Strip booms in October; Trouble in Tiverton

Not even a 16.5% decline in table wagers could hold back the Las Vegas Strip last month, as gaming revenues shot up 14%, to $563 million. Statewide, casinos didn’t do so badly either, up 11%. The one-armed bandits on the Strip weren’t very generous to players, who put in 3% more coin, only to see the house win 10% more than last year. Gaming revenue was also 10% up in locals casinos, fattened by some end-of-September play that was rolled into October’s count. The volume of baccarat play was anemic, down 32%, but the luck was with the house on other table games, where winnings were 22% higher. Locals slot players lost 15% more to the house but an 11% drop off in table wagering produced a 10% decline in win. Even considering that October 2015 (-5%) provided a weak comparison, these numbers are mostly quite impressive.

Excepting the ever-fickle Lake Tahoe market ($14 million, -22%), the news was largely good across the Silver State. True, the grab-bag “balance of Clark County” was off 2% ($93 million) but Downtown came out roaring, up 32.5% to $58 million and, not to be outdone, the Boulder Strip was up 24% ($67 million) and North Las Vegas 29% ($24 million) Less spectacular but nevertheless solid were Laughlin and Reno, up 4% each, to $42 million and $51 million respectively.

Lucky Dragon must be doing well. It hasn’t even had its grand opening and already its competitors are trying to horn in on the Chinese-American market. Says owner Andrew Fonfa, “I’ve never seen so many Chinese [language] billboards.

* Even after squeaking past a local-approval election by 368 votes, the Tiverton slot parlor isn’t a shoo-in. Leaving aside divided sentiments among the populace, the approval from the city council to build on local wetlands has yet to be received. And some Tivertonians are looking with dismay at Connecticut, where tax revenues from Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods Resort Casino are in a scary downward spiral: from $267 million in FY17 to $197 million in FY20. (There’s some fretting about the long-term performance of rival Plainridge Park but we think the jury’s still out.) Among those still hoping to head off the Tiverton casino at the pass is former GOP congressman Bob Steele, who argues that there’s no evidence that casinos produce long-term economic development.

“On the way up, everybody cheers, ‘Look at all this money!’ And then on the way down the economics begin to fall apart,” Steele contends. “It’s a bad recipe for the building the state’s economy and society.” Judging by the Nov. 8 vote, which went down to the wire, there are a lot of Tivertonians who share those sentiments.

* The future of The Crown 18 looks a little bleaker today, three Crown Resorts employees already in detention in China having now been formally arrested. The identity of the three was not immediately disclosed. One Crown employee has been released but 17 remain in lockup, underlining the riskiness of doing business in the People’s Republic, which is not overly concerned with niceties like due process.

* Deutsche Bank analyst Carlo Santarelli is bullish on Macao, predicting growth in November gambling revenues of anywhere from 12% to 16%, followed by a pullback in December. (Improved casino service can’t be hurting.) As for ever-elusive Japan, he says it “is again poised to tease and fall short.” We agree.

* Where do casino riverboats go when they retire? In the case of the Treble Clef, former home of Rhythm City Casino (now rebuilt on dry land) in Davenport, Iowa, it is headed down the Mississippi River to Memphis, where it will be repurposed as an “entertainment venue.” The Treble Clef‘s parting voyage got off to an unsteady start, as its engines — long unused to cleaving the Big Muddy — faltered and sent the riverboat drifting back toward the shore. Full power, however, was quickly restored and the Treble Clef was on its way. It’s hard to believe it opened to gambling on April 1, 1991. Twenty-five years have passed in a hurry.