{"id":3542,"date":"2026-02-05T12:32:30","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T12:32:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casinousa.com\/news\/?p=3542"},"modified":"2026-02-05T12:32:30","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T12:32:30","slug":"harsh-weather-hits-regional-casinos-in-january-but-revenues-hold-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casinousa.com\/news\/harsh-weather-hits-regional-casinos-in-january-but-revenues-hold-up","title":{"rendered":"Harsh Weather Hits Regional Casinos in January, But Revenues Hold Up"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.casinousa.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/02\/road-closed-due-to-snow.jpg\" alt=\"Road closed due to snow\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-3543\" width=\"300\" title=\"Harsh Weather Hits Regional Casinos in January, But Revenues Hold Up\" \/><strong>Summary:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>January casino visits fell as snow and extreme cold kept people home, especially in hard-hit US states.<\/li>\n<li>Despite lower foot traffic, casino winnings are expected to come in slightly higher than last year.<\/li>\n<li>Analysts still see long-term risks in online casino expansion, but some operators stand out as well-positioned.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Regional casinos got off to a slow start in January, and the weather is largely to blame. In a February 4 investor note, J.P. Morgan analyst <strong>Daniel Politzer<\/strong> reported that visits to regional casinos fell 5.4% year over year. <\/p>\n<p>The drop, apparently, didn&#8217;t hurt <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casinousa.com\/blog\/how-much-do-casinos-make-in-a-day\">casino winnings<\/a>, which are expected to come in about 2% higher. According to Politzer, the result is better than expected, given the rough month.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"foot-traffic-affected-by-cold-and-snowfall\">Foot Traffic Affected by Cold and Snowfall <\/h2>\n<p>The first month of the new year was marked by severe cold and heavy snowfall across much of the country, both taking a serious toll on foot traffic. <\/p>\n<p>Still, Politzer noted that the month included an extra weekend day and followed what he called a \u201c<em>fairly challenging<\/em>\u201d January in 2025, making the year-over-year comparison closer to flat when adjusted.<\/p>\n<p>Jefferies analyst <strong>David Katz<\/strong> reached similar conclusions but took a slightly more cautious view. In a separate report, he said weather was a major drag and warned that<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Heightened competition remains the overarching risk for land-based operators and the latest snow\/ice could cause downward revisions to 1Q26 Street estimates.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Katz also flagged the steady march of online casino legalization as another pressure point for traditional operators.<\/p>\n<p>While Politzer expects modest growth in winnings, Katz projects that <strong>regional casino revenue could decline by 3% to 5%<\/strong>. Despite that, he still sees opportunity in certain names, highlighting Boyd Gaming, Churchill Downs, and Station Casinos, and pointing to their solid management teams and near-term developments expected to support performance.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"online-gambling-to-affect\">Online Gambling to Affect <\/h2>\n<p>Katz also acknowledged the long-term impact of online gambling, primarily focusing on states like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casinousa.com\/states\/virginia\">Virginia<\/a>, where legalization seems to be close, Maine, which recently approved iGaming, and active bills in Indiana and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casinousa.com\/states\/new-york\">New York<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>While he said rollout timelines mean limited impact in 2026, he was blunt about the longer-term effect. <\/p>\n<p>\u201c<em>Still, once launched, the outcome is definitively negative for brick-and-mortar properties<\/em>\u201d he wrote. Based on past examples outside the COVID period, Katz said physical casinos typically see about a 3.5% drop when online gaming launches.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, Katz struck a cautiously optimistic tone. With gaming stocks down about 7%, he said, <\/p>\n<blockquote><p>We still believe there are investible stories for firms that offer a clear growth pathway<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>He cited Boyd\u2019s development pipeline, Churchill Downs\u2019 favorable Derby comparisons and new electronic table games, and Station Casinos\u2019 focus on Las Vegas locals, where weather is less of a factor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Summary: January casino visits fell as snow and extreme cold kept people home, especially in hard-hit US states. Despite lower foot traffic, casino winnings are expected to come in slightly higher than last year. Analysts still see long-term risks in online casino expansion, but some operators stand out as well-positioned. Regional casinos got off to [&hellip;]","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,6,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-financial","category-industry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Harsh Weather Hits Regional Casinos in January, But Revenues Hold Up<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Bad weather affected casino traffic in January 2026, but revenues proved more resilient than expected, giving regional operators a small bright spot.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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