David Mckee's Stiffs & Georges - Politics

Quote of the Day

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 17:06:00 -0700

"I'd like to keep one strip of that airport as an airport. I think it closed prematurely. I think greed went nuts." -- Atlantic City mayoral candidate Joseph Polillo (I), on what to do with Bader Field. Incumbent Mayor Lorenzo Langford's idea for the former airport is -- wait for it -- another casino.

MGM: CityCenter worth $4.88 billion

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 15:37:00 -0700

MGM Mirage has announced that it's writing off approximately $1.3 billion (i.e., taking an "impairment charge") against CityCenter, with $348 million of that chalked up to falling real estate values. (Some $174 million of that will apparently be fobbed off on MGM's partners, bringing MGM's writeoff down to $1.1 billion.) The value of MGM's half-share of the project has been restated at $2.44 billion (a 31% decline). No word yet from Dubai World as to what it thinks its half of CityCenter is worth.

Kirk Kerkorian's Tracinda Corp. shook a rhetorical fist at Wall Street, stating in a press release that there is "substantial unrecognized value in MGM and CityCenter that is not reflected in the market value of MGM’s stock." It's nice to know that even mega-corporations can feel underappreciated.

Bottoming out? Air traffic into and out of Las Vegas was almost flat, year over year, -1.2% in September, helped by passenger-load increases -- and I don't mean those hefty people who take up two seats -- on nearly every domestic carrier not named US Airways (-26%). Considering that international traffic was -21%, this is augurs well for a return of domestic consumer confidence in Sin City. And, yes, flat is the new "up."

Pennsylvania: Rendell intervenes. Never accuse the Keystone State Lege of acting in haste. The table games bill is still mired in conference committe, prompting Gov. Ed Rendell (D) to wade into the fray. Rendell's magic number for the amount of revenue table games must yield in fees and taxes is $200 million. To get there, the guv believes the tax rate must be 16%. But he's closer to the GOP position, warning that the higher levies favored by Dems would "kill the golden goose" and deprive Little Johnny's school of needed funding. Meanwhile, Rivers Casino continues to disappoint, with the lowest revenue-per-slot in the state.

Finally, a taker! Out of left field, a contender has emerged for the orphaned casino license in Cherokee and Crawford counties in Kansas. You'll recall that it was awarded to Penn National Gaming, seemingly ages ago, but Penn -- spooked by nearby tribal competition -- all but spat on the license before leaving in a huff.

Enter Ozark Trail Gaming, a consortium of Kansas businessmen, offering to build a $225 million, 900-slot, 30-table casino. After some bad experiences with carpetbagger casino developers trying to dictate terms to the Sunflower State, you have to think the Kansas Lottery Board will look kindly upon this native-son effort.

ColSux loses again. A $41.5 million summary judgment has been slapped on Columbia Sussex for abrogating its purchase of the President riverboat in St. Louis (now the property of ColSux arch-foe Pinnacle Entertainment). Regulators for Missouri didn't like the looks of ColSux and its CEO, William J. Yung III (above). The latter pulled his license application and used that as an excuse to void the President purchase, but a federal district judge wasn't buying it.

The former President owners were also suing ColSux for jacking up parking rates for casino patrons by 560% (no, that is not a typo), a truly Yungian move. If poetic justice were served in this case, the court would award the ship to ColSux. Since the President's days on the water are numbered and Yung will licensed in Missouri only in his wildest dreams, trying to dispose of that near-worthless asset might be the aptest punishment of all.

Goliath, computer nerd; Lowden Trek: The Wrath of Reid

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 15:09:00 -0700

As some may recall, the saga of Goliath, the LVA rescue kitten, had a happy ending. Not only has he found a new, loving home but the hyperactive little fellow (whose new owners renamed him "Murderface") has developed an interest in technology:

"Robin said he’s obsessed with the computer — he’ll shimmy up her leg or the back of the chair, then either perch on her shoulder or sit in front of the monitor and bat at the cursor on screen."

Since my two cats only acknowledge computers to the extent of sitting either A) on the mouse pad or B) in front of the screen, effectively blocking it, Goliath would appear to be part of that younger, techno-savvy generation.

Sue Lowden = Klingons? The senatorial candidacy of Archon Corp. Treasurer Sue Lowden is evidently being taken quite seriously by Sen. Harry Reid. So much so that Reid's office has threatened to "vaporize" Lowden, prompting some musings on the proper response to phaser fire. If Reid wanted to do Nevadans a service, shouldn't he instead vaporize Lowden's Pioneer Gambling Hall, a grind joint that's been likened to the barren, depressing, post-2004 Vegas Club downtown?

Only in Nevada

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 18:17:00 -0700

To end the week on a note of levity: For the second time this year, both Gov. Jim Gibbons and Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki got it into their heads to be out of state simultaneously. (One senses that they don't consult each other about scheduling or much of anything else.) Which means that -- also for the second time this year -- the Silver State was briefly helmed by state Senate President Pro Tempore Mike Schneider. Let's just say that, given this opportunity, Acting Gov. Schneider didn't let it go to waste.

Elsewhere in the Silly File, we find New York-New York holding auditions for a spokesman. They're being politically correct and saying "spokesperson," but considering that aforesaid person is going to be dubbed Vinny "The Man," I have a faint suspicion that members of the gentler sex aren't going to be in the running. The winning candidate must "have the most New York swagger" and be adept at gluttony: Winning a hot dog-eating contest is a prerequisite for would-be Vinnys.

