The Majestic Star ...

... b. Dec. 20, 2006, d. July 10, 2008.

What are they going to call this thing, now that Don Barden and his Majestic Star name brand have given up majority control of the casino on the North Shore? We're open to suggestions -- drop a line at btoland@post-gazette.com

... The good news, via the Busman's Holiday, is that the new casino ownership team will be bound to the arena funding agreement that Mr. Barden made, or at least it seems that way: "As part of the proposed transaction, Holdings will honor the conditions of the licensure imposed on PITG, [including] obligations to citizens of Pittsburgh."

Here's the story from the P-G's Mark Belko:

"Nearly 19 months after winning Pittsburgh's sole slots license on his birthday, Don Barden is giving up control of his North Shore casino as part of a deal to secure a critical piece of financing. Mr. Barden is surrendering control to Walton Street Capital Fund 6, an investment firm co-founded by Chicago billionaire Neil Bluhm, and affiliated investors under an arrangement detailed before the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board yesterday. As part of the deal, Walton Street [will] hold a 75 percent interest in the casino. Mr. Barden will be left with 25 percent, although he will have a chance to increase his share in the future ... The latest deal is bittersweet for Mr. Barden, who shocked many in Pittsburgh and the gambling world by winning the license for the city's casino in December 2006 over two better known and well-financed opponents."

"Well-financed" being the key term in that sentence, I believe. The Station Square location may not have been ideal, but it's hard to imagine that Forrest City and Harrah's would have had such a difficult time lining up the money for the casino.

... says Three Rivers Poker:

"I tell ya, Ravenstahl's got to be [taking a big dookie] in his Underoos about now. Pittsburgh needs the Majestic Star to be a glittering North Shore jewel, complete with packed restaurants, varied shopping options and that fancy river amphitheatre, not some ugly multi-story hunk of concrete that sits lifeless on the river while inside those jonesing for just one more pull on the slot machine fork over their paychecks. Who would you trust in making sure it's the former and not the latter -- the gung-ho businessman who you can look in the eye and remind of the promises he made or the faceless real-estate-fund operators who really just want to recoup their $120 million investment?"

Dispatches from the north

More bad news for another would-be casino operator in Pennsylvania:

"The state Gaming Control Board yesterday denied Centaur Inc.'s request for a temporary slots license so it could start building Valley View Downs, a $425 million racetrack/casino in Lawrence County. Centaur Chief Executive Officer Rod Ratcliff, joined by lawyers Adrian King and William Lamb, told the board that time is critical because Centaur could lose the financing for the project unless it has a conditional, or temporary, license by Tuesday. Mr. King, of Ballard Spahr in Philadelphia, is a former top aide to Gov. Ed Rendell, and Mr. Lamb is a former state Supreme Court justice. 'We are clearly disappointed with today's decision,' said Valley View spokeswoman Susan Kilkenny. 'We will continue to work with our lenders to find a solution that will position us to bring this opportunity to Western Pennsylvania.'"

... That's not what Pennsylvania Real Estate Investement Trust wanted to hear, because it stands to make a mint on the deal:

"PREIT, which owns the Beaver Valley Mall, was initially to develop the Centaur casino at its preferred Beaver County site, and now is in line to be the main developer of the Lawrence County track. [But a 2007 compromise between Centaur and the Carmen Shick family meant] 'PREIT has waived and terminated its rights to purchase the property contemplated for the racetrack and casino or to purchase an alternative location, and its right to ground-lease such site to Valley View,' the SEC documents say. But there's a consolation prize: 'In consideration of PREIT's waiver and termination, Valley View [will pay] PREIT $57 million over nine years, payable $250,000 per month from March 1, 2010 to February 1, 2019, plus a final payment of $30 million payable on March 1, 2019,' according to the SEC documents."

Not a bad payday.

... The Trib-Review says the whole deal may go up in smoke as a result.

