wich casino sank in Buloxi?

[steamboatin]

Larry King Live said one of the casinos broke apart and sank.

[UATrewqaz]

I would say boo hoo for the casino but I'm sure they are insured out the yin-yang.

[cwsiggy]

from a news posting....

The Hard Rock Casino on Casino Row in Biloxi, which was scheduled to open next week, will have to be rebuilt. The superstructure was severely damaged.

Jim Cramer just recommended Penn gaming stock interestingly enough today. Dont know if they have gaming interests in Buloxi though....

[neotope]

Penn National Gaming is mostly known for owning Penn National Race Course, at least to me a native of Pennsylvania. Penn National Gaming does own Boomtown in Biloxi.

[cwsiggy]

They are acquiring Argosy for 2.2 billion, though the Government vote on the deal was delayed.

[MicroBob]

I saw Cramer's take on Penn today and I think he is slightly off.

I don't know if they are the only game in town in Aurora, Ill....but he also half-indicated that ALL of their properties are pretty much big fish in little ponds and this simply isn't true.

Hollywood in Tunica is hardly a big fish. It is one of the small-fish.
There are 9 casinos in Tunica and the Hollywood is definitely in the bottom-half of that group.
They might still be profitable there....dealers I know there indicate that they cut corners as best they can to save a buck here or there.

but Kramer's idea that Penn is simply in the market of scoring the tennyest markets possible isn't accurate.

It ain't as big as Vegas and I think he's probably correct that it's tough to win over any new market with the big mega-casinos in vegas (and that the amount of money you are putting into it makes it a bigger risk).

I would be curious if his take on Hollywood in Aurora is correct...because it certainly wouldn't apply to their Tunica property.

[DrewOnTilt]

[ QUOTE ]
Hollywood in Tunica is hardly a big fish. It is one of the small-fish.


[/ QUOTE ]

I wouldn't even be that nice to it. I would call it a smelly fish in a big pond. It is one of the worst casinos I have ever visited for reasons too numerous to mention.

[MicroBob]

i agree (and fwiw - I know a few blackjack/roulette dealers there who would also agree)

but Kramer was plugging Penn as this ultra-strategic gaming corporation that always puts in 'decent but not great' casinos in areas where they can practically own the town.

This is very obviously not true for them in Tunica or Biloxi.

I was REALLY unimpressed with Kramer's 'spin' on this. He's either pretty ignorant about a couple aspects of this company or he is just plain lying.
Since he was promoting this company so heavily I think it's pretty irresponsible WHICHEVER ONE is true.

[MicroBob]

I want to clarify again that I don't know whether or not this company is profitable or is a good investment or not.
Just pointing out that Kramer really seemed to be misrepresenting them on this one.


Also - I'm remembering living in Hattiesburg in 1996 and occasionally heading to Gulfport and a couple other casinos down there.
There was a Hollywood casino that I think was in Bay St. Louis, MS at the time. It was exactly like the current Hollywood casino in Tunica. Don't know if Penn owned it back in 1996....but it was the worst-run and emptyest casino I have ever been in.
It was a stupid place to put a casino...and I think they might have just closed up shop shortly thereafter.


I don't think it is THAT hard to make money in the casino industry.
Set up a bunch of -EV games and take your customers' money.
But my experience with them is that their casinos are not that well-run and that the management that is employed there is grossly incompetent.

Even that doesn't mean that this group can't be profitable. They probably are.
But I would just be skeptical of an organization that seems to have so much obvious incompetence within their ranks.

[Randy_Refeld]

[ QUOTE ]
Don't know if Penn owned it back in 1996...

[/ QUOTE ]

Penn aquired Hollywood in 2002.