Florida Casinos and Racinos – What to Expect in 2015

I attended the Florida Gaming Congress held November 10^th and 11^th at the Hyatt Regency, Miami.  The conference was organized and produced by Spectrum Gaming.

Spectrum presented an outstanding slate of speakers and panelists which included Florida State Senators, past and present members of the Florida House of Representatives, senior leaders of owners and operators in the Florida Casino and Racino industries and significant members of the legal and finance industries involved in Florida gaming.

The primary focus was the future of the Casino and Racino Industry in Florida in light of the pending negotiation of the Seminole Compact renewal in 2015, and the development of the industry beyond.

Specific topics included:  

• Casino and racino development in South Florida vs North Florida
• Potential participation of Indian Casino development and racino facilities in North Florida
• Expansion of the existing racinos in South Florida, entry of large destination resorts into Florida, and
• Development of a Florida Gaming Commission.

The consensus was that whatever determinations and changes are made in 2015, they will be incremental rather than major. In upcoming posts, I’ll be writing on these discussions and further news and providing my ideas for 2015 and beyond. 

New Orleans Investment Conference – Will stagflation kill the local casino?

I recently attended the New Orleans Investment Conference. While this annual conference is targeted toward the individual investor, some of the take-aways can be applied to the casino and racino world.

The focus of the conference was on gold as an investment and even the potential return to the gold standard – neither of which really matters for our purposes. However, many of the panels delved further into some troubling markers and underlying problems in the US economy.

Former Fed Chairman and feature guest speaker Alan Greenspan  participated in  panel discussions  and a question and answer session. Unfortunately, much of his time was spent responding to questions about decisions he made during his tenure at the Fed. However, Greenspan did question the power of the Fed, said he “never said that the Central Bank was independent,” referred to their balance sheet as a “pile of tinder.” With the current US inflation rate lagging below the 2% target, Greenspan anticipates that the Fed will continue to take steps toward raising the inflation rate.

For me, the real message from the conference is in the declining value of the dollar, which leaves casino patrons with less discretionary income. Dr. Marc Faber drove this message home with his excellent 60 slides in 60 minutes presentation, painting a troubling picture of the current state of the economy. While the Fed is trying to reach the inflation target, growth is slowing, wages are steady or declining, and commodity prices are falling. He pointed out that millennials are earning less than their parents did, and baby boomers are poorer than their parents were in retirement. According to Dr. Faber, the median income has declined since the 1980s by around 36%.

He also pointed to a troubling statistic -- 31% of car loans are now subprime. While the risk to financial institutions is likely low, the risk to the individual is high. What does this mean for casinos? The average Joe no longer has discretionary income. Not only can he not afford to gamble, he can’t even afford the car that would take him to work.

In our regular travel to casinos across the southeast, we’ve seen cutbacks or even closure of many of the casinos targeting locals, while deluxe destination casinos are growing and expanding. With wage stagnation becoming a key concern, a strategy targeting the wealthy and ultra-wealthy may be the key to growth.

Louisiana Commercial Gaming Revenues: Destination Casinos Lead the Pack

We break the 19 commercial Louisiana casinos and racinos into four regions: Shreveport/Bossier City, Lake Charles, New Orleans and Baton Rouge.  Overall, Louisiana commercial gaming revenues have declined slightly since 2013.

Louisiana Commercial Casino/Racino Revenues*
	May-Sep 2014	May-Sep 2013	% Change
Shreveport/ Bossier City	$313,484,299	$311,683,341	0.58%
Lake Charles	$316,045,688	$321,531,644	-1.71%
New Orleans	$262,600,976	$266,726,610	-1.55%
Baton Rouge	$117,269,307	$119,892,991	-2.19%
Total	$1,009,400,270	$1,019,834,586	-1.02%

*Source: Louisiana Gaming Control Board Revenue Reports

We don’t feel that this small drop is cause for concern, though. When we look at revenue for the top casinos in the state, revenues have actually risen in the top three. Because racetrack seasons can vary wildly each year, the decline at Delta Downs in the Lake Charles region is not alarming.

