{"id":7737,"date":"2011-10-18T12:14:31","date_gmt":"2011-10-18T20:14:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=7737"},"modified":"2019-12-25T17:15:49","modified_gmt":"2019-12-26T01:15:49","slug":"big-boing-in-pennsylvania-labor-strife-in-detroit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/big-boing-in-pennsylvania-labor-strife-in-detroit\/","title":{"rendered":"Big ‘boing’ in Pennsylvania; Labor strife in Detroit"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Casino revenues last month in Pennsylvania<\/strong> must have been riding a pogo stick — up 13% from last year. That includes a 39% moonshot in table revenues. Leaders include Sands Bethlehem<\/strong> (22%, right<\/em>), while Penn National<\/strong>‘s eponymous racino must be counted a disappointment, up 1% in September but -1% for the quarter to date, thanks to flat slot revenues. Sands, by contrast, overshot expectations: slot revenues rose 9% and tables 78% (!), with another month to go before the effects of Resorts World New York<\/strong> begin to manifest themselves. Considering that RWNY will only have mock table games and VLTs, S&G<\/em> now expects it will only make a minor dent in Sands’ performance.<\/p>\n

\"\"In plain old dollars and cents, Parx Casino<\/strong>‘s $41 million (+7%) was tops for the state, although Sands ($8.7 million) is now the premier money-maker in the table-game subcategory — grossing almost 3X as much as Penn did. (Penn’s rejected Aqueduct Racetrack<\/strong> concept is seen at left.) Except for Presque Isle Downs<\/strong> (-4%), all outlying casinos had positive months, led by The Meadows<\/strong> racino’s $24 million (+3%). In downtown Philadelphia<\/strong>, one-year-old SugarHouse<\/strong> has leveled off at $21 million since March. Further out, Harrah’s Chester Downs<\/strong> ($28 million) continues to slip, down -2.5%. The inexorable forward march of Rivers Casino<\/strong> ($29 million) continues apace in Pittsburgh<\/strong>. The sequential gains are getting smaller but Rivers’ 13% growth in September revenue is nothing at which to sneeze.<\/p>\n

\"\"Motown on the march?<\/strong> A labor story that’s been flying just above the radar is the imminent strike at casinos in Detroit<\/strong>. Both sides are keeping mum<\/a> in the talks. However, this would be an unbecoming time<\/a> for management to poor-mouth employees, as the market has been up 3% YTD, weighed down only by unstable management at Greektown Casino<\/strong>, perennial underachiever of the threesome. MGM Grand Detroit<\/strong> and Motor City Casino<\/strong> have had a better-than-expected 2011 (just like the Detroit Lions<\/strong>), and workers’ paychecks ought to reflect that fact. Caesars Entertainment<\/strong>, though, has to be rubbing its hands at the thought of a strike, which might finally drive more traffic to Caesars Windsor<\/strong> (above<\/em>). While there, you can strike a blow for personal liberty by lighting up a bonafide Cuban cigar — a privilege not afforded in the Land of the Free.<\/p>\n

\"\"Penn vs. Caesars<\/strong>. While the two companies have common interests — at least for the moment — in Ohio<\/strong>, there’s no detente<\/em> where interstate competition is concerned. Rather than sit and wait for incoming salvos (and outgoing players) courtesy of Horseshoe Cincinnati<\/strong>, Penn is taking the offensive … with more than a little help from Big Government<\/a>. The City of Lawrenceburg<\/strong> is loaning the suddenly penurious Penn $14 million, repayable over 20 years. On top of that, Penn gets an outright $25 million grant plus $10 million in tax-increment financing.<\/p>\n

\"\"For $1 million upfront, Hollywood Casino Lawrenceburg<\/strong> — helmed by former Harrah’s New Orleans<\/strong> general manager Joe Hasson<\/strong> (right<\/em>) — gets a restaurant, exhibition hall, ballroom and a 180-room hotel. Lawrenceburg expects to take a $7.4 million loss on the deal. In addition to fending off Caesars’ Cincinnati<\/strong> advance, Penn hopes to strike at convention business currently bound for Pinnacle Entertainment<\/strong>‘s nearby Belterra resort. Now let’s see if Caesars goes to the Cincy city fathers and demands a comparable hotel of its own. (The company has a long history of shamelessness when it comes to moving the goal posts.)<\/p>\n

It looks as though not all casino CEOs are averse to guvmint stimulus … not when they can get some of it for themselves, anyway.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Casino revenues last month in Pennsylvania must have been riding a pogo stick — up 13% from last year. That includes a 39% moonshot in table revenues. Leaders include Sands Bethlehem (22%, right), while Penn National‘s eponymous racino must be … 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":[73,28,44,14,120,7,68,22,84,11,91,101,71,69,95,30,111,12,74,31],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7737"}],"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=7737"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7737\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25695,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7737\/revisions\/25695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}