Aztec Smash

What is Aztec Smash?

The Mid-Atlantic struggles weren’t limited to New Jersey, as Pennsylvania revealed today (Sept. 17) that brick-and-mortar gross gaming revenue (GGR) from slot machines and table games totaled $280.3 million.

Pennsylvania casino revenue for August was almost 6% lower than a year ago, when the state’s casinos won $297.7 million from their physical slots and table games. Pennsylvania’s August 2026 struggles came despite the state having one more casino last month than it did in August 2025, as Happy Valley Casino only opened in April 2026.

In Maryland, the state’s six casinos combined to win $160 million in August, representing a 6% drop from the prior year. In Virginia, casino revenue from its five casinos was $97.6 million, almost 5% lower than August 2025.

About Aztec Smash

The law came at the request of Full House Resorts, the Las Vegas-based regional gaming operator that expressed interest in relocating its Rising Star Casino in Rising Sun to a more attractive market, specifically in the northeastern part of the state.

During the lawmaking process, Full House’s exclusivity was stripped in favor of welcoming any company currently licensed as a commercial casino in the US to bid on the possible license. Lawmakers also threw in a one-time $150 million fee for the concession and a mandatory investment minimum of $500 million, all but ending Full House’s interest.

“The bill changed many times. We make money in Rising Sun. We always have, not a lot of money, but we make money. We continue to make money in Rising Sun. And we will continue to do that for our shareholders, as well as for the good of the state,” Full House CEO Daniel Lee said in March.

What is Aztec Smash?

“We are deliberately not pursuing an aggressive expansion agenda in the early months,” he explains. “We want to prioritise integration and consolidating our existing positions first, and only look at new market entry once we are confident the operational foundations are in place.”

Some analysts have questioned whether this deal marks the beginning of an M&A spree for GiG as it looks to re-enter the B2C space.

But that isn’t the case according to Richards: “We are not signalling plans to re-enter B2C elsewhere; Africa is a distinct case: a high-growth, underpenetrated region where owning a local operator makes strategic sense in a way it may not elsewhere.”