
Maryland Live is once again the top casino in hawaii following the Arundel Mills resort generated more gaming revenue during the month of February than its new rival MGM National Harbor.
Maryland Live, billed as the family friendly casino in comparison to MGM National Harbor, saw the most gambling money come through its doors during February.
Collectively, the state’s six gambling enterprises pulled in $128.7 million in gross gaming win, Maryland’s second-best all-time performance. The record mark came in December after the grand opening of National Harbor led up to a victory 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, while the Casino at Ocean Downs, posted a combined $14.6 million.
The Cordish Companies, the parent organization of Live that is headquartered in Maryland, credited its ‘family approach’ for the property retaking the spot that is top. In a statement the group additionally says being locally owned allows it to provide a better experience to clients, in what’s certainly a slight jab at MGM.
Mixed Results
The February gambling report represents a 38 percent increase on the month that is same 2016. Casinos took $35.4 million additional money during the shortest month of the season, but the data also highlights plenty of issues for Maryland gaming.
Excluding MGM’s $1.4 billion resort, gambling was actually down more than 11 per cent. 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 couldn’t are riper for strong profits, as the month was one of the warmest on record.
Since MGM announced its plans to build nationwide Harbor, Maryland Live has been scrambling to make sure its property stayed competitive against the behemoth outside of DC in Oxford Hill. Live and National 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 summer that is last. MGM National Harbor offers 308 hotel rooms.
National Harbor Underwater?
MGM’s latest casino to open in the US had been downright packed during its opening month. The resort asked visitors that are would-be stay away unless they’d a reservation.
Just three months later, enthusiasm and excitement has seemingly calmed.
A nightly stay at the hotel ran between $399 and $599 in the opening weeks. But midweek prices are now because low as $229, though weekends are still in the range that is prior.
MGM likely isn’t too concerned with the February gaming report. While Live continues to fret on the competition, MGM CEO Jim Murren has over and over stated that the home seeks to be a destination resort for not just gamblers but also visitors towards the nation’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 allegedly became stuck on a railroad track, and tragedy struck whenever an approaching train collided with the charter vehicle. (Image: Kevin McGill/Associated Press)
The incident occurred in Biloxi after the bus reportedly became stuck while attempting to cross train songs. Moments later, a freight train traveling at increases to 45 MPH collided with the bus and forced it some 300 legs before coming to an end.
According to reports that are local the coach was touring regional casinos in Mississippi and Louisiana.
The bus was traveling from the Hollywood Gulf Coast Casino in Bay St. Louis to the Boomtown Casino in Biloxi at the time of the crash. That is about an hour’s drive east.
The weeklong excursion was 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 regarding the victims, and whether the driver was one of the fatalities, was not released.
Charter Gambling
The casino bus crash comes significantly less than five months after a California gambling trip ended in tragedy. In October, 13 passengers aboard a trip coach were killed after the driver slammed to the back of a 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 organizations and regional casinos frequently reach agreements where gambling establishments provide slot money to people arriving on certain charters and pay the bus company a tiny stipend that is per-customer.
This is why busses like the main one involved in the Palm Springs accident drive lengths that are great passing multiple casinos in the process, to arrive at a location like Red Earth.
Growing Concern
After last fall’s tragedy in California, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) confirmed that the rise of casino bus accidents was a serious 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 remain relatively uncommon contrasted to 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 oversight that is stringent of charter companies becomes necessary.
In 2013, the NTSB publicly scolded inspectors during the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) for failing to detect evident and significant safety problems on busses that passed inspections.
‘Our investigators unearthed 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 Interior under Barack Obama, has warned Connecticut governor Dannel Malloy over ‘legal dangers’ in regards to the state’s proposition to permit the construction of a tribal casino outside 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 brand new casino handle the Mohegan and Mashantucket tribes. (Image: Politico.com)
Salazar, who is a paid up consultant for MGM Resorts International, informed the governor that the proposed ‘satellite’ casino could jeopardize the state’s revenue-sharing agreements aided by the Mashantucket Pequots and Mohegans, which run the Foxwoods and Mohegan Casinos in south Connecticut, which could cost hawaii billions in the run that is long.
MGM is desperate to halt Connecticut’s plans to just establish a casino 13 miles south of the MGM Springfield, presently under construction throughout the border in Massachusetts.
The Connecticut casino has been conceived solely 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 key of the fact that it expects a large percentage of footfall because of its own casino that is new come from Connecticut residents.
Borderline Legal
The satellite casino is controversial plan because the Connecticut legislature will have to pass a law permitting the two tribes, understood collectively as MMCT, to run 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 since it bars rivals that are out-of-state competing to produce casinos within the state, discriminating, claims MGM, in favor of the 2 tribes.
The casino giant even attempted to obtain an amendment added up to a federal defense bill that would have prohibited Native American tribes from running casinos inside their home state outside their reservations nonetheless it was scuttled by vigilant congressman from Connecticut.
But the question of legality lingers, and last week Governor Malloy requested that their state AG George Jepsen prepare a formal viewpoint in the legal ramifications of the proposition and to gauge the odds of MGM successfully blocking it into the courts.
Substantial Danger
Salazar’s intervention on behalf of MGM, then, is well-timed. Composing in an open letter addressed to Malloy, dated March 7, he writes that the 25 % revenue share which has existed between the state and also the tribes for 2 decades will be threatened, despite the fact that MMCT has proposed amendments towards the agreements that could guarantee the payments to the state will never stop.
‘Under federal law … amendments to a tribal gaming compact 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), in my opinion there is a substantial danger that the tribe’s proposed amendments would not receive the requisite approval, in which case Connecticut’s entitlement to the 25-percent income stream would probably terminate.’
AN MMCT spokesman ended up being unmoved by the contents of this letter. ‘MGM is willing to cover anyone and every person to stop our task from going ahead because they know our proposal is going to keep income and jobs in Connecticut,’ he said.
Glenn Straub Ups Attacks on Atlantic City, Says New Jersey ‘Rapes’ Businesses
Glenn Straub claims when you come to New Jersey, business owners ‘have to take all your clothes off’ and allow the state to take advantage that is full. ‘They do not know how to maybe not rape you,’ he opined.
Glenn Straub (middle), seen right here at a Casino Control Commission meeting last month, is new to Atlantic City, but that doesn’t mean the Florida-based businessman is going to play by 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 using the Associated Press, Straub lambasted the national government and casino regulators in the Garden State.
Expected why he isn’t ready to play by the principles that have been set forth, such as playing the program that is PILOT re payment in lieu of taxes) cleopatra slot machine for sale, Straub replied, ‘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 make, 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 going to be leasing their gambling flooring to a third-party that is presently along the way of obtaining a CCC permit.
But that does not follow Atlantic City laws. Morris Bailey received a license on their behalf for his Resorts Casino despite also hiring a vendor to operate the gaming room.
Layers of Bureaucracy
Straub’s frustrations aren’t from the norm regarding doing business in Atlantic City. The beachfront gambling town is infamous for the 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 truly in charge. Muddying the process could be the known fact that the city itself is responsible for building inspections and infrastructure jobs.
Mayor Don Guardian (R) is trying to assist owners navigate the complex burdens. The controversial mayor who is at the center associated with state’s takeover of the regional federal government claims he regularly meets with owners who have invested at the least $1 million in the city.