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Wednesday, 18 April 2012 10:41

Written by Bill Toland

Will more parking spaces mean more patrons at The Meadows Racetrack and Casino in Washington County? The casino is banking on it:

A 1,400-space parking garage may not have the razzle-dazzle of the latest slot machines, but for The Meadows Racetrack & Casino, it's the kind of amenity that will help to keep customers coming back. Officials at the Washington County venue opened the $15 million garage Friday morning, hopeful that it will help to boost business in the face of increased competition from Pittsburgh's Rivers Casino and those preparing to open in Ohio.

Sean Sullivan, The Meadows general manager and vice president, said the new garage will help to alleviate a parking crunch at peak times, particularly on weekends, that he believes kept some customers away or forced them to go elsewhere for entertainment. "We are in the business of pleasing our guests. We know that our infrastructure wasn't as good as it could be at peak periods, so I think that we've mitigated that to a great deal," he said.

Is a casino hotel a big deal?  Here's the take of gaming writer Howard Stutz: 

... Could the building that now houses the Pulitzer Prize-winning Philadelphia Inquirer (and the Daily News) soon have a new tenant?

"A powerful developer wants to build a casino and entertainment complex near the headquarters for Philadelphia's two largest newspapers, an iconic building that he now owns. Bart Blatstein owns the building that houses The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News on the northern edge of the city's downtown. He said [last week] that he wants to build a casino, entertainment and retail complex on the property, turning the newspaper building into a hotel. That, however, would be contingent on his getting one of the two casino licenses currently slated for Philadelphia. The newspapers are moving their operations to rented space in a former department store downtown later this year." (Story: AP)

... A PG letter-writer (Tim Murray of Pleasant Hills) wants to know if you've even noticed the property tax break that casino revenues were supposed to produce:

"Eight years later, how's that gaming bonanza working out for you? Only in the alternate reality of Harrisburg could, for example, the paltry $123 reduction to North Hills School District homeowners be considered a 'good, significant step on the road to property tax relief.' ... Where's the rest of the money going? Among others, supposedly 'economic development' and 'senior citizens' -- the Gregorian chants of state bureaucrats looking to end the discussion when someone dares to ask 'where's the money going?'"

Dispatches from the border

This isn't, technically, in the Youngstown-New Castle market -- but I'd still have to think every good bit of development news in Ohio is bad news for the developers of the would-be Lawrence County casino:

"Hard Rock International, which is owned by the Seminole Indian Tribe of Florida, reached an agreement to develop a slot machine-only casino at the Northfield Park racetrack in northeastern Ohio. The deal is contingent on Ohio finalizing plans to allow seven of the state's racetracks to operate some 17,500 slot machine-like video lottery terminals. The proposed $275 million Hard Rock project would include a Hard Rock-branded casino, a steakhouse, Hard Rock Cafe and an entertainment venue for live music." (Las Vegas Review Journal)

Northfield track, by the way, is just outside of Cleveland -- about 70 miles from where Valley View Downs would be.

... Earlier this week, Rock Gaming -- the Ohio company that  is building Caesars-branded casinos in Cleveland and Cincinnati -- announced that it had acquired 40 percent of Turfway Park, "a struggling Kentucky racetrack." Caesars itself still controls an additional 50 percent of the track. The deal was approved by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission.

It's the first thoroughbred track for Rock Gaming. (Kentucky Post)

... In Ohio, they do things a bit differently (read: backward) by awarding the casino licenses first, by way of writing the winners into the referendum, then -- more than two years later -- doing background checks on the winning applicants: "Ohio regulators are planning to review the background of a company slated to open the state's first casino next month, and Cincinnati's casino next year. The Ohio Casino Control Commission meets Wednesday to review a newly completed report on Rock Ohio Caesars. It will include details about the company's financial stability and whether it has any criminal background." (AP)

And what do you suppose happens if they turn up something unsavory?

