(Economic) climate change in New Jersey, Nevada and Iowa

Jobs are coming back to Atlantic City … well, at least a trickle. In a month, casino operators will be required to have their Internet-gambling personnel on site in New Jersey. We’re not talking about large numbers of staff — Caesars Entertainment estimates it will start with 47 employees — but it’s something. Meanwhile state Sens. Raymond Lesniak (D) and James Whelan (D) are pushing a bill which would incentivize offshore casino operators to base their operations in New Jersey. They would, however, be forbidden to offer online play in the U.S. Whelan’s floated some pie-in-the-sky job numbers in support of his legislation (10,000-15,000 for starters) but that doesn’t make it a bad idea. Just don’t oversell it. We’re already seeing the effects of that on Atlantic City’s Internet-gaming numbers, which are suffering the aftereffects of hype.

Spurred by “tangible” economic recovery, operators in the Lake Tahoe–Sparks area are putting in $160 million worth of renovations at five different properties. The lucky casinos are JA Nugget ($50 million alone), Boomtown ($20 million), Grand Sierra Resort ($30 million), Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe ($20 million) and the Horizon ($40 million). This outbreak of optimism is credited to an increase in gaming win last year. Besides, nobody wants to stay at an outdated hotel. RevPAR is said to be on the rise, as is industrial construction.

Luring Californians with bottle service and nightclubs is also part of the plan. Boomtown is considering a very different amenity — restoring its defunct truck stop. Of course, some properties — like JA Nugget — are badly outmoded. New ownership is slapping a fresh coat of paint on the place, as well as redoing the plumbing and HVAC systems. Whether you’re a goal-warming believer or not, there’s no arguing that less snow at Lake Tahoe means less money in the casino. The more of the white stuff that’s on the slopes, the heavier the play in Tahoe’s gambling houses.

Then there are the people who just make excuses. Affinity Gaming saw its Nevada business tumble 13% in 4Q13. Reduced visitation to Primm was blamed. Or maybe people are just driving though because the hotels are tired, old products. At least that wasn’t as bad as the 25% dive in fourth quarter in Colorado, when the balance sheet was heavily blanketed with snow. (Assigned topic: Heavy snowfall is good for Lake Tahoe but not for Colorado? Discuss.)

Isle of Capri Casinos has a new reason to fret. Gaming Market Advisors has released a study showing that Isle of Capri Waterloo would lose 11% of its business if a rival casino proposed for downtown Cedar Rapids gets built. This is the fourth study to show such an economic impact. The only study showing a small impact was commissioned by — you guessed it — the Cedar Rapids project. Riverside Casino & Golf Resort could be hit far worse: 27% to 42%.