I love New York. Seriously, Manhattan is my favorite place on Earth. (However, it is a poor vantage point from which to write about the casino biz.) Which is why I think promoting its Vegas knockoff through the persona of a dese-dem-dose palooka is a notion so creaky and archaic it needs a walker. Not for nothing has a colleague already dubbed this "the dumbest promotion of the year." I concur.

Jim Murren to the rescue. The CEO of MGM Mirage is going to bat for Sen. Harry Reid. The latter's got the casino moguls (Sheldon Adelson, excepted) in his corner, if nothing else.

Case Bets: Reid, Goodman, Madison (Holly) & a kegger

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 16:06:00 -0700

As they say on Dancing with the Stars, in no particular order ...

Eight against Harry: For a speedy primer on the myriad challengers to Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV), you can't go wrong with Jon Ralston's droll and speedy primer. It even gets props from John Chachas (R-Central Park West), who recently tossed his homburg into the ring. At least one among the posse Ralston calls "Snow White [Archon Corp. Treasurer Sue Lowden] and the Seven Dwarfs" has a sense of humor.

Reason vs. rage: While Steve Wynn was ranting on the boob tube this weekend, Thomas Krugman's column offers an indirect rebuttal to Wynn's Johnny One-Note ("Tax policy!") table-pounding.

Run, Oscar, run! If these poll numbers don't nudge the World's Happiest Mayor into the 2010 gubernatorial race, perhaps nothing will. Oscar Goodman not only has the highest favorables among Nevada politicians included in the survey, he wins one theoretical electoral matchup and ties for first in the other.

Gov. Jim Gibbons' political future looks bleak (read: borderline nonexistent) and there's not much comfort for Hapless Harry, either. Just think how much worse it would be if Reid had an opponent possessing genuine gravitas. Besides, given the rising tide of discontent among Nevada's progressives, there's a good chance that much of Hapless Harry's old base will just stay home on Election Day.

In Oscar's domain, an architect suggests ways to revitalize Downtown by decreasing energy use, increasing sustainability and generally targeting long-term cost savings. The proposal makes a lot of sense -- a virtual guarantee it will be ignored.

Holly Madison tapped an Oktoberfest keg at Siegfried & Roy hangout Hofbrauhaus last Friday. [Your punchline here.]

"Serpent Head" Jr.: If CNN ever has to let James Carville go on vacation, don't worry ...

... SNL's Bill Hader can fill in and nobody will notice a difference.

East Coast antics

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 13:55:00 -0700

Wrong again. There I was, thinking the proposed $10 million upfront fee for table games in Pennsylvania was a done deal when the GOP-controlled state Senate upped it to $15 million (and if you don't pay by June 1, it goes to $20 million). Chalk that up as a "loss" for casino owners.

The latter did, more or less, get what they wanted on taxes, where they'll pay an aggregate state/local rate of 14%. Despite publicly requesting a 34% tax rate, Dems in the lower house are muttering that one in the "high teens" might be acceptable. The question is: In return for what?

Casinos also banked a "win" when the state Senate ashcanned an amendment that would have tripled the slot base at "resort" casinos. Since this amounted to preferential treatment for a tiny percentage of the Keystone State casino industry, it's good to see it get the back of Lege's hand.

Power play in New York. In the competition for the racino contract at Aqueduct Race Track, those in the hunt include MGM Mirage, Penn National Gaming, Harrah's Entertainment and Seminole Tribe-owned Hard Rock Entertainment, along with numerous and sundry joint-venture partners.

But none of the seems to have the juice of Larry J. Woolf's Navegante Group. After the New York Lottery Division had deemed Aqueduct Entertainment Group (in which Navegante is a partner) unqualified, Gov. David Patterson's underlings put the word out that the five-member consortium is indeed qualified. Somebody in Aqueduct Entertainment's got pull, that's for sure.

A win for Adelson. While no casino company was remotely near the top of Newsweek's ranking of the 500 greenest companies, Las Vegas Sands can claim a victory of sorts. Sheldon Adelson's firm clocks in at #128, well ahead of MGM Mirage (#164) and Wynn Resorts (#176). Given the extent to which MGM has publicized its green-friendly initiatives, particularly with regard to CityCenter, finishing so far behind LV Sands is tantamount to a smackdown by proxy.

Several years after the publication of Beneath the Neon (now available in e-book format) publications are still shocked -- shocked! -- to learn of Las Vegas' large (and growing) subterranean community. Alas, we no longer have the Hooverville that had sprouted about a half-block north of LVA HQ. Those hobos were a tidy bunch and made our street seem halfway populated.

Marie Osmond pix. I'm just sayin'.

Quote of the Day

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 16:31:00 -0700

A few more Congressional pleasantries like this one and we'll be right back to the good old days when political opponents settled their differences with pistols at dawn or simply by beating each other senseless.

Stanley Ho: I'm not dead yet!

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 13:15:00 -0700

Either rumors of Stanley Ho's death, three weeks ago, were greatly exaggerated or the elderly casino magnate has made the most remarkable recovery since Jesus Christ. (I'm put in mind of a favorite bit of Babylon 5 dialogue in which Capt. Sheridan [Bruce Boxleitner] confirms that he indeed died, adding, "I'm better now.")

