Across the Country
Atlantic City
, still leading the national pack in monthly growth in gaming win, does not completely fit the national narrative. Total gaming revenues were up 23.8 percent in April to $265.4 million. One area where Atlantic City market does fit is the competition between casinos. Casino win was up 8.4 percent to $207.6 million, due to Hard Rock and Ocean Resorts, new casinos, generating $38.4 million. The other seven casinos had $168.6 million in win, down 11.7 percent from April 2018. Borgata was the only casino reporting an increase in gaming win compared to 2018, but the increase was only $200k. The revenue at Resorts fell 26.1 percent to $12.7 million, which was the smallest win of the nine casinos.
In Atlantic City, internet gaming revenue increased 58.9 percent to $36.6 million. Sports betting added another $21.2 million to the total. Online gaming and sports betting have been the driving forces in Atlantic City growth for two years, but Pennsylvania now has sports betting and online gambling is coming to that state in July. Both are bound to impact Atlantic City in the near future.
Illinois
has been the foremost example of the impacts of expansion of one form of gaming on other forms. In Illinois the growth of VLT gaming has had a huge impact on the casinos. In April, state total gaming win increased 6.4 percent to $259.6 million. The casinos reported $114.7 million, down 0.43 percent, but admissions were down much more, 8.6 percent, to 847,381. Illinois casinos have removed 300 slot machines since April 2018. The VLT win was up 12.6 percent to $144.7 million, with the number of VLTs increasing by 9.2 percent to 31,608, compared to a year earlier; the establishments hosting the VLTs increased to 6,918 from 6,458. Recently-passed gaming legislation will add six casinos, sports betting, slot machines at racetracks, and VLTs in airports, for an estimated 30,000 more slots and VLTs. The additional gaming capacity will have an impact across the region, not just in the Land of Lincoln.
Indiana
is in a vice, being squeezed by both Illinois and Ohio. Total gaming win in April fell 4.6 percent to $224.2 million. Casino revenue fell 6.4 percent to $182.8 million. Slot revenue declined 5.4 percent and the casinos removed 685 slots machines; they now have 18,115. But racino revenue increased by 3.7 percent to $41.4 million. By way of illustration, casino revenue in April 2010, nine years ago, before casinos arrived in Ohio and VLTs in Illinois, was $238.1 million. Like Illinois, Indiana has passed gaming expansion legislation to authorize sports betting, table games at the racinos, and a potential casino license for Terre Haute. How much that will help remains to be seen.
Ohio
gaming win fell 1 percent to $160.2 million, as one would expect with one less Sunday. Casino revenue from the state’s four casinos fell 2.3 percent to $70.6 million, with slot revenue falling 3.0 percent to $48.0 million and table game win falling 1.3 percent to $22.4 million. The casinos have removed 80 slot machines and 10 tables games since April 2018. The seven racinos in Ohio generated $89.7 million, down 0.1 percent, with individual results varying widely. The Jack Thistledown Racino was up 11.8 percent to $12.3 million; MGM Northfield Park, formerly a Hard Rock, was off 11.2 percent to $20.2 million, but still had the highest win in the state.
Maryland
has not reported a decrease in casino revenue in a long time. And since the MGM National Harbor opened, the increases have been significant. However, in April the state win only increased by 1.2 percent to $145.2 million. MGM had $60.8 million in win, up 5.3 percent; Live! had $47.8 million, up 2.2 percent; the Horseshoe Baltimore reported a 9.6 percent decrease to $19.6 million; Hollywood was down 9.8 percent to $6.2 million; Ocean Downs was up 6.7 percent to $5.9 million; and Rocky Gap had a 0.8 percent decline to $4.7 million. MGM, Live! and Horseshoe are still trying to adjust to the overall market and their (decreased) relative market share. MGM added 433 slot machines and 27 table games, while Live reduced its slot inventory by 177 units but added 11 tables. Horseshoe, which has suffered the most since MGM opened, took 32 slots and 17 table games off the floor. In April it was down 35 percent compared April 2015, when MGM had not yet opened.
Massachusetts
has one new casino, MGM Springfield. MGM generated $21.8 million in casino win in April, with $6.3 million from table games and $15.4 million from slots. The state’s other casino, Plainridge, reported $14.0 million from slots, down 3.4 percent from 2018. MGM Springfield is winning about 70 percent of what it was initially projected; casino executives say that is just a slow ramp up. That may be, but the casinos in Massachusetts are hurting. With the slot win at the two Indian casinos in Connecticut down 12 percent, the Connecticut casinos are fighting back. And in June, Encore Boston Harbor is set to open, which will also create additional pressure on MGM.
