Slumping Isle of Capri Casinos Possible Takeover Target
Isle of Capri Casinos stock continued its slide on Monday, losing almost 5% of value and dropping 31 cents per share to a year-long low of $6.97. Caught in a broader industry-wide downturn and disappointing quarterly earning reports, the Isle is now trading for less than a quarter of its value 12 months ago.
Management of some properties has come in question. Racinos owned by the Isle have had complaints by horsemen that the Isle used the track connections to establish casinos, but have no intention of living up to the letter of their agreements to support racing, let along the spirit of those deals.
Customer service and security performance have also been areas of frequent complaint by patrons. The Isle's payment scale and training procedures seem to have encouraged employment of unqualified individuals at various locations.
As the stock continues to slide, a rumor has circulated that Pennsylvania horse money is gathering for a hostile takeover bid, attempting to put the racino locations back in line with the symbiotic relationship envisioned when the slots at those sites were licensed.
Horsemen at the Isle's Pompano Park Harness Track location in South Florida were quoted as saying it would be hard to find worse ownership than that the Isle of Capri has provided. At this track, he management is attempting to close half the racing days available each week.
Tracks around the country have shown that those embracing the relationship between slots and animal racing are prospering, while those with contentious division between the two have hurt rather than helped racing, without much benefit to slots, all while drawing the angry glare of the legislatures that issued licenses upon the provision that tracks be subsidized.
If the Isle doesn't see the writing soon, the whole company may have new bosses soon.