Today, Bloomberg News reports Lawrence Ho says dear old Dad is "looking better every day" and making a good recovery from -- as best we can conjecture via published reports -- a subdural hematoma brought on by a nasty fall. The younger Ho says his father's SJM has no plan of succession in place. Boy, when the Grim Reaper eventually comes for old Stan, the fight for control is going to make King Lear look like a tea party.

A compromise is shaping up in the Pennsylvania table-games wrangle and casinos won't like it one bit. According to J.P. Morgan summary, while the Dems in the lower house haven't budged off their preferred $20 million upfront fee/34% tax equation, the GOP-led state Senate has blinked.

The Senate's proposal would set the license fee at $15 million (a 50% increase) and the taxes at 14%, up from 12%. Casinos might be able to swallow that, on the presumption that the tax increase is small and the extra $5 million in fees can be quickly recouped. Even at $20 million, a bigger upfront hit can be regained by operators off the back end -- provided that the tax rate stays relatively low. Doubtless that's the lesser of two evils, from their perspective.

Bluhm: $45 million saved is $45 million earned.

On the money-saving front, the budget for the initial version of Neil Bluhm's SugarHouse casino is now announced at $310 million: a -$45 million shift. Considering that Bluhm's Rivers Casino and Sheldon Adelson's Sands Bethlehem came in at a staggering $1.5 billion-plus (combined), this new dollar figure suggests a welcome return to fiscal restraint. Your turn, Foxwoods.

What's a Trump casino worth?

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 15:07:00 -0700

Only $14 million in cash (plus a $100 million equity infusion), according to The Donald. Bondholders say, we'll see your $115 million and raise you $100 million. The latter would recoup at least some -- but not very much -- of their $1.25 billion debt under their plan, while Das Trump would send them away virtually empty-handed. (Moral: When Donald Trump asks you for a loan, take a page from Nancy Reagan and Just Say No.)

The bondholders' assignment of a $75 million valuation to Trump Marina seems awfully optimistic for what is, in essence, a corpse that can't be sold. In essence, the real value proposition is resurgent Trump Taj Mahal, with the other two casinos scarcely better than throw-ins. The Marina is, if anything, an albatross around the company's neck. Still, given that CEO Mark Juliano is going to exceptional lengths to champion the Trumpster's bid, which is a big "screw you" to the debtholders, here's hoping Judge Judith H. Wizmur holds firm for a more responsible solution.

Ho: No! "I don't see major resorts opening for the next couple of years now," says Lawrence Ho. thereby raining pessimism on the expansion plans of Las Vegas Sands, Wynn Resorts and Galaxy Entertainment. The younger Ho also speculates upon the Chinese government's motivation for throttling, then somewhat relenting upon travel to Macao. Interesting tidbit: Marketwatch.com reports that "Venetian Sands" [sic] has cut its number of table games by 25%.

Nevada revenues in. And yeah, they suck. They're much less sucky than usual (-9%), showing an upward trend in baccarat plus two locals-oriented bright spots in the form of Aliante Station and M Resort. It's unclear, though, how much of the growth generated by the last two is new business vs. redistribution of dollars from elsewhere in the valley. The Sun's analysis is far more informative than that found in the R-J.

Wait 'til next year. That's the timeline for casinos in Massachusetts. Even though western Mass looks like slim pickings, lawmakers will probably have to put a casino there just to get the bill onto the floor.

Penn bid falls. Lenders to bankrupt Fontainebleau won a small victory or two, as the judge overseeing the case seems determined to keep lead developer Jeffrey Soffer as far from the disposition of F'bleau as possible. (Soffer is both a debtor and creditor on the project.)

F'bleau, for its part, revealed that Penn National Gaming's offer is now "substantially less" than $300 million, but would include money to replace the windows that are reportedly falling off the building. (One more reason not to build a Strip megaresort tower flush against the "pedestrian realm.")

Groundbreaking today for the long-awaited SugarHouse casino in Philadelphia, under the shadow of a stick-it-to-SugarHouse tax that's been proposed in the Lege. Table games, meanwhile, might be off the table in the face of a $200 million lawsuit. You see, non-racino casinos are allowed to have 5,000 slots (in return for a $50 million fee). Small "resort" casinos -- known as "Category 3" -- only have to $5 million and get 500 slots (accessible only to guests). That's proportional, obviously, and seems fair.

However ... lawmakers want to tilt the playing field by giving Category 3 casinos 30% as many slots as, say, Rivers Casino or SugarHouse, instead of 10% ... and open those games to the general public, not just guests. Of course, the state can't go to the one existing Category 3 casino and ask for another $10 million -- can it? Casino operators are also solidly behind the GOP position on table games: $10 million upfront plus a 12% tax. But, unless House Dems completely capitulate, the gaming bosses are unlikely to get what they want, at least where the tax rate is concerned.

Penn whiffs again. Although Penn Nat'l was supposed to be a bidder in the bankruptcy auction for the Lone Star Park racino, it evidently didn't get into the action and the track went to the Chickasaw Nation for $27 million. (A lot less than Harrah's Entertainment paid to get into Ohio.)

Which means that if/when gambling is legitimized in Texas, the Chickasaws will have a double advantage (parimutuel + tribal status), while Penn will be looking at yet another missed opportunity. Penn's corporate strategy is a baffling alternation of rashness and hyper-caution.

