Lack of a Labor Day weekend had a minimal effect on Nevada statewide gaming revenues in August (-1%). Lower and luckier baccarat play — 17% less drop and 24% less winnings for the house — hurt particularly (especially when one considers 14% higher hold 
and that August 2014 was a bad month for baccarat, too, leading one to expect a better 2015 result). Despite 3% less coin-in, Strip slots took in 12% more, which ameliorated the baccarat plunge. Players wagered 8% less on Strip table games and the house won 8% less. But the baccarat woes pushed the Strip from a 4% positive month to a 5% dip.
The lack of holiday weekend seems to have been felt more in Reno (-4%) and especially at Lake Tahoe, which plummeted 34%. Locals play in southern Nevada was strong, with downtown Las Vegas up 15%, the Boulder Strip up 30% and North Las Vegas 21% higher. Laughlin was 6% up. Faced with those numbers, “We didn’t have Labor Day” excuses seem unnecessary.
* Deutsche Bank analyst Carlo Santarelli also got a Tropicana Las Vegas tour, as Penn National Gaming executives seem eager to show off their newest trophy. He predicts that Penn will cut revenue-participation games on the slot floor back from 9% of the 
inventory to as little as 1% (bad news for manufacturers). Penn foresees “a meaningful opportunity” in restaurants and will probably roll out an expansion in mid-2016, budgeted at $150 million to $200 million. The company “believes lower gas prices and favorable trends in unemployment in key markets have led the continued lift in [gross gaming revenue],” Santarelli reported.
Meanwhile, high amounts and levels of rated play (losses per player averaging $100) helped spell the end of electronic table games at Plainridge Park in favor of high-limit slots. Penn told Santarelli that the heavy casino win was “well in excess of other regional assets.” The Plainridge loyalty database has also already swelled to 110,000 souls and Penn believes it has a full three years to run wild in Massachusetts. (Litigation hampering Wynn Everett, and construction changes and delays at MGM Springfield are dark clouds that contain silver linings for Penn.
* VIP junketeer David Group having pulled back in the Macao market, Galaxy Macau is converting one of the high-roller rooms to mass-market play, as the casino industry increasingly pins its hopes on that sector. It’s also holding out a sliver of hope for improved business during the nine-day Golden Week holiday period, which encompasses two weekends this year.
* Want to get stoned while gambling? The Santee Sioux are preparing to oblige your wish, building a marijuana-friendly annex onto their casino and buffalo reservation. It will include slots, a nightclub and an outdoor concert stage, cannibas-izing a bowling alley to make room for tokers. The Santee are already hard at work growing brands of pot with handles like “Gorilla Glue.”
Although the next presidential administration could roll back the exemption that allows Native American tribes to cultivate marijuana, the trend started by the Santee is spreading to Maine and Washington State. “The vast majority of tribes have little to no economic opportunity. this is something that you might look at and say, ‘We’ve got to do something,'” National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development Business Development Director Blake Trueblood told CBS. Smoke ’em while you got ’em, tribes.
