Wall Street analysts were pleasantly surprised by the latest results from Wynn Palace, which exceeded expectations. As JP Morgan analyst Joseph Greff wrote, the Palace “has 
reconfigured the main casino floor (mass market), adding new slot/poker sections and opening up the promotion area, and accessibility to the premium-mass area has also improved (basically, knocked down the walls from the main casino). From an accessibility standpoint, the property is now part of the Cotai Connect shuttle program (jointly run by other Cotai operators), and a taxi incentive program continues to be utilized.” More restaurants are also on the way. Perhaps emboldened by improving Macao results, Steve Wynn has put Paradise Park back in play, predicting a design revelation this spring, with construction to begin toward the end of the year. No word on whether the giant ape is still part of the plan or not. Finally, there’s a bit of cost creep at Wynn Boston Harbor, up $300 million to $2.3 billion. Isn’t it amazing how companies (and politicians) talk about hundreds of millions of dollars like it’s pocket change?
* Reality is sinking in down in Georgia, where lawmakers have retreated from a proposed five casinos to two, the first of which would have a mandated $2 billion project cost. Taxes from the “resort destinations” would be pegged at 20%, with the money divided between funding kindergarten programs and propping up HOPE Scholarships. Given the shrinkage in popular support, we think it’s a long shot but one worth trying.
* Also in search of education funding, lawmakers in Hawaii are talking seriously about Internet gambling, meaning the penultimate anti-gambling state in the U.S. could soon topple, leaving Utah to itself. The pitch is for online casino games, with shared online liquidity with Nevada and Delaware for Internet poker. At first glimpse, this might look like a potential blow to Boyd Gaming‘s Hawaiian business but we’re confident Boyd will find a way to get in on the ground floor, should the bill become law. Not to be left behind, Massachusetts will consider legislation to allow the state’s brick-and-mortar casinos to have Internet gaming platforms, too. We’re sure this pleases Penn National Gaming, the only casino company in a position to benefit from the proposed law at this point.
* Chinese New Year is looking bright for Macao, where 19 of 23 casino-hotels report being fully booked. (Only nine hotels maxed out during Golden Week last fall.) Except for Sands Macao, on the peninsula, all of Sheldon Adelson‘s hotels are booked to 
the gills. The run on hotel rooms hasn’t been slowed by average rates of $243, up 25% from Golden Week. “We therefore think the tail end of this Lunar New Year will be relatively long and strong,” wrote Deutsche Bank analyst Karen Tang. “Strong momentum since summer 2016, holiday seasonality and the new properties of Wynn Palace and Sands’ The Parisian all add to our confidence of a blockbuster Lunar New Year performance.” Added Jonathan Cheung of China Galaxy International, “We believe that the [gross gaming revenue] recovery should extend into 2017 and that year-on-year comparisons should be favourable in the first half of 2017.”
* Slot machines and other electronic gaming devices are rife with technological subtleties. They’re complex creatures. Some require the better part of a year to undergo the testing process. However, the State of New Jersey is risking putting unready machines out on the market. It’s enacted the “New Jersey First” provision, whereby devices submitted initially in New Jersey or simultaneously with other states be approved in two weeks. That doesn’t give the fellows in the lab much time for scrutiny. Testing a new slot shouldn’t be an agonizing process but we think the Garden State is erring too much in the opposite direction.
* A new hotel wing for Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh hasn’t been improved but our reaction is, What’s not to like?
