As George Bush 41 learned in 1992 it’s the Economy stupid. It was true then and it is true for the gaming industry today. We recently spoke with Grant Coverson of Union Gaming Group who gave us his view of  the gaming industry;

” a lot of people kind of considered gaming to be more or less recession proof. Obviously, that is not the case and, especially with this consumer-led recession, it’s really crushed gaming, especially in Las Vegas. There are a couple different dynamics here: You have Las Vegas, the US outside Vegas and then Asia. Vegas has been hit particularly hard. It’s always been a destination -  you’ve got to get on a plane, you’ve got to get a hotel room, etc., and what’s happened over the past year-plus is that if you happen to live in, say, Chicago, you’re now more likely to go to a riverboat in the suburbs and gamble there rather than jump on to a plane and come to Vegas. It’s a convenience factor. So in other words, the regions or the riverboats have outperformed Las Vegas and continue to do so. “

Is this where we insert some sort of pun about what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas ? Sorry to disappoint but no pun here just the facts. And the facts seem to point to a rough patch for gaming that may take 5 to 10 years for recovery.

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This entry was posted on Monday, August 17th, 2009 at 9:06 pm and is filed under Industrial & Services Stocks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.