Notes and Observations on Casinos and Racinos in the 9 Southeastern States - Part 1
Alabama – 3 casinos total: All are owned and operated by the Poarch
Creek Band of Creek Indians and their subsidiaries. They provide Class II
gaming at their Atmore facility plus upgraded facilities at Montgomery and
Wetumpka. The Poarch Creek Tribe Casinos had a good year in 2014 and anticipate
business to be about the same for 2015. Although their two upgraded facilities
could be negatively affected by the new Cherokee facility in Murphy, North
Carolina anticipated to open in 2015. No
new Alabama casinos or racinos are projected for 2015.
Arkansas – 2 racinos total: Oaklawn Jockey Club with hhoroughbred horse
racing and Sunnyland Greyhound Park Racing.
Both are well-established. We will publish their 2014 revenues in Part 2
of this blog, but we anticipate business to be about the same in 2015. No new
Arkansas casinos or racinos are projected for 2015.
Florida – 15 casinos and racinos total: Seven casinos owned by the
Seminole Tribe and one owned by the Miccosukee Tribe, plus seven commercial,
non-Indian racinos in Dade and Broward Counties. 2014 saw expansion of the
Seminole Immokalee facility with a new hotel under construction and
improvements in all others. Miccosukee Facilities remained steady.
Racinos were mixed with the four
thoroughbred sites doing well and we witnessed strong attendance in our visits
to each of the sites last year. Hialeah Park Racetrack and Casino officially
opened in late 2013 and had a strong 2014. The two greyhound racinos claim to have
struggled with their racing business during 2014, and we saw evidence of this
in our 2014 visits there.
One Jai Alai racino opened and
closed in 2014; the other Miami Casino Jai Alai also claims to have struggled
during 2014. We observed this during our visit there and also heard evidence of
this at the Florida Gaming Congress meeting in November. Revenues for the Florida
racinos will be published in Part 2 of this blog.
2015 should see the Seminole
empire march on with improvements, facilities plans and upgrades at Hialeah and
Pompano Park while all others remain about the same. No new casinos or racinos
are projected for Florida in 2015.
One key item to watch in 2015 --
the Federal Recognition of the Muscogee nation of Florida located in the
Florida Panhandle is scheduled for their preliminary findings March 31, 2015 by
the Office of Federal Recognition, Bureau of Indian Affairs. If the finding is
positive, there are remaining steps prior to the tribe pursuing gaming. We will
Georgia – No casinos or racinos. However, Georgia legislators have
had continued discussions regarding casinos in Georgia casino activities during
2014. While there are no Federally
Recognized Indian Tribes in Georgia, the Georgia Tribe of Eastern Cherokees has
petitioned the Bureau of Indian Affairs and is under review with no proposed
findings dates announced. I anticipate that Georgia Legislators will continue
casino discussions throughout 2015 in light of the addition of the Eastern Band
of Cherokee Indians Murphy, North Carolina facility scheduled to open in 2015
two hours from downtown Atlanta and the prospects of Federal Recognition being
granted to the Georgia Cherokee Tribe. No new casinos or racinos are projected
to open in 2015.
Louisiana – 24 casinos and racinos total: Four Casinos owned by Louisiana
Indian Tribes, sixteen commercial casinos owned privately or by Wall Street
firms, and four racinos all Wall Street-owned at year-end 2014.
First, the four tribal casinos:
Jena’s casino is a small casino favorite of mine. Visits there saw good local crowds on the
gaming floor and their restaurant buffet.
The Coushatta in Kinder, Louisiana near the Lake Charles area is continuing
to expand with a large new hotel. Coushatta has a number of activities in
addition to their large gaming platform. Next, the Paragon owned by the
Tunica-Biloxi Tribe has reduced its slots by removing slots from one of the
gaming floor areas during 2014. Most notable was the significant reduction in
hours of operation and closing of half of the facilities at Cypress Bayou
during 2014. Our stay there was disappointing following our outstanding 2013
visit to their restaurant area and casino activity.
On the commercial side, the
Shreveport/BossierCity market saw a significant change with the introduction of
Margaritaville
Casino and Hotel in 2013. They have captured nearly 20 percent of the
market since opening in 2013 leaving two others struggling for existence. I predict that one casino in this market will
close its business during 2015. I also predict that Harrah’s Louisiana Downs,
part of the Caesars empire, will be acquired by Boyd Gaming or Churchill
Downs.
