Photo credit: AP ** ADVANCE FOR USE MONDAY, AUG. 31, 2009 **They may be the company's only option for expansion as it continues to struggle with massive debt, which it reported at $12.36 billion as of June 30.
Yesterday, the Manshatucket Pequot Tribal Nation in Connecticut was reported to be on the brink of default and trying to restructure $2.3 billion in debt. The tribe operates Foxwoods Resort Casino, the country's largest.
Crown’s net loss was A$788 million ($651 million) in the six months ended June, compared with a loss of A$76 million a year earlier. The result was derived by subtracting first-half earnings from the record A$1.2 billion full-year loss the Melbourne-based company reported today.
Chairman James Packer led a $3 billion expansion into North American since 2006, a move Chief Executive Officer Rowen Craigie described today as “ill-timed.” Gambling on the Las Vegas Strip slumped 15 percent in the 12 months ended June, according to the Nevada Gaming Control Board, with Crown writing down the value of four investments to zero.
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Cannery, Stations, Harrah’s
Earnings before items for the past year fell 24 percent to A$280.7 million with the company paying a final dividend of 19 cents.
Crown cut 88 percent off the value of its investment in Cannery Casino Resorts LLC and wrote off its holdings in Stations Casinos, Harrah’s Entertainment Inc, Canada’s Gateway Casino Income Fund and Fontainebleau Resorts LLC.
The casino owner scrapped plans to buy all of Cannery, which has venues in Nevada and Pennsylvania, for $1.75 billion in March, instead paying $320 million for an investment that converts to an equity stake of 24.5 percent.
“Crown considers it is likely that Cannery’s Las Vegas casinos will be affected by the U.S. recession for some time,” the company said. “In addition, the original projections for the new permanent Meadows Casino in Pittsburgh have been adversely impacted by the onset of the U.S. recession.”
That's the 18th straight month of losses in that revenue, a new record no one wanted to reach. You can read the entire report on the Gaming Control Board's website.
... lottery income has declined drastically, affected not only by the economy but also a state smoking ban that has driven gambling players to seek their entertainment at tribal casinos, which are untouched by the smoking laws.
Their solution? 2500 slot machines in bars.
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Twin River has handed out layoff notices to 9 full-time employees and 18 part-time workers in anticipation of Saturday’s scheduled suspension of dog racing at the Lincoln track.
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In June, following months of economic woes, Twin River operator UTGR Inc., a BLB subsidiary, filed for federal bankruptcy protection, seeking to reorganize the slot parlor’s operations, because the company was struggling to meet its debt-service obligations of $589 million in loans.
Colorado casinos took the second-largest revenue hit in the industry in 2008 with a 12.3 percent drop, according to a new report by the American Gaming Association.
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Only Illinois suffered a bigger drop with a 20.9 percent decline. The American Gaming Association attributed the states’ struggles, in part, to smoking bans that took effect last year.
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The Seneca Gaming Corp. reported a quarterly loss of $82.7 million in its latest filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the first quarterly loss since the gambling operation began in 2002, when it opened its first casino in Niagara Falls.
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The gambling operation has drastically cut costs since the economy started siphoning off its steady flow of customers, part of a nationwide slump in gambling revenues.
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The Seneca casinos earlier cut their work force by 5 percent, froze executive salaries and reduced the amount of money paid to the Seneca Nation in the form of head leases for the casino properties.
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But it was the $109 million write-off that did the most damage to the gambling operation’s bottom line in this quarter.
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Seneca Gaming wrote off $87 million for the Buffalo operation, $18 million for Salamanca and $3.5 million for Niagara Falls.
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It sounds like a House of Cards waiting to fall.
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