Maryland Live is once again the casino that is top their state following the Arundel Mills resort generated more gaming revenue during the thirty days of February than its new rival MGM nationwide Harbor.
Maryland Live, billed as the family friendly casino compared to MGM nationwide Harbor, saw the gambling money that is most come through its doors during February.
Collectively, their state’s six casinos pulled in $128.7 million in gross gaming win, Maryland’s second-best all-time performance. The record mark came in December after the opening that is grand of Harbor led to a win of $133.5 million.
Maryland Live’s revenue totaled $46.29 million last month, narrowly edging MGM’s property that sits just outside Washington, DC, at $45.77 million. The two casinos represented the lion’s share of gaming income, with Horseshoe Baltimore coming in a distant third with $22 million.
Three smaller regional gambling facilities, Hollywood Casino Perryville, Rocky Gap Casino Resort, plus the Casino at Ocean Downs, posted a combined $14.6 million.
The Cordish Companies, the parent organization of reside that is headquartered in Maryland, credited its ‘family approach’ for the property retaking the top spot. The group also says being locally owned allows it to provide a better experience to customers, in what’s certainly a slight jab at MGM in a statement.
Mixed Outcomes
The February gambling report represents a 38 percent increase on the month that is same 2016. Casinos took $35.4 million more cash through the shortest month of the year, but the data also highlights plenty of concerns for Maryland gaming.
Excluding MGM’s $1.4 billion resort, gambling was actually down more than 11 percent. And while Maryland Live is championing its February triumph, in truth the casino amassed 14.3 % less revenue year-over-year.
February Maryland Live’s $46.29 million is down $7.72 million compared to last. And conditions couldn’t have now been riper for strong profits, as the month was certainly one of the warmest on record.
Since MGM announced its plans to build National Harbor, Maryland Live has been scrambling to make sure its property stayed competitive from the behemoth outside of DC in Oxford Hill. Live and nationwide Harbor are about 35 miles apart, but both are competing for the DC that is wealthy and Virginia demographic.
Maryland Live announced the construction of a 17-story hotel tower with 310 guest spaces last summer time. MGM National Harbor offers 308 hotel rooms.
National Harbor Underwater?
MGM’s casino that is latest to start in america had been downright packed during its starting month. The resort asked would-be visitors to stay away unless they’d a reservation.
Just 90 days later, excitement and enthusiasm has seemingly calmed.
Into the opening days, a nightly stay at the hotel ran between $399 and $599. But midweek prices are now because low as $229, though weekends are nevertheless in the range that is prior.
MGM likely isn’t too focused on the gaming report february. While Live continues to fret throughout the competition, MGM CEO Jim Murren has over repeatedly stated that the house seeks become a destination resort for not merely gamblers but also visitors towards the country’s money.
Casino Bus Crash Kills Four, Charter Safety Concerns Continue
A casino coach crash in Mississippi has killed four passengers and injured 40 more, seven critically.
A casino bus crash in Mississippi presumably became stuck on a railroad track, and tragedy hit when an approaching train collided with the charter vehicle. (Image: Kevin McGill/Associated Press)
The incident occurred in Biloxi following the bus reportedly became stuck while wanting to get a cross train tracks. Moments later, a freight train traveling at speeds up to 45 MPH collided with the bus and pushed it some 300 legs before coming to an end.
According to local reports, the coach was touring regional gambling enterprises in Mississippi and Louisiana.
At the time for the crash, the bus was traveling from the Hollywood Gulf Coast Casino in Bay St. Louis to the Boomtown Casino in Biloxi. That is about one hour’s drive east.
The excursion that is weeklong organized by a senior citizens’ center in Texas. While investigators say it’s not instantly clear whether or not the bus incurred technical problems, the location where the accident occurred has road signs warning motorists of low ground clearance.
The names associated with the victims, and whether the motorist was one of the fatalities, wasn’t released.
Charter Gambling
The casino bus crash comes not as much as five months after a California gambling trip ended in tragedy. In October, 13 passengers aboard a trip coach were killed after the driver slammed in to the straight back of an semi-truck that is 18-wheeler Interstate 10 near Palm Springs.
In that event, passengers paid around $30 for round-trip fare and free slot cash from Los Angeles to a remote casino near Salton City called Red Earth.
Tour organizations and regional casinos usually reach agreements where gambling establishments provide slot money to people arriving on certain charters and spend the coach company a little stipend that is per-customer.
This is why busses like usually the one involved in the Palm Springs accident drive great lengths, passing multiple casinos within the process, to arrive at a destination like Red Earth.
Growing Concern
Following last fall’s tragedy in California, the National Transportation protection Board (NTSB) confirmed that the rise of casino bus accidents was a severe concern to the federal agency that is tasked with investigating civil accidents.
In mid-January, a Greyhound motorcoach crashed in San Jose, California, and killed two passengers. But fatalities aboard chartered busses are still relatively rare compared with other modes of transportation.
Based on the NTSB, in 2015 just 49 bus passengers had been killed in highway accidents. Passenger cars and trucks that are light vans accounted for over 22,400 deaths.
The NTSB is in Mississippi to investigate this week’s crash. Back home at its Washington, DC, headquarters, the agency is attempting to determine if more stringent oversight of bus charter companies is required.
In 2013, the NTSB publicly scolded inspectors during the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) for failing to detect clear and safety that is significant on busses that passed inspections.
