The Monthly Let's LOL At The Evil Empire

[GambleBotsChafedPenis]

in an effort to bring the fine readers of PFA up-to-date on the failings of the evil empire, ill be posting monthly Atlantic City gaming revenue results so we can see how terribly mismanaged this dogshit company is...

and as expected once the new revel and the new taj re-opened, results at the evil empire have gone into the shitter even more than they were to start the year...

this is also for the amusement of my man, san...

OCTOBER 2018
https://www.nj.gov/oag/ge/docs/Finan...ctober2018.pdf





the evil empire posted strong gaming revenue results in AC in October 2018 compared to October 2017...ballys was down 15% Y/Y, caesars was down 21% Y/Y, while harrahs was down 22% Y/Y...in comparison most properties were down less than 10% Y/Y, while the trop was up...

yearly results are just as impressive...for the first 10 months of the year harrahs gaming revenue is down 8% Y/Y, ballys is down 10% Y/Y, and caesars is down 15% Y/Y...for the first 10 months of the year the evil empire is down $80M in gaming revenue from 2017 to 2018...CAN WE GET A PFA BRAVO FOR THE EVIL EMPIRE!!!

[Tellafriend]

AC notwithstanding, what do you think about the stock here at 7? It just emerged from BK so surely that’s not an option again right ? Can they be bought ?

[Dan Druff]

I realize AC is a mess and is again getting oversaturated, but I also have to say that Caesars properties in AC are incredibly customer-unfriendly and difficult.

I'm not the slightest bit surprised that they're suffering more than the others.

When I went there in spring 2017, I was on my Seven Stars trip and tried to get a suite.

Keep in mind that every single market I've visited on my Seven Stars trip was willing to give me a suite provided it was available and provided it wasn't a busy time.

Not AC.

It was a big, hard NO from them, both in advance and when I got there.

Keep in mind I was coming in MID WEEK in April and it was dead as a doornail in town.

First they tried lying to me and saying none were available.

Then they reluctantly admitted there were some available, but they were "holding them in case high rollers show up tonight, since it's only 7:30pm right now."

So I said, "Okay, how about I come back down at 2am, and if they're still available, you can switch me to a suite?"

Knowing I caught her in a lie, she started stammering that "2am is still too early", so I asked her what time and I'll come down then, and finally she got flustered and said I needed to speak to a host.

Host got on the phone. He said, "You know, it's too bad you booked Caesars, because that's where suites are card to come by. Had you booked Harrah's or Bally's, I could have gotten you into one."

I responded, "I call. I haven't checked in yet. Switch me to Harrah's or Bally's and I'll take that suite."

He started stammering just like the front desk woman and was digging really hard to come up with his next BS excuse.

Finally I stopped him and said, "Look, I have been around the casino scene for decades. Why not just admit to me that I'm from out of the area, you don't know me, and you don't want to waste a suite on someone who may just be visiting and not planning to play?"

He finally sheepishly admitted that I was right. LOL

Anyway, I ended up with just a regular room (which kinda sucked since I had the whole family with me), used my $500 in food credits, and bounced a day early. Decided to visit Amish country on my last day instead, which was actually interesting to see.

I got back home and thought I probably just dealt with assholes and got unlucky. I posted it about it on my vegascasinotalk forum, and a number of people chimed in with similar experiences to mine. Then I talked to Brandon, and he told me the exact same shit happened to him just a few months prior.

[GambleBotsChafedPenis]

AC notwithstanding, what do you think about the stock here at 7? It just emerged from BK so surely that’s not an option again right ? Can they be bought ?

don't want to give any investment advice and im obviously horribly biased, but I wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole...

I don't think they can be bought because I would think that if somebody like MGM bought them they'd have to divest a decent chunk of the properties due to competitiveness issues...

I mean I don't know about the operations of the company out in vegas...it could be fucking amazing out there and they're obviously making money out there, but I believe AC is their 2nd (possibly 3rd) biggest market and it's run terribly almost like it's the redheaded step-child instead of a place that contributes tens of millions in EBITDA a year...I understand that vegas should be the focal point of the operation because they drive the revenue and bottom line, but AC generates tens of millions of dollars a year in profits and that shouldn't be ignored...

plus the CEO is leaving at the end of the year, which I wouldn't want to be a part of either...lord only knows what fucktard theyre gonna put in there next...