Louisiana
has VLTs, riverboat casinos, one land-based casino, and slots at racetracks. The riverboat casinos have been down consistently, and April was no exception - riverboat casino revenue was down 6.7 percent to $146.4 million. For the rest of the state, the New Orleans Harrah’s casino was down 2.4 percent to $23.3 million; the Shreveport market was down 2.5 percent to $49.2 million; Lake Charles was down 7.7 percent to $55.2 million; and Baton Rouge was off 11.8 percent to $20.4 million. Statewide, casinos admissions were down 8.8 percent to 1,907,046. Revenues for the slots at the tracks were down 5.8 percent to $30.1 million and admissions were down 6.8 percent to 284,205. VLT win was up 3.9 percent to $53.1 million, with the number of units falling 0.8 percent to 12,943. Louisiana casinos are drawing fewer customers, for reasons that are not readily apparent.
Neighboring
Mississippi
was up slightly to $183.5 million. Regionally the results were unusual - the northern region reported $54.2 million, an increase of 9.9 percent, the central region was down 3.6 percent to $23.8 million, and the coastal casinos were off 2.7 percent to $105.4 million. While sports betting is not adding big numbers to casino win – in April it’s total was only $300k. - it is possible that the opportunity to bet on sports is still drawing gamblers from Louisiana. However, the regular baseball season is not a major attraction for bettors in most states, and the next emotional betting season, when the NFL begins play, is months away.
New York
gaming revenue is still growing, even while the number of slot machines is decreasing. Casino win was up 16.9 percent to $51 million, and three of the four casinos reported increases. Resorts Catskills had the biggest increase, 56 percent to $16.9 million; Tioga Downs had the decrease. Statewide the total slot inventory was reduced by 6.1 percent to 5823, with Resorts taking 347 games off the floor. The state’s VLTs had $183.9 million in win, up 1.6 percent, with Resorts World in New York City accounting for 30 percent of the total, and Resorts NYC and Resorts Catskills, whose total VLT win was $77.6 million in VLT, having 33 percent of the state’s total. In April, the Empire State had a total of 24,323 VLTs and slot machines – VLTs were down 226 and slot machines were down 299 from last year.
Pennsylvania
reported $282 million in win: $200.3 from slots, down 1.08 percent, $77.4 from table games, up 3.7 percent; and $4.2 from sports. Without sports the casinos win was down 1 percent; just as one would expect from the loss of a Sunday. The Sands has been the most impacted by New York casinos, but in April the table game win at the Sands was up 25 percent to $21.9 million, although slot revenue was down 4 percent to $25.0 million. Parx, the state’s leading producer, had a 1.2 percent decrease in table game revenue to $16.2 million, and its slots fell 1.8 percent to $34.9 million. Sugar House and Rivers casinos were the only casinos in the state to report an overall increase in win: Sugar House had a 9.9 percent increase, to $28.4 million, and Rivers a 2.7 increase, to $31.2 million. Sports betting in Pennsylvania during baseball seasons is apt to be better than any of the other jurisdictions which have legalized sports wagering. And although Pennsylvania’s sports revenue was only 20 percent of New Jersey’s in April, it probably will exceed New Jersey in time.
Nevada
had a Nevada month: the Las Vegas Strip was down 3.83 percent to $551.9 million and thus the state was down. Statewide, table games were down 5.8 percent to $277.6 million. But for once the culprit was not baccarat, which was up 2.5 percent to $66.8 million. By contrast, blackjack fell 11 percent, craps 12 percent, and roulette 23.5 percent. Slot machines fell 0.02 percent to $658.7 million and sports win increased by 32.7 percent to $27.1 million on $321.8 million in wagers. Downtown Las Vegas was up 2.1 percent to $61.7 million, the Boulder Strip was down 0.24 percent to $78.1 million, and Laughlin was down 2.6 percent to $45.3 million.
In the north, Reno was up 3.2 percent to $48.9 million, Sparks was down 3.2 percent to $10.6 million, North Lake Tahoe was down 16.6 percent to $1.3 million, and the South Shore was down 12.5 percent to $13.1 million. Elko Country was down 0.08 percent to $25.3 million and the Carson Valley casinos were down 0.06 percent to $9.0 million. According to Nevada Gaming Control Board’s Mike Lawton, northern Nevada was strongly affected by weather. It was the fourth consecutive month of revenue declines for Nevada and while the weather may be a factor, the Las Vegas Strip is still the determining factor. If the Strip gets lucky, Nevada gets lucky.
Year-to-date, nationwide, gaming win is up 3.13 percent. By most measures that is healthy growth. The growth might have been more, but Nevada is down 1.3 percent for the year and Nevada is 27 percent of the total.
But the gaming industry is divided. On the right side of the divide are Atlantic City, Illinois, New York, Maryland, Massachusetts, and Mississippi, where sports betting, more VLTs, and new casinos are the driving forces. On the wrong side of the divide are Colorado, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, and Missouri, which are down year-to-date. Except for Colorado, where weather is probably the major cause, competition from other jurisdictions is the primary culprit.
So, overall, the picture is complex. As a national industry, gaming looks healthy after four months of 2019, at least for those on the right side of the divide.
