Reboot for Wynn Palace; Does Trump still heart sports betting?

Gaming analysts confirm reports of a slow opening at Wynn Palace in Macao, likening its performance to that of the early days of Studio City — not the sort of comparison Wynn Resorts probably wanted to hear. Room rates have been slashed to as low as $131 a night and occupancy has been running at 71% … At a time when the market overall is averaging 92%. Already drastic action is being taken to appeal to the mass-market crowd. More casual dining (“as hard-core gamblers are likely to be more interested in eating quickly and returning to the gaming tables”) will be added and the casino floor will be reconfigured, a reconstruction that is expected to take anywhere from six months and 18 months. The idea is to “create compressed energy” around the baccarat tables, although I guess we’ll get to find out how players like gambling in the middle of a construction area. Morningstar analyst Chelsey Tam spun it positively as “meaningful disruption,” although with construction barricades impeding pedestrian access to Wynn Palace there’s got to be a limit on how much disruption it can afford.

* In a bit of history that should have the American Gaming Association over the moon, Donald Trump supported legalized sports betting when it was initially on the docket in New Jersey and he stood to benefit from it. What he’ll do now — and the role that could be played by Sen. Jeff Sessions (R) if he is confirmed as attorney general — is anyone’s guess, judging by the gaming punditocracy. However, a go-slow approach is advocated by Fierce Government Relations‘ Kirk Blalock, who says, “When it comes to sports betting, we’re going to have to engage Capitol Hill, and if we’re going to do something it takes time.” It seems more likely that the push will come from cash-strapped states.

Considering that a Trump administration is expected to push for tariffs on imported consumer goods and deregulation of fuel prices, some of the feel-good rhetoric coming out of the gaming sector sounds like self-delusion. “The Republicans in Congress are not big fans of online gaming but Trump wants to put Americans back to work and sports betting creates greater infrastructure — more construction and more jobs and more facilities and brings people into a state,” said an optimistic gaming attorney, Daniel Wallach. We certainly hope so but if Americans’ discretionary income tightens or the controversial Sessions frowns upon sports betting, all the pent-up demand (to use a favorite Wall Street phrase) will be for naught. The bottom line on gaming in a Trump White House is: nobody knows.

* As for Trump’s old Atlantic City stomping grounds, it’s bracing for another fight with Trenton: Assemblyman Ralph Caputo (D) is pushing legislation that would grant VLTs to Meadowlands Racetrack and Monmouth Park without the benefit of a referendum. He’s got the benefit of a 1982 legal opinion that concluded that the Legislature could grant the VLTs unilaterally. The horsey set has another friend in former Gov. James McGreevey (D), who positions the issue as a life-or-death struggle for the tracks: “It will not continue to exist if we don’t do something about it.

Taking Atlantic City’s side in the burgeoning fight is Assemblyman Chris Brown (R), who says, “While I’m thrilled that by putting middle-class families, and standing up to political bosses and special interests we were able to defeat North Jersey casinos, it is frustrating [that] these political bosses and special interests are ignoring the will of the people and saying ‘voters be damned’ by trying to force North Jersey casinos on our families.” Amen. If the horseracing industry can’t stand on its own four feet maybe it ought to go the way of the dinosaurs.

Meanwhile, the State of New Jersey has staged a coup d’etat of Atlantic City and Mayor Don Guardian (R) will now have to report to ex-Attorney General Jeffrey Chiesa. While not a direct casualty of the move, the collapse of traditional “New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” puts an appopriately gloomy cloud over recent events.