[GambleBotsChafedPenis]

that's such LOL fail druff…

I get why they didn't want to offer you and brandon suites since you guys are not from the area...HOWEVER (which I wish I could blow up the font so this word covers the whole page) you are right about going there in april...im sure you know this, but in case people who read this don't know this...AC is a HUGELY seasonal market...I cant stress that enough...there is peak season (memorial day to labor day) and the off-season/shoulder season (labor day to memorial day)...I wish I remember, but if I had to ballpark I would say that the region probably made like 67% of it's money in the peak season which is only 3 months long...during the shoulder season the casinos on weekdays are fucking dead...literally dead...like hotel occupancy rates during the weekdays of like 30%...I would take daily walks through and kinda chuckle to myself that these places that were supposed to have all this action were about as quiet as a church...

so for a 7* to come through during our shoulder season and not be upgraded is so laughable...it's a shot that should have been taken...they were just too cheap to want to pay the daily cost to clean the suite, im damn sure that's the reason...the region is STARVING for 7*s, especially if you were there mid-week...they shoulda been getting down on their hands and knees and sucking you off...at bareass minimum they should have put you into a suite at fucking ballys…there aint no way on this fucking earth that there is going to be a rapid influx of 7*s coming to AC in april clamoring to stay at fucking shitty ass ballys...ballys is a fucking dump and there were more than a few times I saw homeless people just roaming the casino...

reading shit like this makes me so glad I got shitcanned from that fucking dump...this is just no way to run a business...

tellafriend this is the kinda company you really don't want to put a dime into...you're better off playing blackjack with that money...

[GambleBotsChafedPenis]

November results came out a few days ago and another strong month for the evil empire's AC operations...caesars leads the way only being down 2.8% in gaming revenue Y/Y, while bally's (-7.5%), and harrah's (-10.9%) also posted VERY strong results...



this has led to the region now being down a grand total of $86M in gaming revenue Y/Y...I am hopeful these useless fucks can hit the ol' $100M mark, but it's gonna take a ton of shit results to hit that mark...but that's certainly within the wheelhouse of the evil empire...

on a side note, im scratching my head on how the ocean (former revel) can keep their doors open on $12M in gaming revenue (not counting online/sports book)...im too lazy to go back and look at what the revel's monthly gaming revenue results were, but i'm damn sure they were a helluva lot more than that even in the off-peak season...with these results ocean is the smallest casino in AC, smaller than resorts which is a total low roller paradise and bally's which is a total shithole...I get that casinos have ancillary revenues like hotel and F&b, etc, but if you are making money in those areas that should translate to gaming revenue...people aint just magically driving down to AC to have a meal and not gamble...

[Sanlmar]

I need a Makers Mark and a quiet moment to savor the numbers.

If you invested in a basket of big casino stocks like the ETF BJK you would have made exactly zero in the past 7 years. This is absolutely astounding given the monumental stock market run we’ve been on.

I have been short my own little basket of beauties and see no reason to bail. Never been lower and has more to give.

CZR is dumber than the rest.

Big casinos are a dinosaur. Said it the day I started here and some of the stocks are a third of what they once were since then. MGM and that boondoggle in Boston is less than a third. Steve Wynn was a catalyst that shown a light on a bad business.

LVS and Adelson got halved this year

Like how can you fuck up when money was fucking FREE this past decade? I’ve already explained the problem with the model countless times.

I enjoy the hate GBCP.

[GambleBotsChafedPenis]

I need a Makers Mark and a quiet moment to savor the numbers.

If you invested in a basket of big casino stocks like the ETF BJK you would have made exactly zero in the past 7 years. This is absolutely astounding given the monumental stock market run we’ve been on.

I have been short my own little basket of beauties and see no reason to bail. Never been lower and has more to give.

CZR is dumber than the rest.

Big casinos are a dinosaur. Said it the day I started here and some of the stocks are a third of what they once were since then. MGM and that boondoggle in Boston is less than a third. Steve Wynn was a catalyst that shown a light on a bad business.

LVS and Adelson got halved this year

Like how can you fuck up when money was fucking FREE this past decade? I’ve already explained the problem with the model countless times.

I enjoy the hate GBCP.

thanks san, I knew you would appreciate the hate...haven't followed stock performance of these guys, but man that is totally fucked up in this environment to make literally 0%...

this whole thing at this point in time is that the pie isn't growing, its just getting distributed to different participants...every new casino that is opening in the northeast isn't really going to touch an unserved or underserved segment of the market since most everybody is within a drivable distance of a casino nowadays...I would have to imagine that once the boston casinos open that foxwoods/Mohegan are absolutely fucked...I obviously don't know their demos or anything, but would have to imagine that a good chunk of their business comes from boston and north instead NYC and south, because I just cant see people in NYC renting a car to go up there and if you live south of NYC you just go to some combo of sands in Bethlehem or parx or possibly AC...

