{"id":7790,"date":"2011-10-25T16:50:10","date_gmt":"2011-10-26T00:50:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=7790"},"modified":"2019-03-18T09:47:07","modified_gmt":"2019-03-18T17:47:07","slug":"lies-damned-lies-casino-overboard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/lies-damned-lies-casino-overboard\/","title":{"rendered":"Lies, damned lies & Illinois; Casino overboard!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Way to go, Joe Canfora<\/strong>! The Merit Casino<\/strong> CEO shows how impressive a statistic can sound when taken out of context. By stating “there are more slot machines per 100,000 people in Iowa<\/strong> than there are in Illinois<\/strong><\/em>,” Canfora craftily implies that the Land of Lincoln is somehow underserved. Let’s look at other numbers, shall we?<\/p>\n

\"\"In August<\/strong>, the putatively casino-famished Illinois grossed $137 million while Iowa revenues were $117.5 million. One might add that both Iowa’s casino regulators, its operators, and Gov. Terry Branstad<\/strong> (R, right<\/em>) have all been firmly of the opinion that the state is saturated and doesn’t need more gambling positions, a position firmly rooted in the bottom line. Coming off a flat 2010, Iowa casinos are revenue-positive for 2011 mostly because of recently opened Grand Falls Casino Resort<\/strong>, up near the South Dakota<\/strong> border. Subtract the Grand Falls Effect and 2011 has been a tale of four flat months, two positive ones and two revenue-negative ones. So no, Mr. Canfora, more slot machines does not automatically equal more revenue, although I’m sure some impressionable simpleton is parroting your specious talking point even as I type these words.<\/p>\n

(Interestingly, Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn<\/strong> [D] is revamping the membership of his state’s gaming commission, to emphasize financial oversight. By contrast, when fiscal insight was most needed in Nevada’s casino industry, the Jim Gibbons<\/strong> administration mindlessly appointed a succession of lawyers.)<\/p>\n

\"\"Speaking of Iowa<\/strong>, the supposedly detail-oriented execs of Caesars Entertainment<\/strong> might want to stage a managerial intervention at Harrah’s Council Bluffs<\/strong> (left<\/em>). In a 20-month stretch, it only posted one revenue-positive month (last December). Even compared to a gloomy 2010, the riverboat has really gotten walloped in June-August 2011: down nearly 20% for three months running. It appears to be bleeding market share to Ameristar Casinos<\/strong>‘ rival vessel, up in 10 of 11 months, through August. Year to date, Ameristar Council Bluffs<\/strong> is crushing its Harrah’s counterpart, $113 million to $47.5 million. The former’s larger gaming inventory (1,725 positions vs. 1,150) accounts for some of that disparity — but not to the extent of a 2.4X larger gross! Either Harrah’s CB is the world’s unluckiest casino or local management has screwed up mightily.<\/p>\n

Thanks to its Horseshoe<\/strong>-branded racino, Caesars still has the largest market share in Iowa by a comfortable margin. However, the sustained deterioration of Harrah’s Council Bluff’s revenues is symptomatic of Gary Loveman<\/strong>‘s absentee-landlord regime.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Way to go, Joe Canfora! The Merit Casino CEO shows how impressive a statistic can sound when taken out of context. By stating “there are more slot machines per 100,000 people in Iowa than there are in Illinois,” Canfora craftily … 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":[40,28,14,7,58,86,137,25],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7790"}],"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=7790"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7790\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23736,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7790\/revisions\/23736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}