Pittsburgh pleads with Rivers Casino; Strong numbers from Maryland, Illinois

Pittsburgh is essentially saying “Pretty please” to Rush Street Gaming‘s Rivers Casino, begging the latter to keep voluntarily paying $10 million a year to the city, even though Rush Street is no longer under any legal obligation to do so. Pittsburgh Finance Rivers CasinoDirector Paul Leger, who presumably believes in unicorns and Santa Claus, expressed confidence that Rivers would continue playing Lady Bountiful to the city. Rivers spokesman Jack Horner would go no farther than to say, “Discussions are under way, and options are being considered.” Admittedly, while the state Supreme Court’s revocation of host-community payments removes a financial burden from casinos it puts them in a tricky PR position. If counties and cities start laying off cops and teachers, they can blame it on the Big Bad Casinos. (In the case of Rivers, it initially sued Pittsburgh over the host-community fee, then dropped its litigation.) The Steel City isn’t exactly having an easy time of it either, having baked the anticipated Rivers “true-up” into its 2017 budget. Given that state of affairs, I’d say Rush Street is in the driver’s seat in any negotiations with the city.

* Maryland casinos had a very good September, with revenues of $97 million. Of that, $54 million went to omnivorous Maryland Live, up 9% from last year. However, Horseshoe Baltimore made a strong showing, up 22% and grossing $27 million. Golden Entertainment continues to turn business around at Rocky Gap Casino Resort, gaining 15% for a $4 million gross. Casino at Ocean Downs raked in $6 million, a 3% uptick. However, customers continue to avoid Hollywood Casino Perryville like the plague. Business dipped 5%, to $6 million. Penn National Gaming hexed this property when it volunteered to close it if only the state would give it Laurel Park and keep Cordish Gaming out of the state. Considering how much dirty pool Penn has played in Maryland, the underperformance in Perryville is karma plain and simple.

* Good news out of Illinois: Casino revenues rose 3% last month. (Last year it beat a 5% retreat at the same juncture.) The outlying markets had the hardest time of it, with flat revenues at Harrah’s Metropolis making it the lead performer, at $6.5 million. Jumer’s Casino Rock Island grossed $6 million but fell 4%, while Boyd Gaming‘s Par-A-Dice continued to get hammered by slot routes, down 8% and grossing $6 million. Argosy BelleIn the St. Louis area, Argosy Belle grossed $4 million, a 3% dip, while Gaming & Leisure PropertiesCasino Queen pulled in nearly $9 million, for a 5% increase.

To the north, Rivers Casino continued to dominate the market, with a $36 million gross and 15% increase. Second place went to Harrah’s Joliet, raking in $15 million, good for a 2% bump. MGM Resorts International was not so lucky, seeing a 7% decline onboard Grand Victoria (once the top-grossing riverboat in the state) for a $13 million haul. Penn National notched $9 million at Empress Joliet, a 7% decline, while it made $10 million at Hollywood Aurora, up 5%. Strong September numbers for Iowa, which came out yesterday, bode well for casinos across the Midwest, too.

* You knew it was coming: Caesars Entertainment is going to make players work for their comped drinks. Sussed out by Vital Vegas blogger Scott Roeben before making into the big papers, Caesars is installing a set of red and green lights to indicate which player has earned a free drink and which ones Big Brother deems unworthy. It’s another slot-machinestep in the dubious concept that you don’t go to the casino floor to be entertained but to be rewarded for behavior that benefits the house. (MGM is test-flying a comparable system at The Mirage and MGM Grand. Unlike the Caesars system, it involves slot machines spitting out free-drink vouchers. This concept has also crept into The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.)

Roeben isn’t critical of the new systems, since casino revenue is on the wane and must be made up somewhere else. Also, our own Anthony Curtis suggests this new regime will be more ‘george’ than the haphazard ways of the past: “I test-drove it and sat down in one of voucher systems. Drink vouchers were coming out so fast that, literally, you couldn’t use them all. And I know how to drink and play. I’ve been doing it for years.” One of our other gurus, Raving Consulting President Dennis Conrad says that the red-light/green-light and voucher systems will ensure that free drinks will go to those who should get them, not to slot fleas.

A word to the wise: An MGM representative was overheard last week saying that free parking for Las Vegas locals ends with the expiry of 2016. I think we all knew this was coming but it’s a sad day when such a free-spending company is reduced to squeezing players for an extra $10 every time they park.

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