"In a lot of places along the coast it looks like the hurricane hit yesterday." -- NBC reporter Charles Hadlock, reporting today on the condition of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, four and a half years after Hurricane Katrina.

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It's not quite on the global scale of the Ultimate Bet brouhaha, but the Tran Organization's conspiracy to fleece dozens of U.S., Canadian and tribal casinos is racking up an amazing head count. To date, federal prosecutors have already nailed 31 scalps to their wall, not counting three other individuals to who pled out to related charges (including one in Canada).

If you thought this was the end of the Tran Organization ... surprise! The feds unsealed another set of indictments this month. Eight more individuals were hit with various counts of "conspiracy to steal money and other property from Indian tribal casinos, and conspiracy to travel in interstate and foreign commerce in aid of racketeering."

At the core of the Tran Organization's scam was the execution of "false shuffles," whereby "slugs" of unshuffled cards were insinuated into blackjack and mini-baccarat decks. This required the cooperation of corrupt casino employees and, from the looks of the Department of Justice's announcement, the core Tran Organization members must be rolling on their casino-employed helpers.

The Tran gang managed to take no fewer than 26 casinos during the life of its scheme, which is a very black mark against the industry's standard of game protection. The dishonor roll is as follows:

1) Beau Rivage Casino, Biloxi, Miss.
2) Casino Rama, Orillia, Ontario, Canada
3) Foxwoods Resort Casino, Ledyard, Conn.
4) Gold Strike Casino, Tunica, Miss.
5) Horseshoe Casino, Bossier City, La.
6) Horseshoe Casino & Hotel, Tunica, Miss.
7) Isle of Capri Casino, Westlake, La.
8) Majestic Star Casino, Gary, Ind.
9) Mohegan Sun Resort Casino, Uncasville, Conn.
10) Palace Station Casino, Las Vegas, Nev.
11) Resorts East Chicago Hotel & Casino, East Chicago, Ind.
12) Sycuan Casino, El Cajon, Calif.
13) Cache Creek Indian Bingo & Casino, Brooks, Calif.
14) Emerald Queen Casino, Tacoma, Wash.
15) Imperial Palace Casino, Biloxi, Miss.
16) Argosy Casino, Baton Rouge, La.
17) Trump 29 Casino, Coachella, Calif.
18) Isle of Capri Casino, Bossier City, La.
19) Agua Caliente Casino, Rancho Mirage, Calif.
20) Spa Resort Casino, Palm Springs, Calif.
21) Pechanga Resort & Casino, Temecula, Calif.
22) L'Auberge du Lac Casino, Lake Charles, La.
23) Nooksack River Casino, Deming, Wash.
24) Barona Valley Ranch Casino & Resort, Lakeside, Calif.
25) Caesars Indiana Hotel & Casino, Elizabeth, Ind.
26) Monte Carlo Resort & Casino, Las Vegas, Nev.

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A big bust went down at Harrah's Entertainment's Sheraton Tunica after four guests were found running a meth lab in one of the hotel rooms. According to the ABC-TV affiliate, hotel security only tripped to it after a fire alarm went off, while the Fox local says it was other guests who alerted security, which then whistled in the police.

Best line of the ABC story? "The Sheraton plans to completely renovate [the] room where meth lab was found." What? They're not gonna rename it "The Meth Suite"? How un-Vegas of them. Imagine the marketing possibilities: "Kids, don't try this at home ... Do it at Harrah's."

No word on whether the meth-making foursome had any Total Rewards points revoked.

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MGM Mirage CEO Jim Murren is re-mulling asset sales of MGM Grand Detroit, Gold Strike (Tunica, Miss.) and Beau Rivage. But all Strip assets are definitively off the market (yes, even Slots A Fun). Since the Detroit and Tunica casinos are already encumbered with CityCenter-related debt, presumably Murren would transfer those mortgages to some or all of the "Mandalay mile." As far as I know, those three casinos are still unencumbered. The Detroit resort would be a real "trophy asset" for any potential buyer ... presuming that banks are more inclined to lend than they were(n't) the last time Murren shopped this trio around.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal took a good look at MGM's Giza deal -- and it's even better than initially thought. Not only will the company collect management and franchise fees, it also gets a cut of any profits. If there's a downside here, I'm too myopic to see it.

