Try as it might, Boyd Gaming just doesn’t feel any warm fuzzies from Wall Street. J.P. Morgan analyst Joseph Greff 
called the most recent quarter “very impressive,” with 3% revenue growth and huge increases in cash flow. Still, Greff wrote, “we’d wait for a better entry point … We remain Neutral at current levels and continue to prefer [Penn National Gaming] within the U.S. regional gaming sector given its robust development pipeline, solid free cash flow generation … and better balance sheet.” Greff adjusted his full-year cash flow expectation for Boyd significantly upward, though.
Contributory factors to Boyd’s exceptional 3Q15 were 5% greater net revenue in the Las Vegas locals market and lower costs of charter flights from Hawaii (still a tower of strength for Boyd). The Peninsula Gaming acquisition continues to look like genius, with the Louisiana and Iowa properties representing 36% of Boyd’s cash-flow pie chart. (Borgata was second, with 32%.) Atlantic City wasn’t too shabby: Greff expected cash flow of $29 million and Borgata delivered $38 million.
Deutsche Bank‘s Carlo Santarelli reported that Boyd “continues to see growth from the upper and mid tiers of the database while the lower tiers remain flat. The commentary was akin to PENN’s color earlier this morning.” The uptick in Boyd’s numbers was attributed the company to “a stable promotional environment, effective marketing and upgraded non-gaming amenities.” Santarelli still hankers for “a potential REIT conversion” although Boyd seems to have gone off the boil on that topic.
Potentially leaving money on the table, Boyd CEO Keith Smith said the company isn’t going to offer DFS, although it could do so, likening fantasy sports to the failure of online poker in Nevada. Pressed on the topic by the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Smith said, “I want to make it clear that I’m not opposed to fantasy sports, but we really haven’t [looked] at the business model.” Is Smith too hasty in reaching a conclusion?
* When smoking was banned at Harrah’s New Orleans, management said the sky was falling. But casino revenues were up 2% last month. Increases like that neatly undercut the casino’s 
attempts to renegotiate its lease with the city (something Mayor Mitch Landrieu is having no truck with), which smacks of bankruptcy-related cheeseparing. Elsewhere in the state, Lake Charles ($73 million) has fully eclipsed the Big Easy ($49 million). This reinforces Gary Loveman‘s mistake in pulling out of Lake Charles in order to try (and fail) to double-down on Biloxi. Lucky for G-Lo, he made a characteristic blunder and still kept his job. We should all be so fortunate.
* Remember the guy who tried to flush counterfeit casino chips down a Harrah’s Resort toilet after cheating in (and closing down) the Borgata Winter Poker Open? Well, he’s the one in the crapper now. Christian Lusardi has been sentenced to five years in the slammer for his chip caper (and another five years in an unrelated DVD-counterfeiting scheme). He also has to reimburse Borgata $463,540 for aborting its tourney and pay another $9,455 to Harrah’s for the plumbing he ruined. Good luck retiring that debt on prison wages.
* Bradley International Airport has previously been mooted as a site for off-reservation gambling in Connecticut, so it’s no surprise that its host community, Windsor Locks, wants in on the hunt for a third casino site in the state. The town joins East Hartford and Enfield as contenders to try and stave off competition from Massachusetts.
