Maryland Live is once again the casino that is top hawaii after the Arundel Mills resort generated more gaming revenue during the month of February than its new rival MGM nationwide Harbor.
Maryland Live, billed as the family friendly casino in comparison to MGM nationwide Harbor, saw the most gambling money come through its doors during February.
Collectively, the state’s six casinos pulled in $128.7 million in gross gaming win, Maryland’s second-best performance that is all-time. The record mark arrived 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 month that is last narrowly edging MGM’s property that sits simply 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 home retaking the top spot. In a statement the group also says being locally owned permits it to provide a better experience to clients, in cleopatra slot game what’s undoubtedly a slight jab at MGM.
Mixed Outcomes
The February gambling report represents a 38 percent increase on the same month in 2016. Casinos took $35.4 million more money through the month that is shortest 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 per cent. And even though Maryland Live is championing its victory, in truth the casino amassed 14.3 percent less revenue year-over-year february.
February Maryland Live’s $46.29 million is down $7.72 million compared to last. And conditions could not have been riper for strong profits, as the month had been 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 contrary to the behemoth outside of DC in Oxford Hill. Live and National Harbor are about 35 kilometers apart, but both are competing for the DC that is wealthy and Virginia demographic.
Maryland Live announced the construction of a 17-story resort tower with 310 guest spaces summer that is last. MGM National Harbor offers 308 hotel rooms.
Nationwide Harbor Underwater?
MGM’s latest casino to start in the US had been downright packed during its starting month. The resort asked visitors that are would-be stay away unless they had a reservation.
Just 90 days later, enthusiasm and excitement has seemingly calmed.
In the opening days, a nightly stay at the hotel ran between $399 and $599. But midweek rates are now since low as $229, though weekends are still 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 and over stated that the home seeks to be a destination resort for not merely gamblers but also visitors to the country’s money.
Casino Bus Crash Kills Four, Charter Safety Concerns Continue
A casino bus 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 event occurred in Biloxi following the bus reportedly became stuck while trying to get a cross train tracks. Moments later, a freight train traveling at boosts to 45 MPH collided with the bus and pressed it some 300 foot before coming to an end.
According to local reports, the bus was touring regional casinos in Mississippi and Louisiana.
At the time associated with crash, the coach ended up being traveling from the Hollywood Gulf Coast Casino in Bay St. Louis to the Boomtown Casino in Biloxi. That’s about an hour’s drive east.
The excursion that is weeklong organized by a senior citizens’ center in Texas. The area where the accident happened has road signs warning drivers of low ground clearance while investigators say it’s not immediately clear whether the bus incurred mechanical problems.
The names of the victims, and whether the motorist was one of the fatalities, was not 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 people aboard a trip bus had been killed after the driver slammed in to the back of an semi-truck that is 18-wheeler Interstate 10 near Palm Springs.
In that incident, passengers paid around $30 for round-trip fare and free slot money from Los Angeles to a remote casino near Salton City called Red Earth.
Tour companies and regional casinos often reach agreements where gambling establishments provide slot money to people arriving on certain charters and spend the coach company a tiny per-customer stipend.
This is why busses like the one active in the Palm Springs accident drive great lengths, passing multiple gambling enterprises into the process, to reach at a location like Red Earth.
Growing Concern
Following fall that is last tragedy in California, the National Transportation Safety 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 uncommon contrasted with other modes of transportation.
Based on the NTSB, in 2015 just 49 bus passengers were 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. Straight Back home at its Washington, DC, headquarters, the agency is trying to determine if more stringent oversight of bus charter companies is required.
In 2013, the NTSB publicly scolded inspectors during the Federal engine Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) for failing to detect evident and safety that is significant on busses that passed inspections.
‘Our investigators found that in many cases, the poor company that is performing on FMCSA’s radar for violations, but ended up being allowed to continue operating . . . until they had crashes that are deadly’ the NTSB stated at the time.
Former US 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 towards the Interior, now MGM consultant, believes that Connecticut will struggle to receive federal approval for a new casino deal with the Mohegan and Mashantucket tribes. (Image: Politico.com)
Salazar, who is a paid up consultant for MGM Resorts Overseas, informed the governor that the proposed ‘satellite’ casino could jeopardize the state’s revenue-sharing agreements because of the Mashantucket Pequots and Mohegans, which run the Foxwoods and Mohegan gambling enterprises in south Connecticut, which could price their state billions in the run that is long.