im guessing you know the history of the boston stuff, but just looked and MGM opened that new tower at foxwoods in 2008...would guess that for that kinda investment that they probably used something like a 10 year DCF so theyre probably not gonna take a total bath on that tower, but wonder if they ever considered the possibility of boston getting it's shit together and building casinos...if they didn't learn from AC's stupidity when it came to PA gaming then they're fucking retarded...

you take ocean/hard rock out of these numbers for AC and they're down in gaming revenue Y/Y for the region (I know that some of that revenue for ocean/hard rock is coming from the other casinos)...will be interesting to see what happens when we have a year of clean numbers...as druff mentioned AC can't support this many casinos...thought that before these 2 casinos reopened that they needed to shutdown the shithole that is ballys and possibly one more, although the lowest hanging fruit (resorts) seems to just kinda plug along being what they are...a low rollers paradise...

man I've wasted far too much time pontificating on a place that im looking forward to burning to the ground...well maybe not all of AC, just the evil empire...

[Sanlmar]

There are guys who invested in Amazon at the beginning and saw the vision. There exists a possible unlimited upside.

The problem with my casino vision is that I am capped at zero. There is limited downside.

Had a weird analog come to mind.

In the old days flying was a big deal. A special event. Stewardesses were interviewed for appearance. They were well trained and attentive.

Free food and drink.

Druff got little wings for his blazer, a little bag and even got to meet the pilot.

People just needed to get from A to B. All that expense was... well, just an expense.

Casinos are the same. Once upon a time casino licenses were a big deal - like price regulated airfares. Now they aren’t. Casinos will multiply like rabbits - cannibal rabbits. Like Amazon it may soon also go online and gamblers will be able to get from A to B cheaper.

You see what I see GCBP.

I was playing poker in Foxwoods 2008. The Foxwoods Tower opening at that worst of all moments murdered them and they never recovered. Ironically, Foxwoods has a lot of big box retail now. The strip mall becomes a casino and the casino a strip mall.

[Sanlmar]

This is key though. Gambling & sports wagering will be bigger than ever. It just won’t be hosted by the existing big box players.

CZR & MGM are Sears & Jordan Marsh. The new company will be someone with vision who isn’t strapped by existing bad properties and debt.

[GambleBotsChafedPenis]

This is key though. Gambling & sports wagering will be bigger than ever. It just won’t be hosted by the existing big box players.

CZR & MGM are Sears & Jordan Marsh. The new company will be someone with vision who isn’t strapped by existing bad properties and debt.

never thought about this, but love it...I still think there is a place for B&M because of the table games experience...the whole tactile shit and all that...

but then again most of the revenue comes from slots anyway and there is literally no difference of doing that in your underwear at home and at a casino except for not having to drive the casino and deal with the dregs of society while at the casino...kinda sounds like something really similar to what we have seen in a certain other gambling related activity...

and that shit is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much better for the operator (and in turn the consumer)...no rent, electricity, annoying unions, annoying/expensive employees...just people to monitor cashouts and security for an online casino...I see these euros streaming their online slots and think holy shit those places must make a killing...with that whole online setup I can offer you MUCH better odds on your slotting experience because my overhead is so much less...so instead of holding 15-20% on a penny machine in a B&M environment, I can hold 10ish% (or hell maybe less) in an online environment because my overhead is so much less...I still make my money, but you get more for your entertainment dollar...

reminds me of a funny story...was taking a shit one day and came outta the stall and ran in the VP of slots for the ballys/caesars properties...nice guy, lifer in the biz...he started bitching about how corporate had his slots all jacked up with their hold...he wanted the hold to be lower so he could get more time on the machine, ya know give people more bang for their buck...we were NEVER running into a situation where the machines were so packed we needed to cycle through players so players who were waiting could play...I shook my head and agreed with him and told him that it sucked that we couldn't do anything about it...all the evil empire cared about was taking a vacuum cleaner to people's wallets as quickly as possible...bang for your buck, fuck you customer, just gimmie that money...

[Sanlmar]

Stay with me. I love this stuff.

The slot players are dying. The slot business is legacy. What is coming is video gaming. IDK if it will be HU against other players or the house.

I have done some other posts on this. The tests casinos have done so far. Skill tournaments that casinos have hosted that include everything including basketball foul shooting tournaments.

Anyway, slots and video gaming will be online. Online heads up for cash. Is this already done off shore?

So yes, slots and video gaming both online.

Bringing this full circle to CZR is the fact that they are too entrenched in the old model. They are in defensive mode. Better off dead and let something new live.