... In West Virginia, we have a rare convergance of casino news and Marcellus Shale drilling news (which we failed to notice a month ago, when it was first published):

"West Virginia lost out in the battle to attract Shell's multibillion-dollar chemical plant because of the costs involved with relocating a casino that occupies the site, sources told The Associated Press on Thursday. Shell announced plans to build the so-called 'cracker' plant in Monaca, Pa., about 12 miles from the West Virginia border. Two individuals with direct knowledge of the negotiations with Shell, but who were unauthorized to speak publicly about them, said the company's preferred West Virginia location encroached on Mountaineer Casino, Racetrack and Resort."

... Pittsburgh -- does this sound familiar? (cough*riverscasino*cough):

Reeling from the economic recession and the loss of gamblers to neighboring states, Atlantic City casinos are telling the tax man they’re not worth as much as he thinks they are. All 12 casinos in the seaside resort have appealed their tax assessments over the past three years, and many have already cashed in millions in property-tax savings.

City officials say they’re losing big, and all the challenges leave their projections of how much they’ll get in revenue about as predictable as a roulette wheel. "The effect, of course, is the loss of revenue, which in turn affects the financial well-being of the city," said Novellette Robinson, Atlantic City’s tax assessor.

... "Do AC!" Doesn't quite have the same mischievous ring as "What Happens in Vegas," but that's the new marketing campaign out of Atlantic City:

"Port Authority bus passengers in New York City were greeted Monday by a station full of ads inviting them to 'Do AC!' Rail commuters in New York City, Long Island and Philadelphia were urged to head to Atlantic City for some fun and relaxation in 'the city that was created to escape the city.' All over the Northeast, from Boston to Washington, D.C., print ads, billboards, TV commercials and radio spots were rolled out Monday as part of the official start of a $20 million publicity campaign to draw more tourists to Atlantic City. The campaign was developed by Euro RSCG Worldwide, a global advertising firm with clients including Kraft Foods, Volvo and Charles Schwab."

Here's the new TV spot (via the Press of Atlantic City):

Odds and ends

Asian operators give Vegas casino titans run for their money ... Will a casino in Toronto damage the fortunes of the existing Windsor, Ontario, casino? ... A report on the political fallout from the push for a sixth casino in Maryland ... In March, Pennsylvania's casinos set an all-time monthly high for gross revenue from table games ... Regarding the proposed casino near the Philly Inquirer building, "right now the odds of a casino on North Broad Street are longer than hitting it big on the penny slot machines." ... Presque Isle's racetrack, near Erie, has new barns and stalls for its horses.

Finally, in political circles, this is known as "gentle arm-twisting":

"A Foxboro selectman in fear for his life has relocated his family after a hatchet-wielding neighbor was arrested on charges of threatening to kill him if he voted against a proposed casino across from Gillette Stadium, according to court documents. 'If you don't change your (expletive) vote ... you're a dead man,' Michael Viscardi, 40, told Selectman Mark Sullivan on Sunday, according to a police report." (Boston Herald)

Further proof that Boston sports fans are, indeed, crazy.

Wednesday, 21 March 2012 10:24

Written by Bill Toland

Can a new managing partner help turn things around at the much-maligned Valley View Downs, the proposed -- but not yet built -- racetrack and casino in Lawrence County? And will a racetrack in Youngstown, Ohio (to be built by Penn National, just 20 miles away from New Castle) damage Valley View Downs' prospects? Read on:

"... Those 'new people' from New York are reportedly Och-Ziff Capital Management Group, a proposed managing partner, which has been trying to round up limited partners and captive investors for the project. At one point, the project had been touted as a $450 million property, a value estimate that has likely declined as the project's financial woes have continued." (PG)

As for the developments in Ohio:

"Berks County-based Penn National was given permission last week to move two of its existing Ohio horse-racing operations -- one in Toledo, the other near Columbus -- to locations in the Youngstown area and Dayton. The move to Dayton will position one of the tracks closer to the Indiana and Kentucky borders, while a track in Youngstown -- technically, Austintown, just west of Youngstown -- positions Penn National to compete for gamblers in Pennsylvania." (PG)

A consultant from New Orleans says a racetrack in Youngstown would damage Valley View Downs' prospective revenue by $40 million a year. 

