David Mckee's Stiffs & Georges - Alaska

ColSux gets smacked (again)

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 16:52:00 -0700

In case you've wondered whether Columbia Sussex's endgame in its interminably protracted -- and often preposterous -- negotiations with the Culinary Union was to provoke a strike at the Tropicana Las Vegas, the company's actions elsewhere leave little doubt. (I have it on good authority that ColSux had drawn up plans to drive the Culinary out, in the great Margaret Elardi/Paul Lowden tradition.)

Now those anti-union chickens have come home to roost. The 13,000-member Alaska chapter of the National Education Association has ripped up its contract with ColSux's Anchorage Hilton and calling for boycotts of all 71 ColSux-owned hotels. That'd include ...

... Las Vegas' own Westin Casuarina.

What a stroke of luck. At a time when Strip hotels are mostly just muddling through in terms of occupancy and convention bookings, William J. Yung III goes and pisses off one of the U.S.'s leading unions. Less bidness for him -- and more for everybody else!

Thanks, Bill. Keep up the good work. We could use non-casino hoteliers with your infallible reverse-Midas Touch. Would you alienate a few other major convention-holding bodies (especially ones who might like to convene in Vegas) while you're at it? It would really help your competitors speed up this economic-recovery thing.

Longoria meets CityCenter

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 17:44:00 -0700

A power outage really f-ed up our computers here and destroyed a finished S&G entry ("Save," my ass!). So, to lighten the atmosphere, here's actress Eva Longoria, who stars in a TV show I cannot stand, trying to look excited about a model of CityCenter:

The two gentlemen are CityCenter CEO Bobby Baldwin and Crystals at City Center prexy Frank Visconti. You've got to feel sorry for them because if Eva Longoria's in the photo, you might as well stay home. Ms. Longoria is tactfully posed to conceal the newly truncated Harmon, aka Baldwin's Bump. The actress was in town to tout the opening of a Strip branch of her Beso restaurant, which will be in Crystals. Yeah, I know, like you cared about that.

OK, so it's not another Carmen Electra picture, but I'm doing the best I can, guys. (Photo courtesy of Kirvin Doak)

Off to Michigan

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 00:04:00 -0700

If you notice an attenuation in the S&G blogorrhea, it's because I'm taking a view days to visit terra incognita: the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I'll be spending an extended weekend in the bucolic environs of the greater Marquette area. And, if I start to climb the walls, I might even poke my snout into the nearest tribal casino.

I'll be in a neck of the woods that doesn't have cable TV, which will provide needed respite from the two most tiresome "news" obsessions of the moment: anything and everything related to Michael Jackson, and the hidden meaning in the convoluted locutions of Sarah Palin. Whatever her virtues, the Great Communicator she ain't. (For unimprovable concision, my favorite American president is Calvin Coolidge, he who said, "The business of America is business." A political philosophy in six words. Hard to beat.)

City slicker that I am, I'm sure I'll stick out like a sore thumb in towns like Ishpeming. Sort of like a dog nursing a cocktail ...

So whose leg do I have to hump to get a dry martini up there?

Harrah's Azov?

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 16:23:00 -0700

Bloomberg News reports the following: Harrah's Entertainment, the world's biggest casino company, may build a resort on the Azov Sea, Vedomosti reported Tuesday.

Harrah's may join U.S. construction company Asati in building a complex in Azov-City, one of four gambling zones planned in the country, Vedomosti said, citing Asati founder Alex Kogan.

The resort, which will include a casino, hotels and conference centers, will cost between $50 million and $100 million, Kogan said.

Wow! Try building a U.S. resort -- or even a Macanese one -- for so little money. I've asked Harrah's for confirmation but have yet to hear back. Although several overseas ventures have gone belly-up, the company continues to persist.

However ... despite the Russian government's decree that all casinos be moved to special zones, scattered around the far reaches of the empire, little headway has been made: "One Russian publication sent a reporter to check out progress on one of the zones, who discovered open fields filled with grazing cows." The Azov-City project, for one, has a long way to go.

And how is ~~Harrah's/~~Asati going to build a casino for $100 million or less? One word: tents. "Several foreign investors have begun preparatory work, including the Austrian company Asati. The company plans to build on the 20 hectares of inflatable structures, area of 100 thousand square meters," explains one investment site, "... the inflatable structure can be a casino and a water park and the congress hall. In addition to inflatable structures Asati company intends to build a 17-storey hotel and 34 bungalows."

If there's to be gambling under a big top, I'd suggest they call the place Circus Circus, but Jay Sarno got there first. Potential feeder markets for "Harrahs' Azov" would include Kiev and Odessa, but the closest major city appears to be Stalingrad ... er, Volgograd.

Yung & the restless: Closer to home, in Kentucky, the grand vizier of Columbia Sussex, CEO William J. Yung III, is loaning out the corporate locomotive for charitable causes. Company locomotive? No, we're not making this up.

