Have we reached saturation?
There seems to be increasing evidence that domestic gaming will be a slow growth industry at best. We will have a series of posts highlighting a fairly negative long-term thesis for US casino operators.
The following chart paints a bleak picture for domestic casinos. Not only has domestic same-store growth been virtually nonexistent, but new markets have failed to grow the overall pie. The big gap between same-store and total growth is disconcerting. Following the onset of PA gambling, the gap widened significantly as markets such as Atlantic City and Connecticut lost share. In Q4 2011, the gap was driven primarily by the opening of the Rivers casino in Illinois and Resorts World NY as well as new casinos in MD and IA earlier in the year.
