Soft landing in Atlantic City; Sweating the slots

BorgataA 4% increase in online play helped soften the landing for Atlantic City this month. With cyber-revenue factored into the equation, casinos were down only 2% on a same-store basis. Slot revenue fell 10% but the odds were in the casinos’ favor as table revenues rose 3% despite 15% less play. Borgata (-1%) functioned as a microcosm for the whole market. Its online revenues rose $500,000 from last month, despite fewer players per day. Need I mention that it was crushing the competition?

Although Caesars Atlantic City was flat with last year, the other three Caesars Entertainment properties suffered declines, with deep ones at Showboat (-17%) and Bally’s (-18%). New business flocked to the Golden Nugget (up 20%), Revel ($15 million, +50% [!]) and Tropicana Atlantic City (+10.5%), along with Resorts Atlantic City (+21%). At $15 million, Revel has lapped Showboat, the Golden Nugget and Resorts. Scarcely worth mentioning is the $4.7 million grossed by Trump Plaza (-31%), while Trump International ($19 million, -19%) is on pace to be eating Revel’s dust soon.

The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement has ruled on the cheating-marred Borgata Winter Open. It has ordered that A) all unpaid prize winner receive $50,893; B) That 2,143 entrants have their entry fees refunded; C) Distribute the remaining $19,323 evenly between the 27 players still left in contention when the event was canceled. That seems an solomonic solution.

There’s nothing to bring out a casino player’s inner infant than to treat him as a “whale.” Or so the casino-host horror stories unearthed by the Las Vegas Sun would have us believe. On the other hand, consultant Andrew Klebanow argues that casinos are hurting themselves among bread-and-butter players with too-tight slots. He blames the recent market-contraction (at least regionally) upon this. He blames the rise of penny-slot machines for falling payout rates and says casinos are tightening holds to compensate for the longer playtime consumed by bonus events. Customers play smaller and the house issues more free play. Klebanow associate Steve Gallaway says players who blow through their bankroll quickly are under-rewarded with free play, by comparison. Your thoughts?

Congratulations to Hollywood Casino Columbus General Manager Ameet Patel, promoted to senior vice president of regional operations at Penn National Gaming.

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