According to Vital Vegas, the first Strip outing of Rock in Rio might be its last, as the music festival may have lost as much as $28 million. 
Vital Vegas puts attendance at a dreadful 130,000 (out of a possible 320,000) and even the MGM Resorts International-friendly Las Vegas Review Journal places the head count at just 50% of capacity, with only 15% coming from locals. (I’m told that the music carried so loudly into some neighborhoods that a ticket was superfluous.) The poor showing can partly be attributed to inflated expectations for an untested brand and a musical lineup frequently described as “lackluster.” MGM and Rock in Rio have two years to get the next one right, if they’ve got the stomach for it. If you’re looking for an upside, Circus Circus has received an implicit reprieve from the governor.
* Maryland hasn’t fully built out its allotted number of casinos and already one industry expert says the Free State has hit the saturation 
point. “Maryland has too many casinos in too close an area,” Alan Woinski tells MarylandReporter.com. Even without MGM National Harbor in the mix, Maryland Live and Horseshoe Baltimore are kneecapping one another. The one has kept Horseshoe below revenue projections, while the ‘Shoe has cut Maryland Live’s share of the total Maryland market from 76% to a still-impressive 60%. Both are projected to more lose customers when National Harbor opens next year.
The Maryland Lottery & Gaming Control Agency had projected Horseshoe to do $354 million in its first fiscal year but it looks like the Caesars Entertainment property will come in closer to $232 million (in less than a full fiscal year, to be fair). Cordish Gaming-owned Live 
is killing Horseshoe at the tables, averaging $101,973 to Horseshoe’s $63,775. Casino customers from Washington, D.C., would also have to drive by Maryland Live to get to Horseshoe. “I never believe in the idea of ‘city casinos,’” remarks Woinski.
All the state’s casinos are feeling the pain of the state’s 60% tax rate and are appealing to be allow to tighten slot holds. If they get their way, they would only have to return 85% of coin-in to players. (At present, Maryland slots are looser than Pennsylvania‘s and West Virginia‘s.) ”Certainly there’s an opportunity for us to bring in additional revenues for us and the state,” said the general manager of Hollywood Casino Perryville with refreshing candor. Casino executives say they really wouldn’t tighten slots all the way, but why propose it in the first place?
“The counter argument is if people feel they’re getting a bum deal, they’re not going to play. I would worry that players in Maryland might consider going elsewhere if they felt payouts were higher in neighboring states,” counters Eric G. Luedtke (D, right), who chairs the Joint Committee on Gaming Oversight. At present, little Ocean Downs is your best bet, at 92% payout, while remote Rocky Gap Casino is a hair under 90%. Woinski thinks customers will quickly cop to tighter slots: “The players aren’t that dumb.”
* Halfway between Tallahassee and Chattahoochee is a racetrack in Gretna that wants to add slot machines. A federal judge found a
loophole in Florida in law that would make it happen — creating a precedent for a wider spread of gambling in Florida. Attorney General Pam Bondi is appealing the matter to the First District Court of Appeals and has a new friend (0f the court) in the Seminole Tribe. The latter, failed by Gov. Rick Scott (R) and the Legislature in compact negotiations, says it would suffer “grave financial harm” if slots start popping up at horse and dog tracks all over the Sunshine State.
* The Interior Department has green-lit a casino-hotel and retail mall for the Spokane Tribe, declaring it to be “in the best interests of 
the Spokane Tribe and its members and not detrimental to the surrounding community.” This set off a bipartisan hissy fit among a sextet of area lawmakers, who penned a fearmongering letter warning it “open the floodgates to gaming in every community in our state, whether the local community wants it or not.” (Translation: The Indians are coming.) The matter now rests in the hands of Washington State Gov. Jay Inslee (D).
Among others trying to influence Inslee is Rep. Cathy McMorris Rogers (R), who fears the Spokane Tribe’s expansion will encroach 
upon nearby Fairchild Air Force Base. Among the unspoken ironies of the process is that Fairchild AFB kept mum when it had the opportunity to weigh in against the casino project. Also, the Kalispel Tribe, owners of nearby Northern Quest Casino, currently have gaming on non-ancestral land and the Spokane have ancestral land but no casino. Let’s hope Gov. Inslee gives the Spokane Tribe his stamp of approval.
* Across the Pacific Ocean, there’s an arms race of sorts going on for the market share not being captured by Macao or Singapore. The former may have six new casinos hitting the market in the next couple of years, but as many as 11 could be built in Russia, South Korea, the Philippines, New Zealand and Australia. That’s a major expansion, even without ever-ambivalent Japan in the mix. The reason? 100 million Chinese tourists, for starters. Hard as it may be to believe, Macao has penetrated only 1% of the Chinese market, so you can imagine how much overseas rivals would like to get a crack at the other 99%.
* One of our favorite casino-industry people, Julia Carcamo, has been retained by casino-data analytics firm Harvest Trends. She will advise it on the launch of its new PowerHost product, somewhat vaguely defined as a “new contact management solution for casino hosts.” We’re sure Harvest Trends will be receiving some expert advice. Our condolences to Ms. Carcamo on the recent passing of her beloved dog Chin-Chin.