Revenues at Louisiana's Top 5 Commercial Casinos/Racinos*
		May-Sep 2014	May-Sep 2013	% Change
1	L’Auberge/ Lake Charles	$154,842,866	$148,547,589	4.24%
2	Harrah’s/ New Orleans	$139,076,767	$134,017,029	3.78%
3	Horseshoe/ Bossier City	$89,983,319	$85,197,064	5.62%
4	Delta Downs/ Lake Charles	$69,718,689	$77,301,439	-9.81%
5	L’Auberge/ Baton Rouge	$61,854,926	$63,637,087	-2.80%
Top Five LA Casino Totals		$515,476,567	$508,700,208	1.33%

*Source: Louisiana Gaming Control Board Revenue Reports

We see an upward trend in Louisiana destination casinos like L’Auberge. These luxury destinations attract the young, the wealthy, and the tourists. When casino revenues across the country are sluggish, this rise in luxury destination casinos is worth following.

Please note: Revenues for the four Native American Casinos in Louisiana are not included in this writing. Stay tuned for more information on this topic!  

Mississippi River Counties commercial casino revenue continues to decline

Mississippi gaming commission reports for September show that gaming revenue in the Mississippi counties continues to decrease year after year. Gulf Coast county facilities have regained their footing after a small decline in 2013 revenues. While the River Counties have regained their footing slightly – revenue was down close to ten percent in Jan-Sep 2013 and just under six percent over Jan-Sep 2014 – the decrease remains worth watching. 

The January 2014 closure of Harrah’s Tunica accounts for a portion of the decline, but it is a continuation of a longer-term trend. While the River counties have consistently held higher year-end gaming revenues for the past six years, we predict that the continued downward trend will show the Gulf counties with higher year-end revenue than the River counties for the first time since 2008.

There are 11 facilities in the Gulf Coast Counties after the mid-September 2014 closure of Margaritaville in Biloxi and 17 Mississippi River County facilities after the January 2014 closure of Harrah’s Tunica.

Mississippi Commercial Casino Revenues*
	Gulf Coast Counties	Mississippi River Counties	Total Mississippi
Jan-Sep 2014	$821,081,638	$758,316,423	$1,579,398,061
Jan-Sep 2013	$813,235,173	$805,909,064	$1,619,144,237
Jan-Sep 2012	$840,265,997	$892,914,520	$1,733,180,517
Increase/Decrease in Revenue
	Gulf Coast Counties	Mississippi River Counties	Total Mississippi
2013 to 2014	0.96%	-5.91%	-2.45%
2012 to 2013	-3.22%	-9.74%	-6.58%
2012 to 2014	-2.28%	-15.07%	-8.87%
Source: Mississippi Gaming Commission Reports

The above numbers do not include revenues of the three Native American facilities in Mississippi. Look for an upcoming blog on this topic! 

Survival of the Southeastern Indian Tribes

“All people have blind spots in their memory of the past, but the Southeastern Indians are the virtual amnesia in our historical consciousness.”

- Charles Hudson, The Southeastern Indians.

I found the book, The Southeastern Indians, to be by far the best book on the history of tribes in this region, covering history from ancient to present. The tribes of this region had no written history, so he has thoroughly documented his research with numerous maps and photos. Hudson pulls together artifacts and weaves them together to paint a picture of day-to-day life.

Hudson begins by emphasizing the importance of the culture, and contrasts it with the gap in our knowledge:

“The native people of the American South – the Southeastern Indians – possessed the richest culture of any of the native people north of Mexico. It was the richest by almost any measure. At the time Europeans first came to the New World, the Southeastern Indians lived on the fruits of an economy which combined farming with hunting and gathering; they organized themselves into relatively complex political units; they built large towns and monumental ceremonial centers; and they possessed a rich symbolism and an expressive art style. But hardly any of this has left an impression on our historical memory. The average American has some notion of the Powhatan Indians of Virginia and the role they played in our early colonial history; he has a clear but stereotyped concept of the Indians who lived on the Great Plains; he may know something about the Navajo and Pueblo Indians of the Southwest; but he knows little or nothing about the Southeastern Indians.”