In other tribal news, much-criticized National Indian Gaming Commission Chairman Phil Hogen is gone, thank God, and with him his new, more-restrictive Class II rules. Hogen was justly pilloried for attempting a rollback of hard-won gains in what games tribes could offer. His new rules reflected Bush administration paternalism toward tribes and while they're officially postponed for a year, I think it's safe to say they're dead.* No wonder Rep. Dan Boren (D-OK) is smiling. Watch out for that doorknob, Mister (Ex-)Chairman.

(* It's probable the same thing would have happened under a President McCain, as either candidate would have brought a more enlightened attitude to D.C.-tribal relationships.)

Supporters of video gambling are starting to push back in Illinois, at least in rural, conservative McHenry County. So far it's been the urban areas where this expansion of gambling hasn't been gaining traction.

A repeal of UIGEA continues to gain ground in the House of Representatives, even if it got pulled off the floor in the Senate. (Thanks for nothing, Harry Reid.) The money quote, literally, is a reference to an amendment Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA) which would would specify that "corporate taxes owed on regulated Internet gambling activities are collected, as they currently are from the land-based casino industry." [emphasis added]

If that means what it implies, it would remove the spectre of industry-wide federal gambling taxation from the discussion and leave taxation to the states. If not, then the nose of the federal casino-tax camel is still sticking through the legislative tent. And you know where that leads.

We've seen a nationwide gaming tax get shot down during the Clinton administration but there are desperate times, obviously. Republicans like Mike Huckabee and Rep. Steve King (R-IA) have been looking to sock it to casinos at the federal level for some years now, so I fear it could have bipartisan support, should such a debate come to pass.

It's playoff time. A tired, flat-footed Minnesota Twins squad looked positively dreaful last night, flailing at outside pitches from C.C. Sabathia (if you couldn't reach that slider in the first inning, your arms aren't going to be any longer in the seventh, son). Cliff Lee made short work of the Colorado Rockies (besides, Jim Tracy can't win in the postseason), the St. Louis Cardinals look set to continue their tradition of postseason underperformance and my Anaheim Angels are forever reduced to a quivering heap of Jello in playoff games against the Boston Red Sox. Why am I having visions of brooms?

Case Bets: Corzine, Penn vs. MTR, Pinnacle, Manilow & strippers

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 15:06:00 -0700

Forbidden by New Jersey law from directly contributing to political campaigns, casino companies are making an end run through Virginia. Harrah's Entertainment, Boyd Gaming and IGT are among those funneling campaign cash into a reverse version on the Underground Railroad. No wonder Gov. Jon Corzine (D) is able to carpet-bomb his opponents with advertising, if he so chooses.

Hey, big spender. The New Jersey gubernatorial race may be chump change compared to the cash being expended in the battle over Issue 3, which would permit four Vegas-style casinos in the Buckeye State. This is boiling down to a proxy fight between Penn National Gaming (pro) and racino specialist MTR Gaming (con). You'll recall that the Ohio Supreme Court nixed Gov. Ted Strickland's plan to unilaterally add slots to the state's horse tracks, which might have given MTR a level playing field with Penn.

While I can understand why Penn or Harrah's would be willing to pay 23% in taxes in Iowa or 27% in Kansas, it's mind-boggling that Harrah's would be chomping at the bit in Rhode Island, where the rate is 73%. Oy vey!

A green shoot. The Baton Rouge Business Journal reports that Pinnacle Entertainment is inking contracts to begin driving piles for its Lake Charles project. Called "Sugarcane Bay" and budgeted at $407 million, this is the first positive movement we've seen out of Pinnacle in a while (unless you count its hijinks with the President license up in Missouri). Good on them.

Manilow on the move. The Las Vegas Hilton has confirmed what all suspected: Barry Manilow's contract expires Dec. 30 and will not be renewed. As we reported in Question of the Day, it's nearly a done deal that he will now set up shop at Paris-Las Vegas, whose main showroom has gone long unused.

Good luck trying to get the Vegas constabulary interested if your car is stolen or your home burglarized. They're too busy going undercover to get lap dances. As Richard Abowitz notes, rampant prostitution on the Strip goes unchecked in the meantime. It's an open secret around here, although many of the "working girls" look downright scary, so you have to wonder how they turn tricks, especially in this economy.

$300 mil for F'bleau?

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 13:10:00 -0700

That's the latest; namely, that Penn National Gaming will put down less than $300 million as a "stalking horse" bid on Fontainebleau. Penn would also be on the hook for the costs of the project's bankruptcy proceedings. Potentially getting a Strip resort for less than 10% of its cost sounds like a good deal for Penn ... until you think about the hundreds of millions of dollars (possibly as much as $2 billion) that stand between F'bleau and the finish line.

Sue Lowden evidently didn't get the memo that Mike Ensign is no longer writing fat campaign checks at Mandalay Resort Group. How else to explain the Archon Corp. treasurer's loud and frequent fealty to Ensign fils, the ethically challenged junior senator from Nevada? Lowden's proclamations provided an irresistible temptation for Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee spokesman Ed Schultz, who sniped, "Sue Lowden's support of John Ensign may have fundraising value to her, but it is a reflection of her own character and fitness for office. She has shown more fidelity to him, than he has shown to his own wife." (Lowden is gunning for Sen. Harry Reid's seat.)

