Casino gambling is a profitable business as we all know. But if you don’t know how profitable this business can be, check out this list of the highest earning casino companies at the first half of 2011. The top 9 casinos list, originally published at the Business Insider, is topped by Melco Crown Entertainment. The operator of casinos in Macau, a popular gambling vacation destination, is entering the second half of 2011 with market cap of almost 8 billion dollars. The list is closed by the Boyd Gaming Corporation, the operator of the famous Atlantic City Casino Borgata Hotel Casino (and the owner of fifteen other gambling establishments) with only $763.49 millions market cap.
What can you learn from the list of the strongest casinos stocks in 2011? First, that the house not only wins, but wins big time. Secondly, Macau casinos generate higher revenues for their operators. The top two casino stocks performers in the first half of 2011 are owners and operators of casino resorts in Asian Las Vegas. Interestingly, Wynn Resorts, which owns and operates casino resorts both in Macau and in Las Vegas, has enjoyed a 96.12% of its share prices in 2011.
One of the reasons to this prosperity is Wynn’s win percentage at the casino table games such as roulette, baccarat and others. While in its Las Vegas business, the players usually win in around 70% of the table games, in Macau, the players’ winning percentage goes down towards the 60%. And now, casinos namedropping and numbers:
1. Melco Crown Entertainment – developer, owner and, operator of City of Dreams and other casino resorts in Macau.
Market cap: $7.98B
Share prices +287.27%
2. Wynn Resorts – owner and operator of the award winning Wynn Las Vegas, Wynn Macau and Encore (Las Vegas and Macau).
Market cap: $20.24B
Share prices + 96.12%
3. Las Vegas Sands – owner and operator of the famous Venetian Resort Hotel Casino in Las Vegas and its Macau correspondence, and owner of additional Las Vegas Strip landmarks and their Macau correspondences.
Market cap: $32.91B
Share prices: +81.25%
4. Penn National Gaming – owner and manager of numerous casinos in the United States
Market cap: $3.18B
Share prices +69.52%
5. Ameristar Casinos – the developer, owner and operator of the dozens Ameristar gaming facilities in the States
Market cap: $740.42M
Share prices + 66.64% on the year
6. MGM Resorts International – owner and operator of famed Las Vegas casinos including MGM Grand, Bellagio, The Mirage, Circus Circus and more, on top of owning and/or operating additional casinos throughout the US.
Market cap: $7.55B
Share prices +54.04%
7. Pinnacle Entertainment – developer, owner and operator of casinos in Reno, New Orleans, and other local casinos.
Market cap: $920.13M
Share prices + 46.69%
8. Vail Resorts – owner and operator of ski resorts under the RockResorts brand and develops and owns real estate neighboring its resorts.
Market cap: $1.64B
Share prices + 28.37%
9. Boyd Gaming – owner and operator of Bogarta Hotel Casino and Spa in Atlantic City, New Jersey, fifteen more casinos in Nevada and four other states, a jai alai facility, plus an owner of 85 acres of land on the Las Vegas Strip, the location of a planned multibillion dollars project.
Market: $763.49M
Share prices +2.17% on the year