Here’s the thing about gambling: One slot machine is just as good as the next, the only thing customers really contemplate is the always elusive payout.
Therefore, a new casino across the State Line in Kansas City, Kansas probably spells doom for at least one local gambling den. Up till now, local gambling addicts have been a captive audience and casino offerings have been tragically similar. The buffets are all mediocre, the cocktail waitresses look as if they’re recovering from a fight and the overall vibe seems like what Vegas might have been during the early 80’s S&L Scandal inspired recession.
I hate to say it but at least the plans for the new KCK “Hollywood” Casino look slightly more upscale than what KCMO has to offer.
So, one by one lets look at local casinos and see if they have what it takes to withstand competition:
Admittedly, The Isle of Capri is Kansas City’s “Ghetto” casino. The buffet is more like a soup kitchen and I hate to admit that I feel more at home among their crowd that’s predominantly comprised of people of color wasting cash they can’t afford to lose. Still, their market is based more on location (next to a major highway ramp) and a strange minority demographic appeal than any other factor. This place is my pick to hold steady.
The Argosy is the Northland’s favorite and might weather the storm too. The castle in the Northland is well hidden with a regular clientele that knows those strange backwoods highways by Parkville so their odds are good.
Ameristar is normally like a tomb whenever I’ve been there. They’ve already traded ownership once so I think they could be sweating a new player in the local gaming market. This casino has the worst location of all the KC gambling dens in what seems like an industrial district. They’ve managed to stay afloat with a decent theater and music attractions. But undoubtedly, the KCK development could thin out the weekday crowd.
More than any other KC Casino Harrah’s seems like it has the most to lose from KCK getting into the gambling game. At this point their entertainment options never really came through and went bust thanks to a messy sex crime case and a young Asian crowd massive brawl outside of The Voodoo
jojo
wrong again tony. Like always your opinions about
anything dealing with business is off.
The one who stand to lose most is argosy.
They are closest to the kck casino and have the
smallest base of customers to draw from.
that said harrahs and ameristar have spent millions adding and rewarding players. That’s
because the good players will not move because
of the perks and the rewards programs that have
kept them as customers.
The kck casion expects to draw heavily from
Johnson County and other areas of kansas.
They will kill the small casino in downtown
kck. they have a straight shot from joco
and thats atrractive to players who don’t want
to travel thru the “ghetto” to play.
Take the joco millions…add that to the
argosy’s base….bring in with special events
the harrahs and ameristar crowd…add in the
millions of people who already frequent the
area….the shoppers at nebraska furniture mart
who can buy a sofa on credit and blow their
cash at the craps tables…the huge crowds that
will be coming to the raceway (i think they’ve
added 2 extra race weekends) for those events..
then add in your 250,000 brothers who will
find the kck casino closer and friendlier.
The people building this are not stupid.
They’ve done their research…they are getting
ready to steal all the good employees from the
other casinos with higher pay…they won’thave
the riff raft of the other casions and they
tap into the joco market.
Mr. Anderson
for once jojo has a point despite the fact that his spelling is worse than yours Tony.
C
Argosy will probably go down first. I believe that Penn Gaming is involved with the KCK casino, and that’s who is also running Argosy (I’m pretty sure). I hope they fix their mistakes so that they can keep the KS crowd..or I’ll be making the longer trek to Harrahs as usual.
Wish they’d just move Ameristar over here! 🙂