Caesars Blames Lady Luck for Low Earnings

For those who have lost a lot of money gambling in Las Vegas, take heart and read this:

Caesars Palace has not been doing so hot either.

Caesars World, the Los Angeles firm that owns Caesars Palace as well as Caesars Tahoe, said bad luck at its table games--such as blackjack, roulette and craps--is going to slash profits in the quarter ended Wednesday.

The firm expects to earn only from 3 to 10 cents a share in the fiscal second quarter, compared to 42 cents a share, or $10.4 million, in the same period last year. It blamed the sharp drop on “substantially lower win percentages” at its casinos in Las Vegas and Lake Tahoe--even though a record amount of money was bet on the table games in both places.

Caesars World released the news quickly after the end of the quarter partly to dispel speculation that business is down in the face of new competition in Las Vegas. Golden Nugget just opened the lavish Mirage hotel and casino next door to Caesars Palace in a direct challenge to Caesars’ reputation as the mecca for high rollers on the Strip.

But Henry Gluck, Caesars’ chairman, says business is not the problem; it’s the cards that aren’t cooperating. “It’s just the luck of the draw,” he said in a telephone interview. In composite trading on the New York Stock Exchange, Caesars World closed Thursday at $24.375 a share, down 37.5 cents.