[Sanlmar]

Jesus. If we were drinking GBCP we’d close the joint. I can go on forever.

Getting back to the airline and casinos comparison.

Once deregulated, the Airlines NEVER made a profit.

Once casino licensing and sports books essentially became deregulated you can expect the same of the big casinos.

[GambleBotsChafedPenis]

Jesus. If we were drinking GBCP we’d close the joint. I can go on forever.

Getting back to the airline and casinos comparison.

Once deregulated, the Airlines NEVER made a profit.

Once casino licensing and sports books essentially became deregulated you can expect the same of the big casinos.

as long as I had woodford at minimum and a cigar or three I could talk about this shit all night...

you have a millennial, you probably know what it's like to keep her attention on shit...boring slot machines that dish out a few sticks of gum for hitting a pay line are BOOOOOOOOOORING...

you are right about the entrenchment...these are the same individuals that had a big LOL at "local gaming"...that sorta hubris is why I now live in the state that has the 2nd biggest gaming market...change wont happen until it's too late and they're broke...their idea of generating more revenue will be 25% hold on dollar slots, video poker with 90% paybacks and instead of 6:5 blackjack, 5:6 blackjack where you actually get paid worse than a normal winning hand if you get blackjack...while we're at it we might as well just start charging casino bar prices for drinks if you are gambling...fuck as long as we're here why the hell don't we just charge an admission fee...take that vacuum cleaner to the wallet...

I worked with these morons...they can't get out of their box...I aint the smartest fucker in the room, but goddamn it I can give you ideas that are at minimum well thought out with some logic...they didn't want to hear it...fuck you then...hope my ex-boss who canned me has to resort to sucking dick for money after they go under...ESAD...

edit: maybe im wrong about the entrenchment...the shithole I worked for was entrenched...maybe MGM/WYNN have forward thinkers...the evil empire's response to any bottom line shortfall was to either raise prices or trim expenses...never a thought about trying to increase the market...increasing prices or decreasing expenses is the path of least resistance...it's easy, the low hanging fruit...increasing the market, that's hard...that requires work...work is hard...

[Dan Druff]

From my vast experience with the Evil Empire as a customer, I found that their biggest problem is extremely poor synergy between departments.

That's a chronic problem with all big companies, but the Evil Empire has it to an extreme. "The left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing" is very applicable here, except in this case it's more like, "No part of the body knows what any other part of the body is doing, and isn't curious to learn."

I have countless laughable stories over the past 7 years where I had to actually advise one department how to solve an issue with another department. There would be some problem affecting me (usually resulting in missing RCs, an incorrect bill, or a food comp which inexplicably isn't working), and after 30+ minutes of wrangling and head shaking between employees of two departments, I finally intervene and say, "Maybe try XXXX to fix this" or "This is happening because YYYY" or "You're probably doing ZZZZ, but it won't work for reason UUUU, so try XXXX instead."

Sure enough, they try my suggestion, and they realize I'm 100% right. I'm always amazed at how frequent it is that I know more about solving their issues than they do.

This compartmentalized thinking extends to the entire company. They rarely think of the big picture. One department rarely thinks about how it will negatively impact another department, or how it will hurt the company as a whole. I see ridiculous and maddening nickel-and-diming, confusing and contradictory policies, overbudgeting certain areas while drastically underbudgeting others, and tremendous inefficiencies.

BTW, speaking of Ocean in AC, that place has been a gigantic fail, and they've also been a model of incompetence and inefficiency operations-wise. Several friends of mine have visited the place and were left scratching their heads after what they saw there.

It always amuses me how many clueless people work in the casino industry.

[GambleBotsChafedPenis]

sounds about right for the evil empire...like I literally had very little clarity about what the fuck was going on marketing wise in AC as far as spend and effectiveness and all that shit...woulda been a good thing to know being that I was in finance and all...was like trying to pull teeth to get any of the marketing people to send any numbers to us, if they ever indeed sent shit (which was rare)…

I could be off on this series of events, but I think this is a pretty accurate and quick post-revel history...they were bought by that whack job property developer jack straub, who is based in florida for like $90M...he wanted to put like equestrian tracks and shit in the hotel (LOL equestrian tracks in fucking AC) and make it some like destination, not just for gambling but for activities and the like...outside of the equestrian idea which is just fucking moronic, ill give him credit for thinking outside the box even though it wouldn't work in a million years in AC because everybody from philly and NYC aint going to AC to just "hang out", ever...he got dicked around by the state and by creditors of the power plant that was a separate entity from revel (I think revel had it's own power plant for some odd ass reason and that was a separate entity from the bankrupt casino or some bullshit and they were suing revel to get backed payments) and after a couple of years just said 'fuck it' and he sold it for like $120-150M to some Colorado land developer/property owner who had no prior casino experience...

so not surprising that ocean is a mess...AC is really not the market you want to be in if you have no prior experience in the casino biz...plus im guessing that unless ocean poached from competitors that a decent chunk of the people are green to AC as well...again you are fighting tooth and nail for customers...you better goddamn sure know what the fuck you are doing at day like negative 60, not day 0...

