By golly, it seems like a mere nine days ago that a local newspaper story was reporting disproportionately strong lottery sales at a California-border store owned by Herbst Gaming. "Since taking over the store, the location's total lottery ticket sales have been more than $8.9 million," said the newspaper, although Herbst executives refused to take any of the credit that was being foisted upon them. "It's something to which we haven't given much thought," disclaimed one.

Fast-forward six days and it turns out Herbst is "evaluating financial strategic alternatives," with the help of Goldman Sachs. Why? It would seem that Nevada's partial ban on smoking in public places (aka Question 5) has delivered a dagger thrust to Herbst's slot routes, whose performance is off by one-fifth. Which partly answers the question of how slot routes would fare in Question 5's aftermath.

Last week, it also emerged that one of the moves being contemplated is the sale of some or all of Herbst's casino empire, mostly amassed in the last 14 months through the absorption of three castoff MGM Mirage properties in rural Nevada and the Sands Regent brand. That's a debt load that Herbst can ill-afford to carry if its slots routes continue to tank.

Standard & Poor's cut Herbt's credit rating to CCC today, in part because of "continued weak operating performance at the company's riverboat and land-based casinos." Already WHO-TV, in Des Moines, Iowa, is reporting that one casino is openly for sale. It reminds me of another company that grew too fast too soon ...

Columbia Sussex driving out business? A 104-year-old hardware store and a paint store are shutting down and (in the case of the paint store) moving, all to make room for a casino that might be built if the Kentucky state senate and the voters of the Bluegrass State approve a proposal currently before lawmakers. Oh, and if Covington, Ky., is awarded one of the nine licenses and if that license goes to Columbia Sussex. If not, Columbia Sussex owner William Yung III will have himself a $7 million collection of empty buildings, albeit at the mouth of a freeway exit. So it's not totally a spin of the roulette wheel. Just mostly.

And now for some positive thinking. Naysayers who freak at the thought of a 9.75% casino tax rate might want to consider the influx of investment -- albeit somewhat attenuated at the moment -- into Atlantic City, where the tax rate is 9.5%. MGM Mirage isn't wavering from its high-profile commitment and not only is Penn National willing to go all in, it's wagering that it can lure three other casino companies ... provided it gets all of Bader Field as a precondition.

True, Pinnacle Entertainment is hesitating and the Curtis Bashaw/Wallace Barr project seems to have been indefinitely back-burnered. But, in the former instance, icy credit markets are primarily to blame. As for the latter, the Bashaw/Barr duo is presently in the hunt for the Atlantic City Tropicana, which would make a good strategic fit with Bashaw's Chelsea Hotel redevelopment. So it's far too early to pronounce Barr & Bashaw's south-Boardwalk casino-hotel D.O.A. ... unless they land  the Trop, in which case a nice little 'flip' awaits them.

Whoever thought Atlantic City would be the Land of Opportunity?