In her capacity at Archon, Lowden could line the younger Ensign up with a dandy post-senatorial job as a casino greeter at her Pioneer Gambling Hall in Laughlin. (As for Lowden, at least she's off Jon Ralston's "Chicken List," after gracing the Face to Face set. Your turn, Sheldon Adelson. Does Sue Lowden have more huevos than you?)

The perils of Packer. Reeling from a $1 billion loss on his overseas casino misadventures, James Packer and his Crown Ltd. are putting some of their Melbourne land on the block.

Not buying it. Although MGM Mirage CEO Jim Murren may have predicted that CityCenter's premiere would increase Vegas visitation by 10%, but gaming analysts aren't having any of it, especially when all the new room capacity is at the high end. Also, it's remembering that the 1998-2000 roll of megaresort openings and the 2005 debut of Wynn Las Vegas coincided with robust U.S. economies. Andrew Zarnett advises casino bosses to look at current numbers as the new baseline -- which sure beats pining for the vertiginous and unsustainable levels of two years ago.

Macanese machinations. Conventional wisdom on the advisability of floating IPOs in Hong Kong continues to seesaw. The Wall Street Journal runs the numbers and finds gaming stocks defying the market's downward trend. Which is good news for Steve Wynn and possibly even Las Vegas Sands' public offering, which is taking forever to reach the launch pad.

Goodman: "We're in the toilet"; "Peepshow" redux

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 15:42:00 -0700

Mayor Oscar Goodman sounds increasingly motivated to run for governor next year. He's angry, which is good: Nevada needs someone who's nettled about our sorry -- pardon the pun -- state of affairs. (I tried umpteen times to embed the KRNV-TV video but had to admit defeat; sorry again!)

As to Goodman's fear that a governor couldn't make a difference, recent history is a poor guide. Both Gov. Jim Gibbons and predecessor Kenny Guinn developed reputations for doing as little as possible to move their legislative agendas through Carson City. The rap on both was that they'd issue their budget and then basically take the phone off the hook. One cannot imagine such passivity from Goodman.

On the issue of why we need an irate candidate, just replace "Somalia" with "Nevada" and this is where we're headed, fast:

We don't have cholera yet but we had a dandy hepatitis outbreak recently. And our assembly-line endoscopy centers will be happy to literally rip you a new one. (Remember, it was Goodman who took action during the hepatitis crisis, while Gibbons dithered. Even the Gibbons-adoring Las Vegas Review-Journal editorial page likened Midnight Jim's crisis response to a kitten trapped in a paper bag.)

Peepshow 3.0: The R-J's Mike Weatherford goes back for the band-less, Aubrey O'Day-augmented version and finds that this addition-by-subtraction thing is working pretty well. He also makes some trenchant points about the dainty approach that has ill-served the show from its inception.

The sins of the father

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 13:06:00 -0700

For all the brouhaha about Mike Ensign funneling 96 grand to his son's mistress and three of her four family members, the smoking gun (in the form of a canceled check) has not surfaced. Until now:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Things are getting so bad for Ensign fils that even his confessor and gynecologist, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) is pushing him under the bus. But, more importantly, if there's any doubt as to why states like Kansas should not be granting casino licenses to Mike Ensign, now one need only flourish a PDF of the 96-dime check he wrote to the senatorial concubine and her pimp daddy.

The good news is that Ensign Junior is merely a U.S. senator and not -- as he once was -- a middle-tier executive in a major casino firm (with an enabling Dad sitting atop the company). The Senate can withstand negative PR far better than the casino industry.

If Johnny Casino can ride out this latest scandal (and it doesn't seem likely), then the fun really begins. Odds are the Gov. Jim Gibbons would appoint himself to Ensign's seat rather than be ignominiously voted out of office next year. He could just think of it as a long, taxpayer-subsidized vacation.

Crime doesn't pay; Wyden wimps out

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 14:19:00 -0700

Five dimes worth of damage, $40,000 bail -- and all to wrest a measly two grand from some vending machines at Harrah's Atlantic City. That's the losing bet made by two security guards. Couple this with the floormen who destroyed their careers for a comparably picayune sum of money they allegedly scammed from Planet Hollywood, and we're seeing a level of desperation in casino crime the likes of which I can't recall.

City of Dreams. Voters in Ohio haven't approved casinos in any form yet, but that's not stopping Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert, who's already had a design executed. Gilbert has lined up critical support by promising to forego hotel rooms and restaurants (though he's left himself a little wiggle room there).

But don't be fooled: Phil Satre used the same Trojan Horse strategy to get an onshore casino in the heart of New Orleans. A few bankruptcies and legislative showdowns later, Harrah's N.O. has a hotel and a couple of restaurants. (Like it or not, Satre was brilliant.) I'll be so not surprised if Gilbert gets his casino, then discovers the numbers don't pencil out at a 33% tax rate, and starts waffling on his non-aggression pact with hoteliers and restaurateurs.

Damn that vox populi! Seems that Harrah's Entertainment had a bit of contractual noblesse oblige written into its pact to purchase Thistledown Racetrack. If the issue of racinos has to be put to a vote of the people, all bets -- so to speak -- are off. Which means that Harrah's can take its $89 million and skedaddle, leaving bankrupt Magna Entertainment holding the bag. For the moment though, Harrah's is playing the issue down, saying talk of a pullout is "premature" and hasn't been given much thought.