e coHe continues:

“The Indians of the Southeast have been inadequately portrayed both by historians and anthropologists. The reasons for failure are many. One general problem has been that the Indian cultures were so different from European cultures that it has been difficult for European intellectuals to translate the life experience of Indians into terms a layman can readily understand; this problem still exists today, but it was even more acute when Europeans colonization first began. But perhaps the foremost for our ignorance about the Southeastern Indians is simply that many of them were killed, their societies disrupted, and their cultures greatly changed before the day when educated people thought the Indian cultures were worth studying.”

Stay tuned. We will continue this theme in our writings in the weeks ahead.

“Wastin away in Margaritaville…Lookin for that lost shaker of salt…”

WOW! The Margaritaville concept has come a looooong way from a talented dreamer playing four chords on a guitar in Key West, New Orleans and Hattiesburg.

The Margaritaville Resort Casino and Hotel in Bossier City, Louisiana is a true winner.  We stayed at the hotel as one of our stops on our June casino tour. It was our second visit to the facility.

Margaritaville Resort Casino and Hotel, Bossier City, LA 

Several aspects of the venture are impressive.  For starters, every inch of the place is Margaritaville. The Jimmy Buffet theme and music is throughout the dining, drinking, gaming, clothing, hotel and food areas.  People seemed excited and happy to be there.
Second, the crowds were impressive.  There was a good mix of young, middle-aged and senior citizens in the casino gaming areas, the hotel and the bars and restaurants.  One comment we hear frequently from casino operators and managers is that they are not attracting and drawing in the 25 – 40 age group. Our observation was that Margaritaville in Bossier City is an exception to that belief.

Third, their numbers are impressive.  They opened for business in June 2013 and immediately captured 20 percent of the seven-casino Bossier City/Shreveport gaming revenues.  The facility has a 400 room hotel, 1,200 slots, 54 tables along with a buffet, restaurant-bar and a large and beautiful pool-cabana bar.

Margaritaville Resort Casino Hotel, Bossier City, Louisiana is owned by Bossier Casino Venture, Inc., and is privately held.

Put this one on your “must-see” list.  It is a great place to visit and among the best in the Southeast.

CASINOTES and RACINOTES owners and writers do not have an affiliation or ownership with or in the Margaritaville Casino Resort and Hotel in Bossier City, Louisiana.

Holy Golden Nugget Batman!!!!

June travels took us to 41 casino facilities, four Indian mound sites, one museum and…Cafe du Monde, all in Louisiana and Mississippi.  Of course, among all of the casino and racino facilities and operations, a few stood out as exceptional.  

Looking toward the Golden Nugget from the pool deck at L'Auberge.

We viewed the New Golden Nugget Casino Hotel Resort at Lake Charles, Louisiana from the pool area of the fabulous L’Auberge Casino Hotel Resort, Louisiana’s largest casino gaming revenue producer.

The Golden Nugget is in the final stages of construction, scheduled to open this fall. 

The parent company of the Golden Nugget, Landry’s Inc., also owns the Golden Nugget in Biloxi, Mississippi. The Biloxi facility was purchased from the Isle of Capri in 2012 and recently completed a $100 Million "transformation project” (their words). Tilman Fertitta is the sole owner, Chairman and CEO of Landry’s Inc. When you visit Biloxi be sure to visit this great “transformed” facility.

Our final word, put the two Golden Nugget facilities and the two L’Auberge facilities on your “must see” list.  And KUDOS to Tilman Fertitta for making a significant entry into the Southeastern casino/racino market. 

The L’Auberge at Lake Charles also has a sister site in Baton Rouge.  This is a fourth “must see” site. Again, it’s fabulous.  The L’Auberge facilities are owned and operated by the Wall Street-based Pinnacle Entertainment.  Pinnacle also owns three other sites in the Southeast: The Ameristar in Vicksburg, Mississippi; Boomtown in Bossier City, Louisiana; and Boomtown in Harvey, Louisiana (New Orleans area).