The Lake Charles market saw the
opening of the new Golden
Nugget in December 2014. No doubt this will bring a change to that market
and perhaps the Baton Rouge market. We’ll update our notes following the
publication of revenues in February. The
Baton Rouge market was steady; all of the facilities looked good during our
2014 visits.
Finally, the New Orleans market
had an expansion at Boomtown with the construction of a new hotel
facility. Harrah’s New Orleans continues
to dominate the market asa great facility in the middle of all of the New
Orleans action. Churchill Downs Fairground
Racetrack Casino had small but steady revenues and has great future potential.
And the Treasure Chest Casino in Kenner at Lake Pontchatrain is another of my
small casino favorites…neat, clean with very steady revenues. We will report soon on 2014 revenues. We’ll see what 2015 brings with the addition
of the Golden Nugget and other expansions. I am projecting one closure during
the 2015 and no new racinos or casinos during 2015. Stay tuned.
Mississippi – 30 casinos and racinos total: Three of the thirty are
owned by the Choctaw Tribe of Mississippi and the remaining 27 are commercial
casinos owned by Wall Street and private companies. There are no racinos in Mississippi.
Mississippi commercial casino revenue reports are divided into two groups, the
“Gulf Coast Counties” (Biloxi area and three casinos west of Biloxi) and River
Counties casinos include the Tunica area casinos south to Natchez 16 casinos in
this group). Each area had one closure.
Tunica had the closing of Harrah’s casino complex and Margaritaville in
Biloxi closed. On the upside, the Golden
Nugget had a $200 million expansion and upgrade and the Silver Slipper expanded
its facility and has a new hotel under construction. Both are Gulf Coast County
facilities.
On the Indian Casino side, the
Choctaw Golden Moon facility is used for entertainment and hotel guests, but
the gaming areas remain closed. The Silver Star across the street from the
Golden Moon has the complete gaming area open for business.
Overall, 2014 commercial casino revenues
through November show gaming revenues up slightly in the Gulf Coast area and
down over 7 percent in the River Counties region. We will provide full twelve month revenues
when they are available later this month. Among the favorites: In Tunica, MGM’s
Goldstrike and the next door Horseshoe Complex are outstanding. Another River
County favorite, and one with great potential is the Riverwalk in
Vicksburg. MGM’s Beau Rivage and the
Imperial Palace are outstanding facilities and operations in Biloxi along with
one of my favorites, The Palace, a non-smoking boutique casino. I predict that the revenues for all areas
will remain close to the same in 2015 with another casino closing in the Tunica
area and the possibility of a new casino facility beginning construction plus
the expansion of the Island View in the Gulfport area.
North Carolina – 1 casino:Owned by the Eastern Band of Cherokee
Indians. This beautiful, large casino hotel complex is operated by Harrah’s. The
entire town of Cherokee revolves around the casino/hotel, the EBCI
headquarters, the Tribe’s Museum, a large Bingo facility and their famous
outdoor amphitheater where their history is presented in “Unto These
Hills.” The Tribe has a second site in
under construction in Murphy, North Carolina. This new facility will feature
60,000 square feet of gaming space with slots and traditional table games, a
300-room full service hotel and a variety of dining options. The Murphy site is two hours from Knoxville,
Chattanooga and Atlanta. It is projected
to open in the first half of 2015.
South Carolina – At year-end 2014, there were no casinos or racinos
in South Carolina. There is one Federally Recognized tribe in South Carolina,
The Catawba Indian Nation. During 2014 and 2014 they sought to have a compact
with the State of South Carolina for casino gaming but their efforts failed. It is likely they will continue their pursuit
during 2015.
Tennessee – No casinos or racinos in Tennessee at year-end
2014. No change anticipated during
2015. There are no Federally Recognized
Indian Tribes in Tennessee. The new Cherokee facility in Murphy plus the Tunica
facilities are and will be tough competition should the Tennessee Legislators
promote commercial casino gaming in Tennessee.
Part 2 of this blog will
include twelve month figures for commercial casinos and racinos and economic
notes discussing the projections for revenues in 2015.
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