Are executives at Penn National Gaming getting high on their own supply … of slot machines, that is? The industry’s desired average for 
slots is $200 but Penn is predicting a sky-high $500/slot/day at Plainridge Park, which opens tomorrow, inaugurating the casino epoch in Massachusetts. “I don’t see Plainridge getting that kind of money. Almost twice what Foxwoods does on its machines? I don’t think so,” Lasell College Assistant Professor of Political Science Paul L. DeBole told the Boston Globe. Even Penn’s most successful racino in Ohio ‘only’ does $290/VLT/day. Laudably, Penn will have problem-gambling counselors on site 16 hours a day.
Penn will also open Plainridge Park with its 28 electronic blackjack machines intact, Attorney General Maura Healey (above) having declined to intercede on behalf of the luckless Mashpee Wampanoags. (Hey, Wampanoags, how’s that land-into-trust thing going? Not so well, huh?)
* SLS Las Vegas boss Scott Kreeger outlines some of the gaffes (no dining comps, for one) that have the property rolling out a whole new loyalty program this month.
* Casinos like SLS that are heavily promoting their entertainment aren’t just looking at concert attendance as a single metric but part of a complex matrix of revenue-driving factors. As entertainment exec Clinton Billups puts it, “When the casino brings in Artist X, we have to evaluate not just how many tickets were sold but key performance indicators: how many people signed up for the slot club; what was the impact on hotel occupancy; what was the impact on F&B; did we see a rise in attendance at the steakhouse prior to the concert.” Not only is the day of entertainment as a loss-leader dead, it’s expected to help drive profit in multi-pronged fashion. Demographically, you could call it the Ariana Grande Era.
* Despite overwhelming support in the lower house of the Maine Legislature, a tribal-casino bill ran into a hard brick wall in the state Senate, going down to a 18-16 defeat. What killed it was senatorial concern that the casino — which could be sited in either Arostook County or Washington County — would siphon revenue from 
Maine’s two existing casinos rather than generate new traffic. (Two Maine tribes currently receive a subsidy drawn from private-sector casino taxes.)
Not everyone was of a negative disposition, with some arguing that a tribal casino would open up the Canadian market. “Would a potential Maliseet tribal casino in Houlton be the panacea, the cure-all or the single restorative effort, for the region’s economic recovery? No, but it’s a shot in the arm,” argued proponent Sen. Mike Willette (R, above). However, unless he and his allies can flip two votes in the Senate, the issue’s moot until the next legislative session.