MGM is desperate to halt Connecticut’s plans to establish a casino just 13 miles south for the MGM Springfield, currently under construction over the border in Massachusetts.
The Connecticut casino has been conceived purely as a means to blunt MGM Springfield’s competitive edge from the Connecticut casino sector and also to protect Connecticut jobs.
MGM has made no key of the fact it expects a sizable portion of footfall for the own casino that is new 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, known collectively as MMCT, to operate the state’s first ever casino outside tribal lands. The tribes will be the only entities permitted 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 because it bars rivals that are out-of-state competing to build up gambling enterprises into the state, discriminating, states MGM, in favor of the 2 tribes.
The casino giant even attempted to have an amendment added to a federal defense bill that would have prohibited Native American tribes from running gambling enterprises in their home state outside their reservations however it ended up being scuttled by vigilant congressman from Connecticut.
However the question of legality lingers, and week that is last Malloy requested that the state AG George Jepsen prepare an official viewpoint regarding the legal ramifications of the proposition and to gauge the likelihood of MGM successfully blocking it into the courts.
Substantial Risk
Salazar’s intervention on behalf of MGM, then, is well-timed. Writing in a letter that is open to Malloy, dated March 7, he writes that the 25 percent revenue share which has existed between the state as well as the tribes for just two decades are threatened, regardless of the fact that MMCT has proposed amendments to your agreements that could guarantee the re payments towards the state would not stop.
‘Under federal law … amendments to a tribal gaming compact require approval by the U.S. Department of Interior, which I led for five years during the Obama Administration,’ wrote Salazar.
‘Based on that experience ( and on my work on Native American legal issues), I believe there is a risk that is substantial the tribe’s proposed amendments will never receive the requisite approval, by which instance Connecticut’s entitlement to the 25-percent income stream would probably terminate.’
AN MMCT spokesman was unmoved by the articles regarding the letter. ‘MGM is willing to pay for anybody and everyone to stop our task from moving ahead because they know our proposal is going to keep income and jobs in Connecticut,’ he stated.
Glenn Straub Ups Attacks on Atlantic City, Says New Jersey ‘Rapes’ Companies
Glenn Straub says whenever you come to nj-new Jersey, business owners ‘have to take all your clothes off’ and allow hawaii to take advantage that is full. ‘They don’t understand how exactly 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 suggest the Florida-based businessman will probably play by brand New Jersey’s guidelines. (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. Speaking because of the Associated Press, Straub lambasted the government and casino regulators in the Garden State.
Asked why he isn’t willing to play by the principles that have been set forth, such as participating in the PILOT program ( re payment instead of fees), Straub answered, ‘I’d be broke. They’re trying to produce me do what my predecessors did.’
Straub purchased the shuttered Revel Atlantic City, a resort that cost $2.4 billion to construct, for $82 million in bankruptcy court. But since his acquisition nearly two years ago, the businessman has engaged in a number of fights with their state’s Casino Control Commission (CCC) and Atlantic City’s local leaders.
Straub argues he doesn’t need a casino license since he’s going to be leasing his gambling flooring to a third-party that is currently along the way of obtaining a CCC permit.
But that doesn’t follow Atlantic City laws. Morris Bailey received a license on his behalf for his Resorts Casino despite also hiring a vendor to run the gaming room.
Layers of Bureaucracy
Straub’s frustrations aren’t out of the norm with regards to doing business in Atlantic City. The beachfront gambling town is infamous for the complicated regulatory environment.
The Casino Control Commission, Division of Gaming Enforcement, and Casino Reinvestment Development Authority are all involved in licensing properties, but incoming owners are often confused as to which agency is really in charge. Muddying the process is the proven fact that the city itself is responsible for building inspections and infrastructure tasks.
Mayor Don Guardian (R) was trying to help owners navigate the complex burdens. The controversial mayor who is at the center of this state’s takeover for the neighborhood federal government says he regularly meets with owners who have invested at the least $1 million in the city.