Stay tuned -- Valley View's owners say they are committed to applying for a casino license. Meanwhile, both the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board and the state harness racing commission are set to meet this week. 

... Another item to keep an eye on -- the Supreme Court case on the awarding of the Category 3 "resort casino" license to Nemacolin Woodlands Resort. You can find primers on that case here and here.

... This has nothing to do with Pennsylvania, but Forbes, via the New York Times Magazine, has a cautionary tale for casino investors (such as, perhaps, those who might be tempted to invest in Valley View Downs) -- casinos are not always a license to print money. If you misjudge the market and borrow too much money, all the grandmothers playing all the slot machines in the world can't save you. Says the Times of Connecticut's Foxwoods Resort Casino, the largest tribal casino in the U.S.: "The casino is underwater, like a five-bedroom Spanish colonial in a Nevada subdivision. The Pequots misjudged the market, borrowed too much and expanded unwisely. Foxwoods's debt is on a scale befitting the size of the property — $2.3 billion."

Dispatches from the border

From the Buckeye State: Scotio Downs in Columbus is ready to hire (NBC4i.com) ... and the pace of construction quickens at Cincinnati's casino, thanks to the mild winter weather:

"When a floor at the casino under construction in Cincinnati collapsed in January, it raised questions about whether the project would finish on time. But the pace of construction at the work site has erased many concerns." (WLWT.com)

... in Atlantic City, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has been unable to convince bond buyers that a new casino is a good investment. As a result, "the bonds of [Atlantic City's most profitable venue lose out on a record rally for gaming debt. Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa bonds that were issued in May and traded as high as 105.5 cents on the dollar in July have since lost 3.4 percent -- while casino bonds gained an average 4.9 percent, Bank of America Merrill Lynch index data show. 'There's too much capacity in Atlantic City now,' said John Kempf, a credit analyst at Royal Bank of Canada in New York. 'Borgata could take a significant hit here.'" (story, Bloomberg; photo, Amanda Brown, The Star-Ledger)

... And in Maryland: "As state and county officials debate proposals for a casino at Rosecroft Raceway or a billion-dollar, Las Vegas-style venue at National Harbor, gambling and games of chance — both legal and illegal — already pervade Prince George's, whether it's secret games of dice and poker at nightclubs, church bingo or the scratch-off lottery tickets sold to patrons as they do their wash at a Riverdale laundromat." (Washington Post)

Prince George's County is southwest of Baltimore -- the National Harbor is not to be confused with Baltimore's Inner Harbor.

Odds and ends

Erie's casino take from the sunny St. Patrick's Day week ... What if, instead of steering Pennsylvania's tax revenue take toward reducing property taxes, we had instead steered it toward our ailing pensions? Kansas may try that route ... No racetrack casinos in Minnesota, for now ... A group fron Youngstown, Ohio, wants to build a free-standing casino, rather than a racetrack casino, but Penn National says these folks aren't to be taken seriously.

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Monday, 05 March 2012 11:25

Written by Bill Toland

The PG's Gary Rotstein takes a look at how Pennsylvania's counties are spending the state money that has been earmarked for treating gambling addiction (and for preventing that addiction in the first place). What he found: Counties are spending money on counselors, senior citizen awareness, and even early intervention -- telling teens that blowing all of their college tuition money on Texas Hold 'Em isn't a terribly wise investment.

But which approaches work best? We don't really know that yet:

"Education and awareness programs are germinating in the wake of findings in many counties that neither their populations nor the agencies charged with addressing their addiction issues know much about compulsive gambling or how to deal with it. Drug and alcohol problems have traditionally received far more attention and funding. 'How even to have a conversation about problem gambling was new to us,' said Erica Usher, prevention supervisor for the Fayette County Drug and Alcohol Commission. 'We need to educate people in general as to what gambling is. ... There are some people that have a problem but don't necessarily know where to go for help.'"

