{"id":9820,"date":"2012-10-11T14:48:39","date_gmt":"2012-10-11T22:48:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=9820"},"modified":"2012-10-11T14:48:39","modified_gmt":"2012-10-11T22:48:39","slug":"revenue-roundup-ohio-maryland-missouri-mohegan-sun-snow-job","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/revenue-roundup-ohio-maryland-missouri-mohegan-sun-snow-job\/","title":{"rendered":"Revenue roundup: Ohio, Maryland, Missouri & Indiana; Mohegan Sun snow job"},"content":{"rendered":"

Let’s start with the new kid on the block …<\/p>\n

\"\"Ohio<\/span><\/strong>: September saw Ohio<\/strong>‘s two casinos and one racino rake in an aggregate $50 million. The ‘novelty factor’ has waned<\/a>, along with vacation time, since June’s $58 million haul, but that’s still an impressive number compared to the more-mature Maryland<\/strong> industry. Horseshoe Cleveland<\/strong> is, no surprise, the biggest contributor, grossing $21 million, followed by Hollywood Toledo<\/strong> ($16 million) and Scioto Downs<\/strong> ($13 million). J.P. Morgan<\/strong> analysts must not read the Columbus<\/strong> papers, as they put opening day attendance at Hollywood Casino Columbus<\/strong> at 25,000 souls — double what was reported on the scene. We won’t have a full month of Columbus revenues until November’s numbers come out but the ramp-up of Ohio’s fledgling casino industry — scarcely five months old — is impressive.<\/p>\n

Maryland<\/strong><\/span>: Not having table games — pending the outcome of a November ballot — question and laboring under a take rate double Ohio’s 33%, Maryland casinos are \"\"doubly handicapped. Table-game revenues might put Maryland on par with Ohio but we’re also seeing the relative ineffectiveness<\/a> of trying to expand gambling on the doorstep of Pennsylvania<\/strong>, Delaware<\/strong> and West Virginia<\/strong> … long-established markets every one. Basically, there’s Cordish Gaming<\/strong>‘s Maryland Live<\/strong> (above<\/em>, $32 million — or an impressive $248\/slot\/day) and then there’s everybody else. Penn National \"\"Gaming<\/strong>‘s bungled Hollywood Casino Perryville<\/strong>, red-headed stepchild of the Penn family, has fallen 35% from last year, eking out a miserable $6 million, for an incredibly subpar $133\/slot\/day. To loosely paraphrase Dr. David G. Schwartz<\/strong>, $200\/slot\/day is the Mendoza Line of slot revenue. For instance, Ocean Downs<\/strong> racino nudged 5% upward, posting a respectable $204\/slot\/day.<\/p>\n

In a characteristically sleazy<\/strong>, shameless and thoroughly hypocritical move, Penn now reportedly wants to worm its way into a 49% stake in Maryland Live. This is the same Penn that spent $13 million to try and block<\/a> the Arundel Mills<\/strong> development, and has tried to stymie and generally ratfuck Cordish at every turn. \"\"Were I a Cordish exec, I’d tell Penn CEO Peter Carlino<\/strong> (left<\/em>) to go to Hell, then laugh all the way to the bank. Having trounced Penn time and again, there’s no earthly reason David Cordish<\/strong> should suddenly be “george” and give away half his take to Carlino. The move appears to mostly an excuse for Penn to divest (read<\/em>: dump ASAP) its Perryville<\/strong> dog. Penn has been a disgraceful corporate citizen in Maryland and richly deserves the comeuppance it is receiving. Meanwhile, the saga of Harrah’s Baltimore<\/strong> continues to be that of two steps forward and one step back<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Missouri<\/strong><\/span>: If any casino needs selling it’s Pinnacle Entertainment<\/strong>‘s high-end miscalculation in St. Louis<\/strong>. Revenues at Lumiere Place<\/strong> (left<\/em>) continued their \"\"predominantly downward march last month (-9%), while the company’s mid-market River City<\/strong> both outgrossed Lumiere Place by $4 million and posted an 8% year\/year gain to boot. Statewide, casino performance might be called listless, down 3%. Good outstate performance by Isle of Capri Casinos<\/strong> got negated by Kansas City<\/strong> results (for an aggregate 2% dip), of which more later. The only other bright spot was Ameristar St. Charles<\/strong>, up 2%. Despite a 3.5% slippage at orphaned Harrah’s Maryland Heights<\/strong>, it was still the state’s second-highest grosser. Owner-to-be Penn National should offer hosannas to Gary Loveman<\/strong> for abandoning such a valuable asset, a transaction that will transform Penn from the lowest-grossing publicly traded company in the state to the second-highest in one fell swoop.<\/p>\n