[Sanlmar]

Caesar’s set a new low this morning. Lol, the day before Christmas

52 week high $14.50
52 week low $5.83

All the casinos are drilling new lows to be fair.

Druff and his customer service stories, while entertaining, have filled me with the notion he really doesn’t understand the core problem with the industry.

Here’s a clue: It ain’t customer service.

If they pissed on your leg, Druff, you’d still come... and you do. If you had to bring your own cards you’d still come.

Think Costco model of gambling. Couple premium offerings but I’m charging you a membership or entrance fee for the amenities. Very few will pay for it and that’s fine.

Druff will elect the Costco option. The math will be correct for both customer and vendor

Was looking at New England casino results. Every casino both brand new and legacy are down with slots. Cannibals & idiots

Merry Christmas GBCP

[Sanlmar]

Why in the fuck would Wynn build a $2.5b casino with chandeliers, art and marble bathrooms and then run a bus service from the hood with match play and buffet coupons?

There is an answer. It has a lot to do with license approval but that doesn’t make it a good investment.

Licenses will be more frequent and have less value going forward. Wynn-style deals will be viewed as a legacy mistake.

[GambleBotsChafedPenis]

Caesar’s set a new low this morning. Lol, the day before Christmas

52 week high $14.50
52 week low $5.83

All the casinos are drilling new lows to be fair.

Druff and his customer service stories, while entertaining, have filled me with the notion he really doesn’t understand the core problem with the industry.

Here’s a clue: It ain’t customer service.

If they pissed on your leg, Druff, you’d still come... and you do. If you had to bring your own cards you’d still come.

Think Costco model of gambling. Couple premium offerings but I’m charging you a membership or entrance fee for the amenities. Very few will pay for it and that’s fine.

Druff will elect the Costco option. The math will be correct for both customer and vendor

Was looking at New England casino results. Every casino both brand new and legacy are down with slots. Cannibals & idiots

Merry Christmas GBCP

Merry Christmas to you too, San...

While we both agree that customer service isn't the issue for the industry, it's just a lack of awareness specifically to the evil empire...

Gimmie a reason to go to AC when I'm living in philly...separate yourselves...you can't do it by gaming or food or beverage or hotel (my bed is free to sleep in) or sportsbetting (lol)...maybe I get such good service that im willing to make the drive...hey it's a really flimsy argument, but that's all I got for what I can do to get asses in the seats...

I don't profess to know the ins and outs of the evil empires shitty 7* program, but guessing druff is the lowest level 7* because he doesn't chunk off thousands upon thousands in the pits/slots...during the non-peak season in AC they should be kissing his ass...maybe he wont give much play, but like I said in an earlier post, ballys aint having 7*s just randomly show up in the off-peak season during weekdays...

service is such a HUGE thing in the evil empire...we had weekly service meetings...I got dragged in to the fucking stupid ass things because I designed their service reports...I traded options while I was in the meetings...hour a week I wasn't getting back...service was celebrated while financial metrics were brushed aside...guess you have to celebrate shit to keep morale up for the front line employees while the empire is burning all around you...i would just sit there and wonder what the point of all this was...show me how this is translating to the bottom line...wonder if Borgata was doing this shit...they were kicking the shit outta the empire every month...the empire wanted to be them...I literally have an infinitely better shot of having an orgy with a bunch of hot pornstars than they do of that ever coming close to the Borgata...

this doesn't really have anything to do with the discussion of the industry's problems overall, just another anecdote from the fail that is the evil empire in AC...

[GambleBotsChafedPenis]

hey san, thought you would like this one...

so every now and then ill watch some euros stream slots...trying to figure out their whole model...affiliates, providers, etc...how do we make $$ on this? seems like the affiliate game is a strong game if you can build up a base...

anyway, saw this pop up before one of the games...96.76% RTP...better than most VP machines in brick and mortar casinos...just slightly better than the ~85% you get off the 1,000 line penny machines that have popped up everywhere...buildings, electricity, unions are expense...servers, web security, payment processors aren't...was stunned...96.76% return...sounds like i can get a lotta bang for my entertainment dollar...