MGM wouldn't sell Monte Carlo when Jack Binion came calling. One presumes this had more to do with potentially being able to extend CityCenter into Monte Carlo, rather than Jack's money not being good enough for MGM. However, if the company really cares about the property, why are they slowly letting it go to seed? The Brew Pub will close on July 12.

Also ... our LVA research team has discovered that no further Lance Burton performances are scheduled. This seemingly writes finis to his long relationship with Monte Carlo. Is it just an expedient way to save money or was Burton's unpardonable sin to get very good reviews from the local dailies right after Criss F. Angel laid an $85 million egg with Believe? Burton out and Angel in? That's just not right.

"IUER"? WTF? Don't call Melco Crown International's new City of Dreams a "casino." Melcospeak for the new pleasure place is "integrated urban entertainment resort." At least Steve Wynn's "casino-based destination resort" coinage rolled off the tongue a little more felicitously. On second thought, just call it "a casino."

Holy cow! The husk of the late, lamented Holy Cow Brew Pub & Casino (home of the best beer in Las Vegas) is proposed for redevelopment -- again. It was briefly the site-to-be of the phantom Ivana condo tower, one of the more egregious examples of condo "vaporware" during the recent bubble. Arizona- and New Mexico-based developers intend to tip the old Cow and replace her with a low-rise, low-cost (no hotel) casino.

The Strip needs some fresh mid-market casinos and this one could be it. But why make your anchor tenant a Walgreens when it's the flagship retailer ... of Palazzo. We sure could use the jobs, too, what with unemployment hitting record levels in Nevada. A good thing that Gov. Jim Gibbons was shamed into accepting federal funding for the jobless.

No Surprise Dept.: So the Moulin Rouge is (literally) toast and arson is suspected. The fire happened the day after a bankruptcy auction found no takers for the property.

Obama backpedals (sidepedals?) on gay rights. If he wants to give the country change it can believe in, how about revoking the profoundly un-American policy of throwing our LGBT brothers and sisters out of the military? If they've volunteered to lay down their lives for Old Glory, they're better people than me. And if Harry Truman is remembered for nothing else, he'll always be the president who integrated the military with a stroke of a pen. Does President Obama have Truman-like intenstinal fortitude?

One of the vilest of major-league baseball players back in the Eighties was slow-moving, philandering, showboating slugger Mel Hall. But we never knew just how loathsome he was. Good luck in the slammer, Mel.

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As you probably know, Huntington Press has been branching out into e-books. An S&G reader asked if any were compatible with Kindle. I'm told the following titles are available in Kindle-ready format:

Casino-ology by Bill Zender

Confessions of a Stripper by Lacey Lane

Cullotta by Dennis N. Griffin

Golf Las Vegas by Ken Van Vechten

Tax Help for Gamblers by Marissa Chien & Jean Scott

Video Poker for the Intelligent Beginner by Bob Dancer (who else?)

Whale Hunt In the Desert by Deke Castleman

But wait: There's more! We're putting the finishing touches on our first e-book-only release, Topless Vegas. We were in the midst of page-proof corrections when Forty Deuce up and died, so we really dodged a bullet there, I tell ya.

He knows jack: An LVA member has alerted us to some Down South scuttlebutt that had Jack Binion lined up to take over the Gold Strike in Tunica. If that's the case, MGM Mirage's recent encumbrance of the Mississippi casino as debt security runs a cart and horses through that notion, I guess. Which would be a pity, if true. The casino industry needs Jack Binion and entrepreneurs of his ilk right now -- a lot more than Jack Binion needs the industry, one might add.

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No shit, man. This comes straight from the mailbag, courtesy of Dennis Conrad's daily news flash: Harrah's Seven Stars members (the highest-tiered customers) received a unique gift as part of special invite to Harrah's Grand Biloxi casino resort. Invitees could pick up a free iRobot Roomba® (the self-operating intelligent vacuum system that roams your floors and cleans as it goes). Guests also received a complimentary two-night stay and up to $800 in reimbursed airfare.

What Dennis is too great of a gentleman to mention is that if you're hoovering your own hotel room, Harrah's Entertainment potentially saves on maid service. Thrift, Horatio!

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One not-so-small I detail that I omitted in my report on yesterday's declaration of detente between MGM Mirage and Dubai World: The latter is released from its completion guarantees. Which puts the onus for finishing the project squarely on MGM's shoulders. As we on the Vegas Gang collective (like the Borg, only nicer) predicted a good ways back, MGM's future is inextricably entwined with CityCenter.