Even Las Vegas Sands appears to be feeling disappointed with early results from Sands Bethlehem. A massive, 2,000-slot expansion, slated for November, has been scaled back by 88%. Even so, Pennsylvania casinos are busy planning for the addition of table games (although the Lege hasn't approved it yet). The price of table games will probably be higher (18% tax + $15 million upfront) than casinos want, but at least they've been successful in battling back an expansion-sapping 34% tax rate on tables. For slots, they still have to pay a usurious 55%, one of the worst rates in the nation.

But if Sands wants to maximize its drawing power, it might want to think about finishing the hotel and other amenities that got shoved onto the back burner when Sheldon Adelson's coffers began to run dry. At least Sands has gotten a temporary reprieve from sliding to sixth place because -- even with financing in place -- Neil Bluhm is taking a go-slow approach to his $355 million Philadelphia casino, out of deference to historical preservations. (Funny how Bluhm can build a Philly casino complex for half of what Adelson blew on his unfinished Bethlehem resort.)

Fortune favors the bold, which means it won't smile upon Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), who apparently caved to pressure from increasingly useless and counterproductive Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV). It looks like Hapless Harry is behind Wyden's craven withdrawal of an amendment that would have taxed Internet gambling to help pay for health care reform.

Incidentally, an amendment that would have authorized $100 billion to close the infamous Medicare "doughnut hole" was voted down yesterday. Jeez, those 'Net-bet taxes could have come in handy as an alternative means of plugging the hole. (Oh, and fuck you too, Max Baucus.)

And that goes double for you, stock-picker Jim Cramer, whose spam rips through our LVA filters like Japanese torpedoes through the hull of the U.S.S. Oklahoma. It makes me sorry I ever said anything nice about you, Jimbo.

Bad bulletins for Sands & Strickland

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 12:03:00 -0700

Last week, Audit Integrity identified the 20 companies most at risk of bankruptcy (minimum market capitalization: $1 billion) and the lone gambling operator on the list was Las Vegas Sands. On Friday, Business Insider piled on. Pruning Audit Integrity's list of any firms with market cap below $3 billion, that still left nine companies ... and Las Vegas Sands.

Quoth the Insider: "Conditions in Las Vegas are horrible, Asian expansion isn’t enough, and if this lasts too long then LVS will end up in bankruptcy court looking like it bit off more than it can chew."

Marina Bay Sands: a megaresort too far?

No shit. With an unfinished casino-hotel in Pennsylvania and the abortive St(ump) Regis condo on the Strip, Sheldon Adelson has too many fingers in too many pies. Plus, his $5 billion Singapore albatross will get beaten to the starting line by subsequent entrant Genting. And even with a sudden easing of access from mainland China to Macao, it's too soon to be going pedal to the metal on the remainder of the Cotai Strip™, as Adelson would clearly like to do.

(As though to twist the knife in the wound, retail developer Taubman Cos. made a point -- in the course of reiterating its interest in a rival project -- of saying it wasn't in the market for the two shopping malls Adelson is desperately trying to unload.)

Ohio's supreme court delivered a swift kick to the groin of Gov. Ted Strickland (D) -- and to the casino industry's hopes for imminent expansion into Ohio. By a 6-1 vote, the high court ruled that addition of seven racinos needs to go before a vote of the people, throwing as much as a 14-month hitch into the process.

If that weren't enough, Strickland has to cope with the continued meddling of Sen. George Voinovich (R-OH), who seems to believe he still occupies the governor's mansion, too. Governors hate it when the congressional delegation bigfoots them on intra-state affairs. Such a clash led to a permanent rift between fellow Republicans then-Gov. Kenny Guinn and then-Rep. Jim Gibbons.

Strickland, meanwhile, is poring over the court's ruling in search of loopholes that might allow Class II gaming to go on line in December. It's that or cut $852 million from the state budget. If he can insinuate VLTs into horse tracks by May, then voters have a few months to get habituated to them before the 2010 vote.

For Harrah's Entertainment, the good news is that the court's ruling temporarily shaves $47 million off the sale price of Thistledown Park (the full $89 million tab is contingent on racino conversion). For seller Magna Entertainment, the bad news is that the deal may fall through entirely if Harrah's doesn't want to gamble on the outcome of further legal challenges and the tender mercies of the electorate.

The Apocalypse is nigh!

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 14:04:00 -0700

Las Vegas to Nowhere, all aboard!

Oh.My.God. Both Gov. Jim Gibbons (R-NV) and I are in agreement on something: Sig Rogich's Choo-Choo to Nowhere blows donkeys and that maglev (aka, "The Sin City Express") is the way to go. CityLife Editor Steve Sebelius has the shocking news from Carson City.

Admittedly, $45 million is a drop in the bucket -- if that -- and Midnight Jim may be piqued to see Rogich in the embrace of new Desert Xpress supporter Sen. "Hapless Harry" Reid. Gibbons and the Sigmeister used to have a steamy bromance going ... at least until Midnight Jim got a little too friendly with a cocktail waitress, whereupon Mrs. Gibbons gave Rogich the boot. And lastly, by waiting until after Reid switched his support from maglev to Sig's choo-choo, Gibbons may be doing too little, too late.

But I give Gibbons credit for bucking GOP orthodoxy, which holds that a train "from Las Vegas to Disneyland"* is Evil Incarnate. Besides, nobody -- and I mean nobody -- with whom I have discussed the Great Train Debate, whether they're from Nevada or California, has the slightest intention of driving to some big-ass Park 'N Ride in Victorville, Calif., just so they can hop a train to Vegas (or rent a car to L.A.). Might as well drive the whole way.

