Maryland Live Back over the Top After Using Wind Out of MGM Nationwide Harbor’s Sails

Maryland Live is once again the top casino in their state after the Arundel Mills resort generated more gaming revenue during the thirty days of February than its new rival MGM National Harbor.
Maryland Live, billed as the family friendly casino compared to MGM National Harbor, saw the gambling money that is most 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 grand opening of National Harbor led up 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 just outside Washington, DC, at $45.77 million. The two casinos represented the lion’s share of gaming earnings, 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. 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 Results
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 month that is shortest of the season, but the information also highlights lots of concerns for Maryland gaming.
Excluding MGM’s $1.4 billion resort, gambling was actually down more than 11 per cent. And while Maryland Live is championing its February success, in truth the casino amassed 14.3 percent less revenue year-over-year.
February Maryland Live’s $46.29 million is down $7.72 million compared to last. And conditions couldn’t are riper for strong revenues, as the month ended up being certainly 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 remained competitive from the behemoth outside of DC in Oxford Hill. Live and nationwide 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 the 17-story resort tower with 310 guest spaces summer that is last. MGM National Harbor offers 308 hotel rooms.
National Harbor Underwater?
MGM’s latest casino to start in america was downright packed during its starting month. The resort asked would-be visitors to stay away unless they had a reservation.
Just 3 months later, enthusiasm and excitement has seemingly calmed.
In the opening days, a nightly stay at the resort ran between $399 and $599. But midweek prices are now because low as $229, though weekends are still in the prior range.
MGM likely isn’t too worried about the February gaming report. While Live continues to fret on the competition, MGM CEO Jim Murren has over repeatedly stated that the house seeks to be a destination resort for not merely gamblers but also visitors towards the nation’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 whenever an approaching train collided with the charter vehicle. (Image: Kevin McGill/Associated Press)
The event occurred in Biloxi after the bus reportedly became stuck while wanting to get a cross train songs. Moments later, a freight train traveling at boosts to 45 MPH collided with the bus and pushed it some 300 foot before coming to a stop.
According to local reports, the bus was touring regional casinos in Mississippi and Louisiana.
During the time associated with crash, the coach had been traveling from the Hollywood Gulf Coast Casino in Bay St. Louis to the Boomtown Casino in Biloxi. That’s about one 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 associated with the victims, and whether the driver was one of the fatalities, was not released.
Charter Gambling
The casino bus crash comes lower than five months after a California gambling trip ended in tragedy. In October, 13 passengers aboard a tour coach were killed after the driver slammed in to the straight back of a 18-wheeler semi-truck on Interstate 10 near Palm Springs.
In that incident, 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 businesses and regional casinos frequently reach agreements where gambling establishments provide slot money to passengers arriving on certain charters and pay the coach company a little stipend that is per-customer.
This is why busses like the main one involved in the Palm Springs accident drive great lengths, passing multiple casinos into the process, to reach at a location like Red Earth.
Growing Concern
After last fall’s tragedy in California, the National Transportation protection 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 people. But fatalities aboard chartered busses are still relatively uncommon contrasted to many 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 fatalities.
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 coach charter companies is required.
In 2013, the NTSB publicly scolded inspectors at the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) for failing to detect evident and safety that is significant 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 permitted to continue operating . . . until they had crashes that are deadly’ the NTSB said 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 casino that is tribal sovereign tribal lands.
Ken Salazar, former US Secretary to the 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, that 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 utilizing the Mashantucket Pequots and Mohegans, which run the Foxwoods and Mohegan Casinos in south Connecticut, which may cost hawaii billions within the long run.
MGM is desperate to stop Connecticut’s plans to just establish a casino 13 kilometers south of this MGM Springfield, currently under construction across the border in Massachusetts.
The Connecticut casino has been conceived purely as a method to blunt MGM Springfield’s competitive edge up against the cleopatra: last of the pharaohs slot Connecticut casino sector also to protect Connecticut jobs.
MGM has made no key of the truth that it expects a big 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 need to pass a law permitting the two tribes, known collectively as MMCT, to operate the state’s first ever casino outside tribal lands. The tribes would be the only entities permitted by legislation to operate casinos in the state.
MGM has sued Connecticut on the grounds that this is unconstitutional and in violation of the Commerce Clause because it bars out-of-state rivals from contending to produce casinos in the state, discriminating, says MGM, in favor of the two tribes.
The casino giant also attempted to have an amendment added to a federal defense bill that would have forbidden indigenous American tribes from running casinos within their home state outside their reservations nonetheless it was scuttled by vigilant congressman from Connecticut.
However the question of legality lingers, and last week Governor Malloy requested that their state AG George Jepsen prepare an official viewpoint regarding the legal ramifications of the proposal and to gauge the probability 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 % revenue share that has existed between the state and the tribes for two decades are going to be threatened, regardless of the fact that MMCT has proposed amendments to your agreements that would ensure the payments to the state wouldn’t normally 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 throughout the Obama Administration,’ 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 will never receive the requisite approval, by which case Connecticut’s entitlement to the 25-percent revenue flow may likely terminate.’
AN MMCT spokesman ended up being unmoved by the articles of the letter. ‘MGM is willing to pay anyone and everybody else to stop our task from going forward because they know our proposal will probably keep revenue and jobs in Connecticut,’ he said.
Glenn Straub Ups Attacks on Atlantic City, Says New Jersey ‘Rapes’ Organizations
Glenn Straub claims whenever you come to nj-new Jersey, business owners ‘have to take all your clothing off’ and allow their state to take full advantage. ‘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 a new comer to Atlantic City, but that doesn’t mean the Florida-based businessman will probably play by New Jersey’s guidelines. (Image: Atlantic City Primetime)
Yep, Straub just went there. The developer that is florida-based officially eliminated any politically correct buffer he might have had in describing Atlantic City. Speaking using the Associated Press, Straub lambasted the government and casino regulators in the Garden State.
Expected why he isn’t ready to play by the rules which have been set forth, such as taking part in the program that is PILOT re payment in lieu of fees), Straub replied, ‘I’d be broke. They’re trying to create me do exactly 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 series of fights with their state’s Casino Control Commission (CCC) and Atlantic City’s local leaders.
Straub argues he doesn’t require a casino license since he’s going to be leasing their gambling floor to a third-party that is presently in the act of obtaining a CCC permit.
But that does not stick 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 space.
Layers of Bureaucracy
Straub’s frustrations aren’t out of the norm when it comes to business that is doing 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 incoming owners are often confused as to which agency is truly in charge. Muddying the procedure may 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 help owners navigate the complex burdens. The controversial mayor who is during the center of the state’s takeover of this local federal government says he regularly meets with owners who have invested at the least $1 million in the city.