“Fortunately for police, the chips floated.” That was the undoing of casino cheat Vuong Q. Truong, who tried to hide the better part of $150,000 worth of forged casino chips at the bottom of a lake. No go. The ongoing Truong saga is back in the newspapers after a Herndon, Virginia couple were charged with cheating at Maryland Live (and possibly at Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races). According to Cordish Gaming, both Ngan S. Nguyen and Dung N. Vo took $1 Hollywood chips and repainted, so that the white chips would pass as black ones, raising their value to $100. The couple allegedly swapped fake chips for $625 in cash, over a 75-minute period. Considering the (failed) risk they ran, the duo may be wishing they’d tried to cash more chips, on the off change they’d get away with it.
Penn National Gaming‘s overexposure to the St. Louis market is redounding to the detriment of its Alton Belle riverboat. Business has been poor for some time, as in last month’s 16% decline. Now, Penn is closing one of the three gambling decks Mondays-Thursdays. Penn parent GLPI isn’t helping by purchasing Casino Queen in East St. Louis, although the new REIT structure at GLPI/Penn will presumably make any divestitures unnecessary.
Atlantic City continues to try and diversify its tourist message under the Don Guardian (R) administration. The Atlantic City Alliance is hoping to lure more not-necessarily-gambling visits both through improved promotion of existing events (like the Atlantic City Airshow) and new ones, such as an al fresco Blake Shelton concert and the Challenge Triathlon. Polls show the Boardwalk’s image to be improving: 54% of respondents would recommend Atlantic City to others (up from 37% in 2012) and 58% intend to visit themselves (also up from 37%). Perception of Atlantic City as “clean” was only 25% and as “safe” was 28%, but those numbers were in the teens back in ’12.
Caesars Entertainment is getting on the “Do A.C.” bandwagon, adding charter air service from the Montreal area. You’ll still have to drive (or be bused, it’s not clear which) an hour to Plattsburgh, N.Y. Once there, Republic Airways will fly you to Atlantic City. For upstate New Yorkers, it’s a way to visit a Caesars casino, since it’s highly unlikely that the toga troupe is going to chase any of the first round of casino licenses.
Argosy’s Alton casino hasn’t been called the Belle for quite a while. Their biggest problem is the lack of amenities and space. A short drive will get you to Hollywood or Ameristar. There’s no comparison to the St Louis casinos and they have pretty much become a locals only place.