Tribal casinos are normally pretty tight-lipped about their financial performance. Not so the Alabama Coushatta Tribe of Texas. “It’s a quaint little spot and we’re pretty proud of it,” a tribal member told Houstonia magazine, speaking of Naskila Gaming, a 365-machine, Class II casino. In 3Q16 it’s opened to 38,000 patrons. This must mightily chap the ass of the State of Texas, which is trying to find a means of closing down the little casino, which is near Livingston. Attorney General Ken Paxton, arguing that Naskila constitutes an illegal lottery, is challenging the very Indian Gaming Regulatory Act in federal district court. At the crux of the issue is the Restoration Act, a 1987 law that gave recognition to the tribe, provided it did not engage in any locally prohibited form of gambling.
However, the passage of IGRA the following year granted tribes the opportunity to offer Class II games (electronic bingo) without having the approval of state governments. As long as Washington signed off on it, it was OK. This provision has enabled, for instance, the Poarch Band of Creek Indians to defy the State of Alabama successfully. However, Texas was able to suppress a previous version of Naskila Gaming back in 2001. This time the state is arguing that its laws take precedence over federal ones. (Is Texas going to threaten to secede again?) In the meantime, the Alabama-Coushatta are going about business as usual, although trying to stay low on the radar. The casino is booze-free, advertises little and relies mostly on satisfied customers to get the word around. As might be expected, Naskila Gaming intends to stay in business until a federal court tells it otherwise.
* If Las Vegas Strip casinos did well last month, Strip hotels did even better. Room rates were up 9% on 3% higher visitation, occupancy ran at 94% and convention attendance drove the bus, up 16%. Assorted naysayers — including the man who first brought home the importance of conventions to Las Vegas, Sheldon Adelson — have been dissing the need for more and better convention facilities of late. Numbers like these show them to be in the wrong. An earlier Global Gaming Expo, the quadrennial MINExpo and the Solar Energy Trade Show were all important components of a robust month. It didn’t hurt occupancies or room rates that the hotel inventory is flat from last year. For all the importance casinos attach to California players, they were only a small part of the equation, with auto traffic but 2% higher.
* JP Morgan analyst Joseph Greff isn’t known for his zingers but he got a good one off today, noting that Penn National Gaming would be benefiting from “a steady but unheroic ramp at Tropicana LV.” Now we’ve often thought many things about the Trop but “unheroic” is a new one. Deutsche Bank‘s Carlo Santarelli was not to be outdone, saying of Penn, “Apathy will eventually end.” We hope so. Such backhanded compliments can hardly be lifting spirits at Penn HQ.
* International Game Technology is $66.5 million richer today on a sale-leaseback of its Las Vegas facility. In one pocket, out the other.