From the glass half-full perspective, the mortgaging of MGM Grand Detroit and Gold Strike ensures at least a modicum of regional diversity in the lion's den. A week ago, it looked as though the company might very well circle its wagons around Las Vegas, while maintaining a small beachhead in Macao. But with the search for the last last, elusive $1.2 billion in bank loans having evidently been abandoned, asset sales are becoming imperative.

What a tragedy that, at the very moment the casino industry is ripe for "unbundling," reversing mega-consolidations that should never have been attempted, the banks are too afraid to part with their precious TARP money to help bring it about. Unless you can do a Phil Ruffin and basically pull $600 million in cash out of a drawer, it's no casino acquisition for you!

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The "CityCenter six-pack" lives on, thanks to a late-breaking accord between MGM Mirage and bickering spouse Dubai World. It's a tactical victory for MGM, in that it -- among other things -- keeps the project moving forward and forestalls the prospect of bankruptcy. But it looks as though, when the points are tallied, Dubai World comes out ahead.

CityCenter: Is it too late to bring back the Boardwalk?

Dubai World's biggest concession is to drop its March 22 lawsuit against MGM, which was endangering completion of the metaresort. Lenders also yielded significant ground by agreeing to immediately release $1.8 billion in credit which had been heretofore contingent upon several hundred million dollars' worth of put-in by MGM and Dubai World. Both debtors agreed to a 2% interest-rate hike but MGM was able to gain a temporary waiver of certain debt covenants.

The days of getting $7 billion with no strings attached are over, though: Instead of selling its Gold Strike and MGM Grand Detroit casinos, the company is pledging them as collateral (along with unspecified raw land, probably the "Project Z" site south of Mandalay Bay) for its senior debt. Beau Rivage's fate remains unknown. Cost overruns at CityCenter will be collateralized by Circus Circus and "certain adjacent land" ... i.e., what was going to be the site of an MGM/Kerzner joint venture. MGM CEO Jim Murren had been maintaining that he wasn't going to tear down the clown castle -- and now he can't, even if he wished.

If condominium sales hit $250 million, that money can go toward construction costs. However, if they don't reach $243 million, then MGM is on the hook for the difference. It's also fully responsible for construction costs that push the price tag beyond $8.5 billion. As a consolation prize, it gets the $135 million that Dubai World should have paid toward the joint venture over the last five weeks -- a shortfall that MGM had to make good out of its own coffers.

As the Las Vegas Sun summarized the pact, "The bottom line is that the most important construction project in Las Vegas and the gaming industry will proceed and open as scheduled, with it likely boosting revenue for MGM Mirage but hurting competitors already suffering from an oversupply of hotel rooms in Las Vegas."

Everybody can now heave a giant, grateful sigh of relief and go back to business as usual, like ...

Look out below! Forty-seven stories of glass at CityCenter's Mandarin Oriental and not a one of them has been inspected. Sadly, that's become par for the course with this project: Another day, another graveyard-humor headline from the former site of the Boardwalk.

Said the MGM spokesman given the thankless task of handling this latest revelation: "In the end, we want to build a structure that's comfortable and enjoyable to the guests and beautiful to behold -- and also meets, to everyone's satisfaction, the highest safety criteria." Until then ... duck!

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Wow.

I'll say it again.

Wow. It wasn't that long ago that the prospect of multiple major casino bankruptcies was unthinkable to a degree that words cannot convey. Even now, after weeks of bad news followed by worse news, the enormity of the present collapse didn't really sink in until the Reno Gazette-Journal reported that the Nevada Gaming Control Board has formed a special crisis unit to handle an anticipated series of bankruptcies. I daresay the NGCB probably never thought it would have to clear the decks for multiple crash landings like these.

Big deal? The Sun Herald of Biloxi is practically squeeing over the arrival of some A.C. Coin & Slot products that offer communal bonus rounds. (The story reads more like advertorial copy than serious journalism.) What I find interesting here is that the shared bonus round is something I've heard used as a selling point for server-based gaming. So, if it can be accomplished with conventional slot technology, why retrofit your floor for SBG? The casino crash isn't going to smother SBG in the cradle but it's definitely going to subject it to a very prolonged infancy.

