Vegas Gambles on Future

The slump in Las Vegas may be bottoming out, but odds are good that a coming wave of new resorts will hinder any rebound in hotel rates or casino revenue.

That could put a cap on profits at recession-battered casino companies.

MGM Mirage, Las Vegas Sands Corp. and Wynn Resorts Ltd. this week reported stronger-than-expected first-quarter results, helping to boost their heavily battered stock prices.

"I see that starting in September – maybe October, more appropriately – we are going to have an accelerated booking pace ... I hesitate to use the word getting back to normal, but I think we are getting close to getting back to normal in 2010," Sheldon Adelson, Sands' chair and chief executive, said this week.

Analysts, however, warn that there is no concrete evidence as yet that the bottom of the downturn is in sight in Las Vegas.

For the complete story, please see Deena Beasley, Vegas rolls dice on an uncertain future, Reuters via The Toronto Star, May 10, 2009.

Video Bingo Benefits from Video Poker's Demise

Flying largely below radar, the number of video bingo machines in Louisiana has grown by hundreds over the past five years - mostly in parishes that banned video poker more than a decade ago.

In Lafayette Parish, which is one of those parishes, there are 75 machines in three places.

While the business takes in only a fraction of what the better-known video poker machines win from players, the devices' growth in non-gambling parishes has led critics to call electronic bingo an end-around by gambling interests.

"There are some people who voted out gambling and they're going to wake up and find it's there," said state Sen. Joe McPherson, D-Woodworth.

McPherson and state Sen. Gerald Long, R-Winnfield, are pushing legislation that would ban video bingo in the 33 parishes that tossed out video poker machines during 1996 referendums. A similar move failed last year.

For the complete story, please see AP, Video bingo grows where poker banned, TheAdvertiser.com, May 10, 2009.

Foxwoods Casino Reaches Compromise on Smoking Ban

In an effort to extinguish a controversial issue, Gov. M. Jodi Rell signed an agreement with the Mashantucket Pequot nation Thursday for a voluntary, limited smoking ban at the Foxwoods Resort casino.

The agreement is similar to one that Rell signed earlier this year with The Mohegan Tribe to limit smoking in a wide variety of areas at the casino complex.

The deal was announced as the state legislature is still debating a highly controversial bill that would impose a phased-in, total ban on smoking at both casinos. Two major legislative committees have voted overwhelmingly in favor of the ban, and some proponents say the bill should still go forward even with the new agreement.

The tribes, however, have reacted strongly against the bill, raising the specter of a potential battle over nearly $400 million per year in slot-machine revenue currently added to the cash-strapped state coffers from the casinos.

Those threats remained real Thursday as the Pequots hailed the new understanding with Rell as a major step forward.

For the full story, please see Christopher Keating, Gov. Rell Signs Smoking Deal With Foxwoods Resort Casino, Capitol Watch, Courant.com, May 7, 2009.

Greektown Casino Disappointed with Low Bids

Greektown Casino-Hotel will spend more time looking at ways to reorganize its debts rather than selling the property to exit bankruptcy, after multiple bids came in lower than expected, a financial adviser for the gambling hall said Thursday.

Chuck Moore, an adviser from Birmingham-based Conway MacKenzie Inc., which is working on Greektown's bankruptcy, told the Michigan Gaming Control Board at its Thursday meeting that his team would shift focus toward looking at ways the casino can reorganize some $777 million in debt.

"There was disappointment at the values of the bids we've seen so far," Moore said. "Our creditors don't believe they adequately compensate for the performance of the property."

Officials in charge of Greektown's estate have been shopping the property around to potential bidders in a two-pronged approach to getting the casino out of Chapter 11 protection.

For the complete story, please see Nathan Hurst, Greektown Casino rejects low-ball bids, The Detroit News, May 7, 2009.

Mohegan Sun Fights Back Against Possible Smoking Ban

The chief executive officer of Mohegan Sun urged state lawmakers Tuesday to kill a proposal that would compel the two tribally owned casinos in Connecticut to ban cigarette smoking by 2011, saying the resulting drop-off in business would cost the state millions in slot revenues and lost jobs.

“We are now competing directly with thousands of slot machines in neighboring states,” CEO Mitchell Etess wrote to the leaders and members of the legislature’s Finance Committee, which received the bill Tuesday morning, when it was referred from the House floor. “Patrons who smoke will take their business to other states, if a ban is approved in Connecticut, and revenues could drop up to 20 percent. There will be layoffs, and a cascading loss of business to us and our vendors.”

Etess pointed to the examples of Illinois and Delaware, where the imposition of smoking bans cut casino business by 17 percent and 19 percent respectively, and also backed his conclusions with a new analysis from the Connecticut Economic Resource Center.

For the complete story, please see Ted Mann, Mohegan Sun CEO asks legislators to kill casino smoking ban bill, TheDay.com, May 6, 2009.

California Charities Turn to Legislature for Relief After Electronic Bingo Loss

After mixed results in court battles to keep operating casino-style machines, California charitable bingo parlors are seeking financial relief in the Legislature and from tribal gambling funds.

But casino tribes protest reinstating a $5 million account originally created to compensate charities for the anticipated loss of bingo machines.

Charity groups argue that losing electronic bingo will cost them critical revenues for programs for schools, communities and the disabled.

Tribes argue the slot machine-style games violate their gambling exclusivity rights and thus threaten California's ability to collect millions of dollars in revenue-sharing payments from Indian casinos.

Assemblyman Roger Niello, R-Fair Oaks, drafted legislation to allow charities losing bingo machines to seek compensation until Oct. 31 from a fund tribes pay into to offset impacts of Indian gambling.

For the complete story, please see Peter Hecht, California charities seek relief for loss of electronic bingo, The Sacremento Bee, May 4, 2009.

County Looks to Electronic Bingo for Revenue

County Commission Chairman Lynn Sasser said Friday the county must find new revenue somewhere, and bingo might have been the answer.

Asked if the county had considered electronic bingo as a means of possible revenue, Sasser said it is not an option now.

“We had it in mind with that 565 amendment and we were thinking about ways to help this county, but not now,” Sasser said.

In March, the commission unanimously approved a resolution asking House Speaker Seth Hammett (D-Andalusia) and Sen. Jimmy Holley (R-Elba) to repeal one of two Alabama laws that affect gaming in Covington County. If House Bill 821 had passed in the legislature this year, it would have repealed legislation from 1993 that sets rules for charitable bingo in Covington County.

Once those rules were repealed, the only governing legislation for charitable bingo in Covington County would be Constitutional Amendment 565, approved by statewide vote in 1994. That amendment gives the county commission the authority to “promulgate rules and regulations for issuing permits or licenses and for operating bingo games within the county.”

For the complete story, please see Michele Gerlach, Could bingo save county?, Andalusia Star-News, May 1, 2009.