As for Midnight Jim's belated epiphany: Welcome aboard, Guv.

(* -- The smarmy hypocrite who coined that phrase later backtracked on his own high-speed rail request after it made him a further target of public ridicule.)

Salvation for Nevada?

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 15:59:00 -0700

Former Nevada Attorney General Brian Sandoval has made it official: He's stepping down from the federal bench to challenge incumbent Gov. Jim Gibbons. That means Midnight Jim can start packing up the governor's mansion. Maybe he already is. Whatever he's doing, he's not attending to the state's crumbling tourism infrastructure. This dereliction of duty is reprehensible at a time when Las Vegas, Reno and points beyond need all the traffic they can get.

I've dealt with Sandoval in the past and he's a class act. Heck, unless Oscar Goodman throws his martini glass into the ring on the Democratic side, I might have to re-register as a Republican to vote for Sandoval in the 2010 primary. Sandoval may be fairly conservative but he's capable and widely respected, two qualities one does not associate with Nevada's current governor.

Midnight Jim has given us nearly three years of unmitigated cronyism, scandal and incompetence, and Nevada cannot be rid of him and his do-nothing "leadership" soon enough, in my opinion. Thank you, Sheldon Adelson and especially J. Terrence Lanni, along with any other gaming CEO who helped foist this buffoon upon the Silver State.

If you've sent me an e-mail and haven't heard back, it's because our current e-mail platform is -- what's the technical term? -- fucked. So I apologize for my apparent bad manners. Also, we cannot upload new imagery into the blogs. Which means that, for instance, an extremely droll image forwarded by kerr_mudgeon cannot be viewed at this time. Which really sucks.

To make matters worse, some subscribers aren't receiving automatic notifications of new blog entries because these are being randomly kicked back by the dozen. So I apologize for that, too. Our LVA tech people are doing their best but they're fighting a multi-front war right now. Thanks for your patience.

Quote of the Day

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 15:03:00 -0700

S&G yields the floor to former President Jimmy Carter:

Runner up, among many choice quotes, goes to South Carolina Democratic Party Chairman Dick Harpootlian: "I think [Rep. Joe Wilson]'s conduct was asinine, but I think it would be asinine no matter what the color of the president. I don't think Joe's outburst was caused by President Obama being African-American. I think it was caused by no filter being between his brain and his mouth." (Harpootlian knows Wilson from way back.) And, as a former South Carolinian, let me say, please don't boycott the Palmetto State. (Even though they still have a hangup about casinos down there.)

Meanwhile, in its fruitless search for comity at all costs, the White House turns a blind eye to the whole mess. Which ought to remind us that all it takes for evil to triumph is for people of good will to do nothing.

Health care "reform": It's out and it stinks, basically. It incorporates the one truly bad, deal-breaking idea of the '08 McCain campaign by making health benefits reportable as income. But don't worry: Sen. Harry "Hapless" Reid (D-NV) promises to make the bill even worse.

I have only five words remaining: You da man, Jay Rockefeller!

Can John Ensign disown his dad?

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 13:39:00 -0700

Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) finally has achieved distinction within the Senate -- albeit in a manner of which he's surely never dreamt. Citizens for Ethics & Responsibility in Government* has named Johnny Casino to its Most Corrupt Members of Congress list. It's an elite club in which he'll find six fellow Republicans and eight Democrats.

This calls for an awards-acceptance speech and, like so many before him, Sen. Ensign couldn't have done it without Dad. CREW's citation reprises the role played by recent Kansas casino aspirant Mike Ensign, who once upon a time ruled Mandalay Resort Group: "Sen. Ensign’s parents paid Ms. Hampton and her family $96,000 after they had learned of the affair. Mr. Coggins [the senator's attorney] insisted the payments were not made from campaign or official funds, nor were they related to any campaign or official duties. Rather, he explained, the April 2008 payments were 'gifts made out of concern for the well-being of long-time family friends during a difficult time.' Each of Sen. Ensign’s parents made out four checks in the amount of $12,000 to Cynthia Hampton, her husband and two of their children. [emphasis added] Sen. Ensign’s office claimed the alleged $25,000 severance payment was part of his parents’ $96,000 'gift.'"

So, in case your son doesn't show appropriate gratitude, let me say, thank you, thank you, thank you Mike Ensign for smearing feces all over the casino industry's image at the precise moment that new (and very conservative) jurisdictions are opening to it. And if you're MGM Mirage CEO Jim Murren, you might want to have your accountants vet the old Mandalay corporate books, just to be doubly sure there weren't any "patterns of generosity" back around 2002, when Sen. Ensign is widely believed to have had a prior affair. (The identity of his alleged mistress is no secret around Vegas, by the way.)

For all the senior Ensign's labors in the gaming industry, he's likelier to go into the history books as the bagman and enabler for his son's sexcapades.

Sen. John Ensign believes out-of-wedlock births should be "somewhat stigmatized." But out-of-wedlock sex? His position on that is more "nuanced," shall we say.

(* Yeah, yeah, I know: Ethics + responsibility + guvmint often seems oxymoronic, especially in Nevada, but we're working on it. And the senatorial Twitter feed actually springs from the satirically fecund mind of Andrew Kiraly.)