Restiveness marks the labor situation at one of the distant outposts of Yung's hotel empire. Both in the slow pace of negotiations and the demand for employee give-backs, it's very reminiscent of the scrumdown that was the Culinary Union/ColSux stalemate of two years back. At least Scott Butera intervened to make peace before it reached the point of a Tropicana Las Vegas boycott.

Small beer? Just what Resorts International in Atlantic City needs ... more regulatory problems. C'mon, guys. We hook up beer kegs all the time here at LVA. It's not rocket science. Then again, it's difficult to "misunderestimate" Colony Capital.

Winners & Losers

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 13:52:00 -0700

And now the obligatory post-Election, What's-it-all-about-Alfie roundup ...

Culinary Union 1, Casino CEOs O: True, the Culinary tripped all over its own feet in the early going, leading to Democratic caucuses that weren't so much "Barackular" as "debacular." But D. Taylor & Co. backed the winning horse and did it early, which earns some chits down the road, plus they have a new Capitol Hill friend in Rep.-elect Dina Titus. Messrs. Lanni, Loveman, Wynn, Adelson and Trump made a variety of presidential wagers, losing every one.

Ameristar Casinos/Pinnacle Entertainment: They wanted a protected oligarchy in Missouri and now they've got it -- and at relatively little additional tax burden to them.

Slot manufacturers: OK, so Ohio and Maine didn't come through and the Missouri market is frozen. But 15K new slots in Maryland ain't chicken feed. Plus a West Virginia casino expansion that flew under the radar got voted in. Inexplicably, slot stocks traded downward. Stupid Wall Street.

Colorado casinos: They didn't so much "win" as get a hefty lifeline thrown to them by Rocky Mountain State voters who approved 20X higher betting limits, 'round the clock operations, and roulette and craps. (No Sen. John McCain sightings in Cripple Creek yet, though.)

Freedom's Watch: So far F-Double-U is 6-9-1 (with Sen. Gordon Smith [R] of Oregon momentarily in the "tie" column) in its top-priority races. I'm feeling generous and crediting the Adelson front group with "wins" in the case of self-destructing Rep. Tim Mahoney (D-FL), who continued the scummy tradition of predecessor Mark Foley, and in that of Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), who faces a December do-over, thanks to Georgia law. And veering off at the last minute to spend money attacking not-up-for-reelection Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.)? Adelsonian political acumen at its finest. Winner? Loser? Let's call it a draw.

Poker: Just when it looked like the poker phenomenon was about to jump the shark, we've got a poker-playing president-elect. I dunno if Ms. Pelosi and Messrs. Reid, McConnell and Boehner cotton to hashing out legislation over cigars, booze and a deck of cards, but they'd better get ready for a whole new kind of "smoke-filled room."

Online Poker: Chances for a repeal of the UIGEA suddenly look a lot better.

Karma: Bearing false witness and serial adultery remain very uncool. But multiple felony counts and assorted other financial malfeasances remain A-OK with voters of both parties. (Hint: If Ted Stevens has to be forcibly removed from office, start practicing the phrase "Senator Palin." Kinda trips off the tongue, don't it?)

Gays & Lesbians: Voters in California stuck it to one of Vegas' most loyal constituencies big-time, passing the hateful Proposition 8. Were Nevada not so socially conservative (although compassionate enough to have legalized medical marijuana a ways back), I'd say we should vote for gay nuptials here, then sit back and gloat as the bucks roll in.

Tom Tancredo and ilk: Even if you abhor George W. Bush, you've got to give it up for his ability to rally Hispanic voters to the GOP standard. (I can't speak for Biloxi-Gulfport or Atlantic City, but Las Vegas can't function without its Latino labor base and casino CEOs know this; that's why immigration is their "third rail" of politics.) I always thought the immigration issue would be a non-starter in this election -- and it was. But the Tancredos of the GOP, by ginning it up in both '06 and early '08, antagonized Latinos, scored an own-goal and eradicated the gains Bush made with this voting bloc. So, in lieu of a prolonged post-mortem, maybe Republicans should just burn Tancredo in effigy and then turn the page.

Gaming's GOP influence: The annihilation of GOP moderates at the national level is largely complete, leaving an electoral map that looks a lot like the Confederacy, plus a horseshoe-shaped chunk of the West. Subtract Mississippi, Louisiana and tribal casinos and you've got slim pickings there. Gambling-friendly Republicans like Govs. Haley Barbour (MS) and Charlie Crist (FL) have made progress, but not easily and not without much expenditure of political capital. It's difficult to see where American Gaming Association boss Frank Fahrenkopf goes within his own party when he needs its support. The casino industry's investment in the GOP has yielded scant ROI.