‘Our investigators unearthed that in many cases, the indegent company that is performing on FMCSA’s radar for violations, but was permitted to continue operating . . . until they had deadly crashes,’ the NTSB stated at the time.
Former United States Secretary of the Interior Salazar Warns Connecticut Over Satellite Casino
Kenneth Salazar, US Secretary to the inner under Barack Obama, has warned Connecticut governor Dannel Malloy over ‘legal risks’ regarding the state’s proposal to permit the construction of the casino that is tribal sovereign tribal lands.
Ken Salazar, previous US Secretary to your Interior, now MGM consultant, believes that Connecticut will struggle to receive approval that is federal a new casino deal with the Mohegan and Mashantucket tribes. (Image: Politico.com)
Salazar, that is a paid up consultant for MGM Resorts Global, informed the governor that the proposed ‘satellite’ casino could jeopardize the state’s revenue-sharing agreements with all the Mashantucket Pequots and Mohegans, which run the Foxwoods and Mohegan Casinos in south Connecticut, that could cost hawaii billions in the run that is long.
MGM is desperate to halt Connecticut’s plans to establish a casino just 13 miles south of the MGM Springfield, currently under construction over the border in Massachusetts.
The Connecticut casino has been conceived purely as a method to blunt MGM Springfield’s competitive edge up against the Connecticut casino sector and to protect Connecticut jobs.
MGM has made no secret of the fact that it expects a big portion of footfall for its own new casino to come from Connecticut residents.
Borderline Legal
The satellite casino is controversial plan because the Connecticut legislature would have to pass a law permitting the 2 tribes, understood collectively as MMCT, to operate the state’s first ever casino outside tribal lands. The tribes would be the entities that are only by law to operate casinos in hawaii.
MGM has sued Connecticut on the grounds that this is unconstitutional plus in violation of the Commerce Clause as it bars out-of-state rivals from competing to build up casinos in the state, discriminating, claims MGM, in favor of the 2 tribes.
The casino giant even attempted getting an amendment added up to a federal defense bill that would have forbidden Native American tribes from running gambling enterprises within their home state outside their reservations but it had been scuttled by vigilant congressman from Connecticut.
Nevertheless the question of legality lingers, and week that is last Malloy requested that the state AG George Jepsen prepare a formal opinion in the legal ramifications of the proposal and to assess the odds of MGM successfully blocking it into the courts.
Substantial Danger
Salazar’s intervention on behalf of MGM, then, is well-timed. Writing in an open letter addressed to Malloy, dated March 7, he writes that the 25 percent revenue share which includes existed between the state therefore the tribes for 2 decades is threatened, regardless of the fact that MMCT has proposed amendments towards the agreements that would ensure the re payments to the state would not stop.
‘Under federal law … amendments to a gaming that is tribal need approval by the U.S. Department of Interior, which I led for five years through the Obama management,’ wrote Salazar.
‘Based on that experience ( and on my work on Native American legal issues), i really believe there is a substantial danger that the tribe’s proposed amendments would not receive the requisite approval, in which instance Connecticut’s entitlement to the 25-percent income flow would probably terminate.’
AN MMCT spokesman had been unmoved by the articles of this letter. ‘MGM is willing to cover anybody and everybody to stop our task from going forward he said because they know our proposal is going to keep revenue and jobs in Connecticut.
Glenn Straub Ups Attacks on Atlantic City, Says New Jersey ‘Rapes’ Companies
Glenn Straub states when you come to nj-new Jersey, business owners ‘have to take all your clothing off’ and allow the state to take advantage that is full. ‘They don’t know just how to perhaps not rape you,’ he opined.
Glenn Straub (middle), seen here at a Casino Control Commission meeting last month, is not used to Atlantic City, but that does not mean the Florida-based businessman will probably play by New Jersey’s rules. (Image: Atlantic City Primetime)
Yep, Straub just went there. The Florida-based developer has officially removed any politically correct buffer he might have had in describing Atlantic City. Talking because of the Associated Press, Straub lambasted the national government and casino regulators in the Garden State.
Expected why he isn’t prepared to play by the rules that have been set forth, such as playing the PILOT program ( payment in lieu of fees), Straub responded, ‘I’d be broke. They’re trying to help make me do what my predecessors did.’
Straub purchased the shuttered Revel Atlantic City, a resort that cost $2.4 billion to create, for $82 million in bankruptcy court. But since his acquisition nearly two years ago, the businessman has engaged in a number of fights with hawaii’s Casino Control Commission (CCC) and Atlantic City’s regional leaders.
Straub argues he doesn’t desire a casino license since he’s likely to be leasing his gambling floor to a third-party that is presently in the act of obtaining a CCC permit.
But that doesn’t adhere to Atlantic City laws. Morris Bailey received a license on their behalf for their Resorts Casino despite also hiring a vendor to operate the video gaming room.
Layers of Bureaucracy
Straub’s frustrations aren’t out of the free cleopatra slot game norm regarding business that is doing Atlantic City. The beachfront gambling town is infamous for its complicated environment that is regulatory.
The Casino Control Commission, Division of Gaming Enforcement, and Casino Reinvestment Development Authority are all involved in licensing properties, but owners that are incoming often confused as to which agency is actually in control. Muddying the process could be the known proven fact that the city it self is responsible for building inspections and infrastructure tasks.
Mayor Don Guardian (R) happens to be trying to assist owners navigate the burdens that are complex. The controversial mayor who is at the center for the state’s takeover for the local federal government claims he routinely meets with owners who have invested at least $1 million in the city.