\/strong>, “only” up 8%, finishing the month with $26 million, second only to Parx Casino<\/strong>‘s $36 million. By comparison, mammoth Rivers Casino<\/strong> continues to underperform, although its $24 million gross was a 52% in<\/em>crease from a year ago.<\/p>\n

For everyone else, it was time to pass around the Christmas cheer: Mohegan Pocono Downs<\/strong> +21%; Parx +26%; Presque Isle<\/strong> +16%; The Meadows<\/strong> +10%; Mount Airy<\/strong> +26%. Additional good news came in the form of the announcement by Caesars Entertainment<\/strong> that it was leaving the hapless Ed Snider<\/strong> consortium to its own devices and good luck to them. CEO Gary Loveman<\/strong>‘s fit of Philly Madness appears to have passed. I know I give Loveman a hard time but swearing off further pursuit of Snider’s Chimera was one of the best calls Loveman’s ever made.<\/p>\n

Rather than wait for the Snider group to work its issues out through the courts, state Rep. Curt Schroeder<\/strong> (R) is already typing up a bill<\/a> that would put the erstwhile Philadelphia<\/strong> license back on the block, priced to move ($50 million). There’s at least one rival group that would like to bring it back to Philly. Lucky for them, a second license may soon be up for grabs<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The obvious alternate choice is Johnstown<\/strong> and Philadelphia’s chaotic political scene has given the Lege no shortage of reasons for wanting to put that last casino somewhere, anywhere else. A few lawmakers are making noises about simply placing the license int the deep freeze. If slot revenues continue to flatten, they’ll have a legitimate argument.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere<\/strong>, Caesars is trying to punt $551 million<\/a> in Planet Hollywood<\/strong> debt into 2015. That’s all well and good for near-term survival, but it doesn’t placate those potential investors who look at the company’s disproportionate debt burden with dread. To some, this move will look like another “extend-and-pretend” strategy that builds up what Moody’s<\/strong> would characterize<\/a> as “a towering debt obligation in the years ahead.” On the bright side, one of Loveman’s favorite borrowing vehicles is making a comeback.<\/p>\n

Pot of gold<\/strong>. That’s what lawmakers in Ireland<\/strong> hope to find, as they contemplate legalizing one, 1,500-slot “resort” casino, possibly in Tipperary<\/strong>. I’d wish them luck but this looks like a sure thing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There’s a little something extra in the stockings of Pennsylvania casinos … a rather big something extra, actually. Keystone State casinos grossed 22% more than last November. Throw in a $15 million month at SugarHouse (below) and it’s a 31.5% … 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":[14,7,22,91,69,95,6,33,111,12,20,17,38],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5434"}],"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=5434"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5434\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31226,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5434\/revisions\/31226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}