A.C. Coin, meanwhile, is making inroads with these slot banks. In the Vegas area, "Super Bankroll Bonus" is in 14 casinos and not a grind joint in the bunch. "Slingo Bonus Deluxe" is on 11 Vegas gaming floors with Bellagio and Mandalay Bay soon to join them.

Meet the New Vegas, same as the old Vegas. Or so one entertainment scribe contends.

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As we wait for the MGM Mirage earnings report, signs of desperation mount. If the company is willing to cast away a pearl like new, costly and high-yielding MGM Grand Detroit, what isn't sacred? Not even the corporate jet, provided the buyer doesn't welsh on the deal. (Guess those high rollers won't have to fly commercial for a while yet.) Whoever made that offer for MGM Detroit, though ... (s)he's one smart cookie, methinks.

Dumping regional properties at a time when that's where the strength of the casino industry is just doesn't make sense -- although you could probably make a case for ditching the already written-down Gold Strike in Tunica or the Grand Victoria riverboat in casino-killing Illinois. Actually, getting the hell out of the hellacious Illinois market seems like the best idea since forever.

Congratulations, Gary Loveman! You took home $39.6 million last year, while your company was crashing and burning -- not to mention pink-slipping 8% of your workforce. Don't say Loveman isn't feeling Harrah's pain: He's forfeiting a whole $100K in salary for 2009. There goes the college fund!

The casino giant is one step from the bottom of the Moody's bond-rating ladder. In a memo to the SEC, Harrah's Entertainment announced that managers were taking a 5% pay cut and that "it might have to delay expansion, sell assets or restructure debt." Delay expansion? No! Really? That was off the table the minute the ink was dry on the LBO. Refurbishment is also a low priority, as capex costs will be trimmed by as much as 59%.

Meantime, the guessing game begins over which assets might be on the block. In one of the busier threads over at Hunter Hillegas' Two Way Hard Three, fellow blogger Chuck Monster synopsizes the reshuffling of Harrah's properties between various holding companies, which includes a possible abandonment of the volatile (read: shaky) Lake Tahoe market. Sometimes I think Harrah's does this jiggery-pokery just to amuse itself watching the blogosphere try to determine What It Really Means.

In a regional update, most Lousiana markets were slightly down last month -- except Lake Charles, which Harrah's pulled out of, leaving Pinnacle Entertainment in possession of the field. Oops.

Pssst! Don't tell anyone! It's stashed as the second item of "In Brief" but Wynn Resorts is floating a stock offering to the tune of over nine million shares. (Other sources say seven million.) Wall Street had an understandably adverse reaction -- at first blush -- to this 7% dilution of Wynn stock, which closed up $1.07 today. Given that it's a proactive move to retire debt, it's tough to quarrel with Wynn.

Update: Clarification of the Wynn stock float comes by way of Forbes.

As for the undying speculation that Steve Wynn might want to buy back Bellagio or golden oldie The Mirage, one analyst -- Goldman Sachs' Steven Kent -- says he "would be surprised to see Wynn pursue this," given that Wynn is a builder, not a buyer.

Parenthetically, in the above-mentioned blog thread, Brian Fey makes the following, extremely trenchant observation: "Its pretty bad, that here we are almost 10 years later [following Wynn's ouster from Mirage Resorts], and Steve's biggest competition is still Steve's old properties. Just shows you how far behind everyone else is when it comes to the game."

Shuffle Master wins? Rival company Elixir Gaming settled litigation by selling its Asian shuffler business.  The Las Vegas Review-Journal sees it as a win for Shuffle Master, while the Las Vegas Sun takes the opposite take, implying that Shuffle Master got its pockets picked -- which could mean an ignominous curtain for just-departed CEO Mark Yoseloff, if that's indeed the case. They report, you decide.

More of the Same Dept.: Democratic leadership in the Nevada Lege is going to do exactly what (little) is expected of them -- jack up existing taxes to onerous levels as a cop-out solution to our budgetary crisis. Booze and cigarettes are the low-hanging fruit of taxation but Nevada casinos better get ready to bend over and grab their ankles, as they're probably the next target of opportunity. Oh, and brace yourself for a much bigger beer-and-wine tab at the casinos if this goes through ... as though casino booze wasn't costly enough already!

Never let it be said that S&G didn't at least once have a kind word for Columbia Sussex. The former Tropicana owner is reducing its carbon footprint. Amen to that.

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