Upping the ante

Can Michigan support 22 new Indian casinos? Probably not:

"Private investors and Indian tribes are proposing 22 new casinos across lower Michigan, and metro Detroit is clearly among the targets of the gambling gold rush. Hopefuls are wagering -- against long odds -- on plans that could make them millions of dollars while also nearly doubling the number of casinos in the state. Six organizations want in on the game -- two investor groups separately seeking state constitutional amendments and four tribes trying to expand off-reservation gambling." (Detroit Free Press)

... Nothing ever seems to get done in an election year:

"It's only March, but prospects for federal legalization of Internet poker this year have faded quicker than hopes of drawing an ace on the river card. When Congress failed to attach online gaming legislation to the payroll tax cut extension in early February, many proponents mucked their hands." (Las Vegas Review-Journal)

Proponents say legalizing online card gaming, then regulating it and taxing it, would be a massive revenue generator.

... Atlantic City is upping the ante with "Revel," its first new casino in nearly a decade. Developers and city fathers are keen to see how the new property will do, given the downturn in Atlantic City's fortunes over the last two years, thanks to the recession and increased competition from Pennsylvania and other states:

"Atlantic City's Revel megaresort will begin booking rooms at noon today as the casino readies to open its doors April 2. The $2.4 billion casino and resort will make 500 rooms available to book for April 2, the start of an eight-week preview building up to a formal grand opening Memorial Day weekend, Revel spokeswoman Maureen Siman said. Revel will phase in several hundred more rooms a week after that, she said." (Press of Atlantic City) 

Dispatches from the border

Ohio is still putting the finishing touches on its four stand-alone casinos, but the state's racetracks could be right behind them:

"The pending sale of Lebanon Raceway to new owners who plan to install 2,500 video slot machines is the latest sign that gambling will expand at Ohio tracks. Large gambling companies have swooped into the state hoping to cash in on an anticipated boom in 'racinos' – racetracks with slot parlors – since they were authorized in 2009. Still, only one of Ohio's seven racetracks, Scioto Downs in Columbus, is being expanded for slot play now. The others haven't even applied with the state Lottery Commission for a license." (Cincinnati.com)

... The state on Ohio's southern border, Kentucky, won't get to vote on expanded gambling referendum this year "after the Kentucky Senate killed the expanded gambling amendment." (Cincinnati.com)

... the first of many hundreds of slot machines arrived in Downtown Cleveland last Thursday (AP). The Ohio Casino Control Commission, meanwhile, has announced that Cleveland's Horseshoe Casino Cleveland can open as soon as the week of May 14. (Photo, at left: Scripps Media)

... Wheeling's mayor says table games have been good for his neck of West Virginia: "We've not seen any increase in illicit drugs, prostitution, illegal gambling or crime in our community because of Wheeling Island Racing, and that's just all factual information, that's not my opinion."

Odds and ends

"Michael Tamburelli, with more than 30 years of experience in the casino industry, has been named to lead the five-year-old casino and thoroughbred horse-racing track" in Erie, Presque Isle Downs & Casino ... The Isle of Capri, one-time front-runner to build a casino and new hockey arena in Pittsburgh's Uptown / Lower Hill District area, has sold one of its flagship properties, it Biloxi, Miss., hotel casino, to Golden Nugget Biloxi Inc. for $45 million ... Will Rhode Island's voters approve casinos in the nation's teensiest state? ...

The New England Patriots may soon have a new neighbor -- Steve Wynn: 

"Las Vegas casino owner Steve Wynn unveiled details Friday of a proposed Massachusetts resort casino he hopes to develop near the home of the New England Patriots. Wynn mailed a brochure and 20-minute DVD to thousands of Foxborough households explaining the proposal, which has met resistance from many residents who are worried that it will add to traffic congestion and crime in the town about 25 miles south of Boston. An artist's rendering depicts a sprawling, six-story building that resembles a rustic lodge, rather than a high-rise Las Vegas-style casino. It would be built on vacant land across from Gillette Stadium that would be leased from Patriots owner Robert Kraft." (AP)

Friday, 13 January 2012 14:49

Written by Bill Toland

... so says the PG's TV critic, Rob Owen, who paid a visit to post-housing-sector-meltdown Las Vegas:

"The most obvious sign of the economic downturn has to be the storied and now shuttered Sahara Casino and Resort, which closed in May 2011 and is now surrounded by a chain-link fence. The Sahara is at the north end of The Strip -- the portion of Las Vegas Boulevard that's taken the brunt of the economic decline. Developers demolished blocks of old Rat Pack-era casinos to make way for newer, cooler resorts that never came to fruition. Now several dusty, empty blocks separate Circus Circus -- a hotel and casino that has the largest, permanent big top in the world -- from any real development." (PG)

Yeah, that's gotta hurt property values. No such problem on Pittsburgh's North Shore, where Rivers Casino learns of its "new" property assessment (should those new values ever take effect):

"One that wasn't lucky in the reassessment was the Rivers Casino. It is still fighting in court to lower the $199.5 million assessment the county placed on the property in 2010.But that didn't stop the county from raising it again this time around, to $242 million." (PG)

... While Vegas and Atlantic City continue to flail around, many other gaming markets seem to be doing better, inlcluding Detroit's:

"Detroit's three casinos rolled to their second straight year of improved business in 2011 and are poised to benefit this year from a strengthening economy if they adapt to new gaming competition scheduled to open in neighboring Ohio, a national gaming expert said. The trio's revenues rose 3.4 percent to $1.42 billion for the year, lagging other states in the Midwest that opened new casinos last year but well ahead of other gaming areas." (Detroit News)

Detroit's unemployment rate at the end of 2011 (actually, the metro unemployment rate in Detroit-Warren-Livonia): 9.5 percent. Unemployment rate in Las Vegas-Paradise metro area: 12.5 percent.  Obviously there are some supply and demand issues at play ther: Detroit's metro population has remained stagnant for the last three decades (the city's population has, of course, shrunk), while Las Vegas' population has spent the last two decades growing.

But both regions saw their labor force shrink over the last yea, too. So it's not as if Las Vegas' high unemployment is being totally driven by an increasing labor force, at least not lately.

Casinos, casinos everywhere

Miami wants a casino (or at least, the casino companies want Miami to want a casino): "Two of the world's largest casino operators promise major boosts to tourism if they can open resorts in downtown Miami. But how much help does the vacation industry need? Hotels, restaurants and other tourism businesses in Miami-Dade now employ more people than they did before the recession. Among the country's top hotel markets, only Nashville and San Francisco saw a bigger boost in revenue from hotel rooms than in Miami-Dade, where the measure is up 14 percent this year." (Miami Herald)

... Massachusetts wants a casino: " The competition for the sole resort casino license in western Massachusetts intensified Thursday, as MGM Resorts International announced a plan to purchase 150 acres of land in the small town of Brimfield. The Las Vegas casino company said it would seek to develop a 'world-class resort' on the site, some 65 miles from Boston near the Massachusetts Turnpike." (AP, via Business Week)

They're all world-class resort casinos, aren't they? Wasn't Rivers Casino supposed to be a world-class resort? I bet they said the same thing about Bill's Gamblin' Hall & Saloon when it opened in Vegas.

... Tulsa, Okla., does NOT want a casino: "An array of elected officials, school leaders and ministers publicly announced their opposition to a planned Indian casino at a rally that nearly filled the 1,300-seat sanctuary of a local church." (Tulsa World)

Wynn, Lose or Draw

Who wins the fight for Wynn?:

"A battle that erupted this week between Steve Wynn and a longtime business partner reveals turmoil within the casino mogul's global empire that could add to its challenges in the explosive Asian casino market. On Wednesday, the business partner, Kazuo Okada, a director and the biggest shareholder of Wynn Resorts Ltd., alleged in a lawsuit filed in Clark County District Court that he was blocked by Mr. Wynn from seeing the company's financial records after he contested the company's donation of $135 million to a university in Macau." (Wall Street Journal)

Odds and ends

Does Toronto want a casino? (Increased social problems! Bankruptcies! Gambling addictions! Etc., etc.) ... The Hollywood Casino in Toledo, Ohio, is having three job fairs this month ... of course, if you're hired, your start date is still up in the air: "The opening of casinos in Cleveland and Toledo will be delayed for several weeks, and likely much longer, because the required background checks on the gaming operators and vendors are well behind schedule."