Gov. Jim Gibbons: With state Sens. Joe Heck and Bob Beers, and Rep. Jon Porter all packed off to early retirement by their constituents, Gibbons suddenly has much less to fear from within his own party two years hence. (Ditto Porter's designs on Sen. Harry Reid's [D-NV] seat.)

Rep. Dean Heller (R-NV): If he opts to challenge Reid -- or Gibbons -- he's now the presumptive frontrunner. (I still think "Gov. Oscar Goodman" has a nice ring to it.)

North Las Vegas Mayor Michael Montandon (R): He's laying the groundwork for an intra-party challenge to Gibbons. Montandon's ably managed growth in NLV and would easily trump Gibbons on the "competence" front. The sudden political demise of Beers, Heck and Porter gives him a clear field of fire.

Tourists: Ever hospitable, Clark County voters gave them the finger, by endorsing a 2%-3% hike in the hotel tax. Thankfully, it's just an advisory vote.

Joe the Player: Winner. Clinton-era tax rates are coming back, which may hurt the "whales" but should be good for the rest of us. The Clinton administration coincided with halcyon years of casino growth, especially in Vegas and on the Gulf Coast. The succeeding eight years were dominated by M&A binges, condomania and a narrowing of the Strip's economic appeal toward the monied elite -- the latter being a very sore point among casino consumers. Vegas-wise, which eight years would you choose?

Jon Ozark: This cardboard dummy was wheeled into Nevada Assembly District 21 by local monied interests, to knock off Asm. Bob Beers -- not be confused with the less-hirsute state Sen. Bob Beers -- for having the audacity to stand up against Steve Wynn, he whose name dare not be pejoratively uttered in Carson City. That much having been accomplished, in the general election Ozark discovered once again that it takes more than a pretty face to win. Good luck in your next district, Mr. Ozark. They say the third one's the charm.

Senate prediction: feeling good

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 17:15:00 -0700

I've been checking Intrade's election "futures" markets and, if you "buy" Sen. John McCain at 9.9 you could collect on the longshot of a lifetime. (I'm of the pessimistic "I'll believe an Obama win when I see it and not one second before" persuasion.) Unless, that is, you want to go waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay out an Aleutians-length limb and buy Ted Stevens "futures" (which is an ironic term, seeing as Sen. Stevens appears to have no future whatsoever -- at least none that don't involve a long series of numbers across his back).

I notice that Intrade's odds have reversed on the Al Franken/Sen. Norm Coleman slugfest in Minnesota, while the trends in all the other ones I profiled last week have solidified. (Reform Party candidate Dean Barkley is a respected figure and has made a robust showing in the polls but is doomed to be an also-ran yet again.)

So I see no reason to amend my prediction: Dems gain six seats, for a total of 55 (plus Bernie Sanders), but Coleman comes from behind late in the fourth quarter to prevent further GOP erosion.

Forget Tim Pawlenty; if Coleman pulls this out I expect him to be the Minnesotan to start showing up on the futures markets as a contender for 2012.

Eighteen months later ... Believe it or not, it's been 18 months since Michelle Obama made her first campaign visit to Nevada. Yours truly was detailed to cover that June '07 stump speech -- actually more of a marketing effort to raise people's comfort level with the Obama "brand" -- which I sandwiched between CineVegas screenings. So how does today's visit compare to what seems like 18 years ago?

Alaska nixes gambling; Politics here, Harrah's there

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 20:41:00 -0700

With Alaska and its governor all over the news of late, I got to wondering what had become of that ballot initiative, backed by bar owners, to expand gambling in Alaska.

As it happens, the initiative was voted down, the most lopsided defeat for the casino industry in a year of setbacks, following legislative rebuffs in Kentucky and Massachusetts. It did, however, prevent discomfiture for one opponent -- Gov. Sarah Palin, who would have been required to appoint the members of the proposed Alaska Gaming Commission, had it been voted in.

If you're scoring at home, that's: Palin 1, Slot makers 0.

Politics Makes Strange Bedfellows Dept. Although the largesse of MGM Mirage tends to flow towards the GOP, one of its prime beneficiaries this year is Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick (D-MI). Meanwhile, the war chest of unopposed Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) has been swelled by donations from Phil Ivey and Doyle Brunson.

Conyers is seen as a critical ally in the move to overturn the UIGEA, that midnight raspberry blown to online poker players by then-Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) and Rep. Jim Leach (R-IA). Frist retired soon afterwards and voters -- probably including some pissed-off poker players -- sent Leach packing.

Swift Harrah's verdict? We may not have to wait long for a ruling on Harrah's Entertainment's legitimacy to build and run a casino in Kansas. There's the little matter of a disputed non-compete clause with the Prairie Band of Potawatomi Indians, who formerly made use of Harrah's managerial experience before the latter severed ties. However it comes out, a speedy resolution is to be hoped for. It's going to take the Sumner County casino two years to get up and running anyway, even without being ensnared in litigation.