... Before we vilify Barden and Centaur (whoops, too late), we'll once again remind you that this is an industry-wide phenomenon, and while it's more likely to affect the intermediate operators, some big players are feeling the effects, too:

"In Atlantic City, N.J., developers of the $2 billion Revel casino and hotel are seeking financial help from the city, which will consider floating bonds, and Pinnacle Entertainment Inc. is questioning whether the wisdom of borrowing money for its $1 billion-plus casino project on the site of the razed Sands Hotel Casino. Casino companies have lost billions in market value. The falling share price of Penn National Gaming Inc. helped tank the nearly $6 billion purchase of one of the nation's largest casino companies by a private equity firm last week. Indian casinos are not immune, either: The huge Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut recently laid off workers because of rising gas and food prices."

... And it's not just that the borrowing window has closed. Investors and players have soured, too:

"Casino stocks were battered again Thursday, with shares of the big players scraping to multiyear lows on the back of news of a precipitous drop in Nevada's gambling revenue ... On the Las Vegas Strip, [total] gambling revenue fell 16.4% -- the largest decline yet in 2008, and one that is at an increasing rate as quarter-to-date revenues for the Strip are off 9%."

Dispatches from the east

Atlantic City had one decent month, but a bad June is foreboding:

"A nasty June swoon at the resort's 11 casinos could be evidence that Atlantic City is heading for a second straight down year in terms of revenue. The gambling halls took in $373.6 million in June, an 11 percent decrease over the same month a year ago. Only one of the 11 casinos saw revenues increase last month, and of the losers, eight posted double-digit declines. [Experts] say the size of the decline may be too steep to be offset by July and August crowds -- traditionally the busiest months of the year in Atlantic City. [Challenges] facing Atlantic City include the expansion of gambling halls in Connecticut, continued competition from Pennsylvania slots parlors, high gas prices, and a partial smoking ban that will become a total ban in September."

... Guest commentary from the Inky, Part 1:

"Any public support that still exists for the Foxwoods and SugarHouse casinos at their proposed [riverfront] locations in South Philadelphia and Fishtown, respectively, is running out faster than a slots player goes through a fistful of quarters. Now the question is whether the governor is willing to use his considerable clout to help pry the Foxwoods and SugarHouse casinos off the city's traffic-clogged waterfront, which is targeted for a make-over as a walkable city neighborhood. Acknowledging that 'the political landscape has changed,' Rendell is planning a meeting with slots-parlor license holders. That's a good start, even if the governor was a little too quick to downplay the prospects for new sites. 'Nobody should get too excited,' Rendell said Friday. 'The only way these casinos can be legally re-sited is if the casinos voluntarily agree.' Well, the effort certainly deserves more cheerleading than that. It warrants a sales pitch that appeals to the casino owners' better nature with something more forceful than just asking 'pretty please.'"

... Guest commentary from the Inky, Part 2:

"Remember the Khian Sea? The cargo ship, dubbed the Flying Dutchman of Debris, spent 14 months in the 1980s sailing the globe with 14,000 tons of Philadelphia's toxic incinerator dust in search of a landfill. Know what's like the Khian Sea? Philadelphia's proposed casinos. The big boxes of slots keep moving in search of a final resting place. Turns out citizens don't want them in their neighborhood. Which is a problem because Philadelphia, you may have noticed, is a city of neighborhoods. Local and state representatives, who like to get reelected, are fighting the current locations. Call it NIMDE - Not In My District, Ed."

Odds and ends

West Virginia's lottery proceeds are down for the first time in 20 years -- and Pennsylvania casinos likely have something to do with it ... It's getting testy in Downtown Buffalo, where opponents of the Seneca casino want to have the temporary slots parlor shut down ... St. Louis sees its casino revenues drop in June ... The story is the same in Kansas City ... Pennsylvania's Penn National Gaming is meeting with Kansas gaming officials ... More on keno coming to Ohio: