July was a mixed blessing for Nevada. Gambling revenue was up 5% along the Strip, down 4% among locals and essentially flat statewide. Strip casinos won big at baccarat, with player losses increasing 16% on 24% heavier play. Non-Strip baccarat play was down 5%, with win of almost 1%. Wrote J.P. Morgan analyst Joseph Greff, ” we maintain our positive outlook for the LV Strip and believe the overall recovery will continue as 2014 progresses.”
Except for the nebulous “Balance of Clark County” and “Other” categories, all outlying gaming jurisdictions were down or flat: Downtown (-3%), Laughlin (flat), Reno (-2%), Boulder Strip (-10%), North Las Vegas (-2%), Lake Tahoe (-22.5%), Elko (-10%) and Carson Valley (-4%). It’s rough out there in the boonies.
Some Wall Street analysts, however, are warming up to the Las Vegas Strip and cooling on Macao. No wonder MGM Resorts International has been a sleeper, with so much of its exposure being on the Strip, not in China.
* Isle of Capri Casinos continues to struggle toward profitability, coming in $2.3 million short of the goal — dragged down by $2.5 million in executive severance payments. Casino performance was up, 
hotels were down. Perhaps the most worrisome item was what CEO Virginia McDowell described “a decrease in play from customers in the lower segments of our database.” When it comes to bread-and-butter players, they don’t come much doughier than Isle of Capri.
On the positive side, six casinos increased their net revenue and three in Missouri saw improved top-tier play. Whether such good news eases the pressure on McDowell to sell Isle remains to be seen.
* The drama in Wisconsin surrounding the Menominee Tribe‘s pursuit of a Kenosha casino still drags onward. In an effort to blackmail 
Gov. Scott Walker (R, left), the rival Potawatomi Tribe is withholding $25 million it owes the state in the form of its annual levy. According to the Potawatomi, who grossed at least $377 million last year, the money is a quid pro quo for a 50-mile radius of exclusivity, which a competing casino at the Dairyland race track would obviate.
Upping the ante, the Potawatomi are demanding the refund of $84 million in compact-related payments to Madison. The Walker administration takes a hard line in opposition, arguing that — were the Potawatomi to get a court victory against the state they’d revert to their 1989 compact. And poof! There go two-thirds of their 3,000 slot machines. The only party definitely making money off this soap opera is law firm Dykema Gossett, which was hired to study the Menominee proposal for $500,000 but which has billed the State of Wisconsin for thrice that amount. Who’s to blame for that sweetheart deal?
