{"id":8789,"date":"2012-04-09T09:41:49","date_gmt":"2012-04-09T17:41:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=8789"},"modified":"2012-04-09T09:51:14","modified_gmt":"2012-04-09T17:51:14","slug":"illinois-visit-more-spend-less-harrahs-breaks-losing-streak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/illinois-visit-more-spend-less-harrahs-breaks-losing-streak\/","title":{"rendered":"Illinois: Visit more, spend less; Harrah’s breaks losing streak"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Although recent investor presentations by the major casino and game-making companies would leave one feeling pretty sanguine about the economy, “pallid” is the word for the industry’s performance in Illinois<\/strong> last month. Attendance at casinos rose 21% but spending was flat. Most of that increase was attributable to Rivers Casino<\/strong> ($35 million, right<\/em>), which lifted the state’s take 21%. However, with Rivers subtracted from the picture, revenues were 8% down. MGM Resorts International<\/strong>‘s Grand Victoria<\/em> got pummeled again, -17%, showing the kind of double-digit volatility one associates with a much lower-grossing property, not one that won $20 million lat month.<\/p>\n

\"\"Penn National Gaming<\/strong>‘s portfolio took it in the shorts, posting declines at Hollywood Aurora<\/em> (-14.5%), Empress Joliet<\/em> (-9%) and Alton Belle<\/em> (-9%). A huge month for Harrah’s Metropolis<\/em> (+14%) all but negated continued erosion in the Joliet<\/strong> market, salvaging the month for Caesars Entertainment<\/strong>. Independents Casino Queen<\/em> (+3%) and Jumer’s Casino Rock Island<\/strong> (+9%) showed enduring strength and continuing improvement, respectively, while Boyd Gaming<\/strong> managed to exceed Deutsche Bank<\/strong>‘s expectations despite a 2% dip aboard Par-A-Dice<\/em>. Illinois’ casinos may be hindered by a smoking ban and prohibitive tax rates that would discourage reinvestment, but new product like Jumer’s and Rivers casinos is a cinch to beat those odds.<\/p>\n

\"\"Across the river<\/strong>, casinos in Iowa<\/strong> continue to improve as a group — up 3% even after new Grand Falls Casino<\/strong> is discounted. Both slot handle (+1%) and table revenues (+7%) rose, even against slightly lower table drop. Caesars had particular cause to break out the bubbly, since Harrah’s Council Bluffs<\/em> (below<\/em>) was 0.0% from last year. Being absolutely flat may not sound like such a great deal but Harrah’s CB had been riding a losing streak of at least<\/em> 26 consecutive months’ duration. Management is to be congratulated on finally getting its act together. Throw in a boffo month (+13%, for a state-topping $20 million) at\u00a0<\/strong> and Caesars really has reason to celebrate.<\/p>\n

As a group, Isle of Capri Casinos<\/strong>‘ vessels did badly, averaging a 2% declivity. Newish Isle Casino & Hotel at Waterloo<\/strong> was the lone bright spot, up 3%. Ameristar Council Bluffs<\/em> was feeling no pain, up 3% and beating Deutsche Bank projections (as did Caesars). Penn also had a solid month aboard Argosy Sioux City<\/em>, up 4%. New kid on the block Grand Falls grossed $5.3 million, numbers comparable to Argosy Sioux City<\/em>, validating state regulators’ decision to expand there and only there.<\/p>\n

\"\"This just in<\/strong><\/em>: Deutsche Bank’s Carlo Santarelli<\/strong> is lowering short-term cash-flow estimates for Wynn Resorts<\/strong>. Neither casino play nor room revenues in Las Vegas<\/strong> have met previous assumptions. Legal expenses for the Kazuo Okada<\/strong> imbroglio are also a negative factor. Weak 1Q12 hold in VIP play at Wynn Macau<\/strong> didn’t help, either, but cash-flow estimates for 2012-13 look good along the China<\/strong> front, even with Sands Cotai Central<\/strong> looming in the not-so-distance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Although recent investor presentations by the major casino and game-making companies would leave one feeling pretty sanguine about the economy, “pallid” is the word for the industry’s performance in Illinois last month. Attendance at casinos rose 21% but spending was … 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":[40,60,14,7,58,86,85,62,11,91,69,12,32,31,9,38],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8789"}],"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=8789"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8789\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8791,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8789\/revisions\/8791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}