Stiffs and Georges

After a boffo February, the Silver State also posted extraordinary numbers in March. As Deutsche Bank headlined its report, “Different Month, Same Tune.” Analyst Carlo Santarelli cautioned, “we believe the underlying trends are not as strong as the headline would suggest,” pointing toward slippage in slot handle and in table drop (down 10.5%), excluding baccarat. [...]

Subtract one casino from the Tropicana Entertainment portfolio: The River Palms Resort & Casino, in Laughlin, just went for $7 million today. TropEnt CEO Anthony Rodio isn’t pulling out of the Colorado River market altogether. He says the company will continue to maintain its presence at the Tropicana Express (a former Ramada), which has been [...]

Pricewaterhouse Coopers, accountant to the stars — and Las Vegas Sands — tendered its resignation last week, news that Sands kept carefully under wraps until after the markets closed on Friday. After a brief, initial shock, Sands shares went back to trading as usual. J.P. Morgan analyst Joseph Greff explained the rupture thusly: “we think [...]

As the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe and Gov. Deval Patrick (D, right) continue to try and convince the federal government that their prepackaged arrangement for the Mashpee Wamps to get a casino in southeast Massachusetts isn’t usurious (17% of gross revenues to the state), Deval’s regulators have run out of patience. Yesterday, they unanimously voted to [...]

There are gambling markets … and then there’s Las Vegas. Players opened their wallets — oh, did they ever — and lost big. Casino winnings on the Las Vegas Strip were up 13.5% and Nevada casinos overall did 10% better than last year, for a statewide gross of $943 million. Downtown casino winnings shot up [...]

January casino revenues from Indiana present a conundrum. Although the state is still the most lucrative casino jurisdiction in the Midwest ($192 million last month), it’s hard to tell whether the half-full glass is filling or emptying. Foot traffic was down 12% but players’ spending rose 7.5%. The two didn’t quite cancel each other out, [...]

There’s no other way of saying it (although many are trying). Strip casinos got their clocks cleaned in November as Lady Luck favored the punters, not the house. A 13% dropoff on the Strip was driven by a perfect storm of factors. Sports books relearned the old lesson that it’s not whether you won or [...]

If there’s a saving grace to August’s rather glum Nevada gambling win (-3%), it’s that the month ended on a Friday, so there may be some as-yet-unreported slot revenue that will fluff the September results. (That optimism must be offset, though, by the fact that August 2012 had one more weekend day than the year [...]

There’s a new power player in gaming and it’s … Brookfield Asset Management? The Canadian lender is already calling the shots (along with Warner Gaming) at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, a $1.5 billion quagmire into which Morgans Hotel Group led Credit Suisse. Today, Brookfield officially ousted Sol Kerzner from Atlantis Paradise Island and [...]

“It’s got some casinos but it’s pretty dirty … It was what it was.” — Laughlin, as described by a spectator at Saturday’s Texas Rangers/Chicago Cubs game at Cashman Field. (The Rangers vaporized the Cub bullpen, which surrendered 11 runs in six innings.)

Earlier today, we witnessed the strange spectacle of a capitalist decrying the effect of market forces upon his business. It’s an indirect reminder that casinos are that rare issue which brings together the old maids of the far left and the far right, decrying the terrifying scourge of gambling, like a bunch of latter-day Carrie [...]

Baccarat win on the Las Vegas Strip began the year heavy ($194 million) and dramatic, up 199% from 2011. The whales were back in force, dropping 163% more than the previous January, putting $1.6 billion in play. An early Chinese New Year helped, as daily baccarat drop averaged $50 million, compared to $30 million the [...]

If today’s numbers from the Nevada Gaming Control Board indicate that December was good for business — especially on the Las Vegas Strip (up 4% … 7% if you take baccarat out of the equation) — January ought to have been great. Why? Because Dec. 31 fell upon a Saturday … meaning that all those [...]

If the good news keeps raining down like this, I might have to start using the R-word … as in “recovery.” In November, Nevada’s $880 million gross was good for a 7% upsurge. The Las Vegas Strip beat the statewide average, up 9%. According to a J.P. Morgan analyst report, those numbers “reflect the continuing [...]

“Caesars [Entertainment] has comped me to a few meals, sent me show tickets, and invited me to slot tournaments. The company’s still convinced I want to ride a bus down to Laughlin and stay there for a few days, too, so obviously their data mining and psychographics are impeccable.” — Dr. David [...]

October’s revenue figures for Nevada emerged today and it was a good month statewide ($961 million, +8%) and a great one for the Las Vegas Strip ($560.5 million, +13%). Mind you, October 1 was a Saturday, meaning that some Sept. 30 slot revenues may have been rolled into the next month’s tally — per Nevada’s [...]

First, the good news: Borgata — accounting for more than one-fifth of the entire market share — continues to vastly outpace the rest of the Atlantic City market. Last month, it raked in $50 million for a 2% gain, driven by strong slot play … and despite looser hold (8.3% vs. 8.9%) than A.C. overall. [...]

A recent visitor to Las Vegas from the Pacific Rim told me that Sheldon Adelson has worn out his welcome in Macao (which is on pace to eclipse all other gaming markets combined) and is fast doing so in Singapore. Judging by his bludgeoning efforts to commandeer the Miami casino market, it’s easy to see [...]

In the cold light of day (i.e., Chris Sieroty’s Review-Journal coverage), the situation at the Las Vegas Hilton appears still more dire … if such a thing is possible. Remember that roughly a third of the LVH is owned by a Goldman Sachs subsidiary? And guess who’s holding the note that Colony Capital restructured once [...]

As everyone knows, both Palms Casino Resort and M Resort recently changed hands, the former going to a pair of hedge funds and the latter to Penn National Gaming. Penn broke with industry tradition by keeping property CEO Anthony Marnell III and his management team at the helm. Although M’s financial performance has been disappointing, [...]