\"\"New casinos in Kansas<\/strong> really put a hurt on the K.C. market, which has suffered 3Q12 of across-the-board declivity. Penn’s Argosy Riverside<\/em> got slammed with a 19% downturn, and both Ameristar Kansas City<\/strong> (left<\/em>,-9.5%) and Harrah’s North Kansas City<\/strong> (-10%) absorbed swift kicks in the rear. Isle of Capri Kansas City<\/em>‘s loose slots couldn’t stave off an 8% revenue slippage either. While the Missouri side of the St. Louis market has merely been flat last month, the Illinois<\/strong>-side properties were off 5% … but Kansas City casino were down 12%. Ouch!<\/p>\n

Indiana<\/strong><\/span>: While still a revenue titan next to Illinois and Missouri (compare the Hoosier State’s $210 million gross to the Show-Me State’s $142 million), Indiana<\/strong> felt the effects of new Ohio competition, as well as an evident lack of consumer confidence, indicated by a 5% dip in admission and flat spending. (Hey, Wall Street<\/strong>, where’s all that “pent-up demand,” baby?) The northern half of the state was flat, year over year, but Ohio took an 8% bite out of southern Indiana’s butt.<\/p>\n

\"\"After a 17.5% revenue plunge at Hollywood Casino Lawrenceburg<\/strong>, Penn National sacked over 150 workers, even though — at $30 million — it’s far and away the highest grosser in the region. Slippage at Belterra<\/strong> (-2%), and aboard Casino Aztar<\/em> (-2%) and Grand Victoria<\/em> (-3%) was negligible, especially when you consider that H’wood Lawrenceburg outgrosses all three combined. The real story may be the resurgence of Horseshoe Southern Indiana<\/strong>, up 11% and defying the odds with two consecutive months of gains. Racinos got hit hard, with Hoosier Park<\/strong> off 11% and Indiana Live<\/strong> down 18%, although both won a respectable $16 million apiece.<\/p>\n

Along the shores of Lake Michigan<\/strong>, despite tribal-casino proliferation across the border, Blue Chip<\/em> continues to stave off competition handily, up 3%. The two \"\"Majestic Star<\/em> boats trod water and Ameristar East Chicago<\/strong> (+3%) made modest gains against titanic Horseshoe Hammond<\/em> (-1%), although the latter still won exactly twice as much ($39 million) as Ameristar. Blue Chip owner Boyd Gaming<\/strong> outperformed J.P. Morgan’s projections, while stock analysts were divided on Ameristar.<\/p>\n

Punk’d in Palmer<\/strong>. Desperate civic and business leaders in Palmer<\/strong>, Mass., have \"\"fallen hook, line and sinker for Mohegan Sun<\/strong>‘s con job. CEO Mitchell Etess<\/strong> came up and did a tap dance<\/a> for the Quaboag Hills Chamber of Commerce<\/strong> (whose members do not<\/em> include Peter Griffin<\/strong>), which proved even more of a pushover for bad footwork than the Dancing with the Stars<\/em> judging panel. No, Etess hasn’t put up any earnest money and is evasive about when he’ll do so. Yes, his Connecticut<\/strong> casino is in dire straits at the moment and, yes, he still has to turn around Resorts Atlantic City<\/strong>. But he Etess can sneak this Trojan Horse past Massachusetts<\/strong> casino regulators, more power to him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Let’s start with the new kid on the block … Ohio: September saw Ohio‘s two casinos and one racino rake in an aggregate $50 million. The ‘novelty factor’ has waned, along with vacation time, since June’s $58 million haul, but … 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":[40,23,60,70,28,154,83,14,26,7,58,68,85,45,72,112,39,158,71,69,95,30,111,31,20,21,38,139],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9820"}],"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=9820"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9820\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9824,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9820\/revisions\/9824"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}