Even the seraphic strains of Anton Bruckner's Seventh Symphony, as conducted by Carlo Maria Giulini are insufficient to quench my vexation at seeing the overmatched New England Patriots defense literally let victory (and mediocre QB Eli "My daddy don't want me to play for no San Diego Chargers" Manning) slip through their fingers in what may be remembered as the Super Bowl meltdown to end them all. At least Manning didn't pull a Rex Grossman: turn and run upfield in terror when the pocket breaks down.

Still, what better form of distraction that a *second* edition of "Case Bets"?

Assuming that I even get any of this vaunted "stimulus" rebate that Shrub has promised us, my share will either go into A) my savings account or B) paying my bills, especially after all the "economic stimulus" I performed during the holiday-shopping season. However, a cool $750 million is expected to find its way into slot hoppers and onto craps tables, sayeth Deutsche Bank. Good for business here at LVA, although I wish the Bush administration had stimulus plans that extend beyond telling people to go out and shop their @$$ off. This is at least the third time we've heard that golden oldie.

Add Evansville, Indiana, to list of cities where Columbia Sussex is wearing out its welcome (the company is heartily disparaged down in Baton Rouge, which bodes ill for attempts to keep new competition out). Sources of disenchantment in Evansville include welshing on community obligations and a declining tax contribution, as revenues continue to trend downward. Laying off 19% of the Casino Aztar workforce probably wasn't a good P.R. move, either.

Across the river, C.S. owner William Yung III has stepped into yet another controversy, having been revealed as a major patron of Gov. Steve Beshear (D), who coincidentally favors bringing casinos to Kentucky (home of Columbia Sussex HQ). Yung was by far the leading donor to a '527' that ran attack ads against his rival, former Gov. Ernie Fletcher (whose administration, it must be said, appears to have been as crooked as the day is long; this schmuck also promoted "intelligent design" and enabled discrimination against gays and lesbians).

Yung also dropped 10 G's into the Beshear's inauguration fund. Whilst Beshear was saying he doesn't want the public to think "that anybody has got an inside track on this," his peeps met with Yung but rebuffed Las Vegas Sands. So it looks like that was $1 million well spent. As for the the 527 in question, Bluegrass Freedom Fund (which indirectly received some Harrah's bucks as well), it made "ethics reform" its central issue.

Gold Spike 2.0: To paraphrase The Thing from Fantastic Four, "It's flippin' time" for the Gold Spike, arguably the downtown casino most desperately in need of replacement (unless you like having an ashtray in your bathroom stall).

First, a bit of history: Multinational conglomerate Tamares Group snapped up (via a front company) this little grind joint -- along with three nearby parking lots-- for a cool $2.89 million, back in March 2004, then re-registered the bunch to Tamares in '06.

That November, Tamares sells those same four parcels to Gregg Covin for a hairsbreadth shy of $15 million. Holy massive markup, Batman! But wait ... there's more. Covin has now offloaded the Spike to a pair of local apartment developers for $21 million. In place of the Miami-style boutique hotel Covin promised, we can apparently look forward to a bigger, upgraded ... Gold Spike. The owners-to-be, John Tippins and Stephen Siegel (who might want to invest in a necktie), have made a bundle by sprucing up apartments that cater to Las Vegas' sizable transient population. So if you're a fan of the Spike, rest assured that there will soon be more of it -- and table games, too.

As for Tamares, if it has a plan for its raggle-taggle flotilla of downtown parcels (beyond bare-bones gaming, and the opportunistic flip here and there), it remains known to Tamares and Tamares alone.