Speaking of Mike Ensign, what the heck was Kansas Lottery Executive Director Ed Van Petten doing playing the role of media-shy Ensign's personal spokesman? In a literally incredible statement, as paraphrased by The Associated Press, Van Petten said of Ensign and ex-Mandalay sidekick Peter Simon: "they didn't like the fact that the Lottery owns the new gambling under Kansas law — or the 27 percent share of revenues reserved for state and local governments."

Bullshit. Casino ownership by the Lottery has been part of the deal from Day One. As for the tax-rate malarkey, Mandalay Resort Group co-owned the Grand Victoria riverboat in Illinois, which -- in 2003 -- became eligible for a top-tier tax rate of 70%. In Detroit -- again on Ensign's watch -- MotorCity's tax rate went to 24%. In neither instance did Mandalay stalk out of town in a state of high dudgeon.

So the notion of Ensign Sr. falling into a gentlemanly swoon at the prospect of a 27% rate just doesn't wash. Either he and Simon knew this going in and are now prevaricating -- via messenger boy Van Petten -- or they're doofuses who failed to perform due diligence on the Kansas market. Which reputation would they prefer?

The truly inexcusable Van Petten further went on to apologize for his own state's oversight apparatus, saying, "Basically, [Simon and Ensign] just didn't like the regulatory makeup." Well too bad for them. It comes with the territory. What Van Petten should be saying is that if a couple of unemployed ex-Strip casino executives don't like the way Kansas does business, they never ought to have set their Gucci loafers in the Sunflower State to begin with. Or, in the immortal words of Law & Order's Jack McCoy:

"If you're gonna play stickball in Canarsie, learn Brooklyn rules."

Vegas snubbed again

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 02:03:00 -0700

So the Death Star decides to drop by Planet Earth and where does the Imperial Fleet choose to spend its shore leave? San Francisco?!? Doesn't the Empire know Las Vegas is America's leading vacation destination, is renowned for its shows, nightclubs and high levels of inebriation, has legal prostitution just across the county line in Pahrump, and is generally a real bargain right now? Boy, is Oscar Goodman going to be demanding an apology from Emperor Palpatine or what? Harry Reid may even make an almost sort-of forceful speech on the Senate floor or, scarier still, read extensive passages from Searchlight: The Camp That Didn't Fail. That'll show those Vegas-scorning Sith!

'Peepshow''s little Hitler problem

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 16:20:00 -0700

Congratulations (not!) to the producers of Peepshow, whose rent-a-headliner stratagem has finally blown up in their faces. They're replacing a Jew (Shoshana Bean) with a fan of the leadership abilities of -- I kid you not -- Adolf Hitler. Oh, and she's a googly-eyed admirer of Fidel Castro, who -- among other offenses against humanity -- ran the casino industry out of Cuba.

Of course, this town has a tycoon or two known for cozying up to the authoritarian regime of Singapore and the downright despotic one in Peking. So perhaps Ms. O'Day's pathetic excuse for a brain will just be a 48-hour story ... but that's what we thought about Sen. John Ensign's escapades, at least until Mike Ensign's role as payola daddy came into play.

(Thanks to Richard Abowitz for the heads-up on this one.)

A reader informs me that the site LasVegasDowntownNews.com appears to be defunct. I couldn't get it to load either and blogger Jeff Burbank's output was sporadic at the best of times. Has this site gone the way of all flesh? If anybody has the skinny on this, please let S&G know.

"Oh shit!" headline of the day: Seen at Huffington Post, "Harry Reid to take the wheel on health care." That's like finding out the one family member who's certifiably incapable of navigating the driveway is going to pilot the family car up Mount Charleston.

Facts are stubborn things, II

Fri, 04 Sep 2009 19:11:00 -0700

The only comprehensible explanation of Social Security I've ever heard was given at the 2000 World Gaming Congress by then-private citizen Al Franken. (And, yes, I agree with the late Robert Novak that it's basically "a Ponzi scheme.") Fast-forward nine years and now-Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) emerges as perhaps the first cogent voice on the Democratic side of the health care debate -- much more so than President Obama. Fortunately, "some YouTubes" were there to capture Franken in action at the Minnesota State Fair.

Regardless of one's political stance, this video is a remarkable example of the art of persuasion. But is it too late for voices like Franken's to prevail in a debate that's largely dominated by demagogues and dumbasses (I'm looking at you, Sen. Max "Kreskin" Baucus [D-MT])? Well, enjoy.

Quote of the Day

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 15:49:00 -0700

"In a life filled with trials, Ted Kennedy never gave in to self-pity or despair." -- President George W. Bush, paying homage to the late senator (1932-2009).

Quote of the Day

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 13:20:00 -0700

"I wouldn't say he has been on his game lately." -- University of Nevada-Reno poli-sci professor Erik Herzik on the tenure of Gov. Jim Gibbons. Presumably by "lately," Herzik means from 12:01 a.m., Jan. 1, 2007 to the present.

11:59 p.m. for Midnight Jim

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 12:38:00 -0700

• Bad news for Gov. Jim Gibbons: Were he to run against former Attorney General Brian Sandoval (or rather, vice versa) undecideds would have to break 3-to-1 in Midnight Jim's favor for him to win the primary. Dr. Joe Heck and North Las Vegas Mayor Michael Montandon, thanks for playing; maybe you'd prefer to take on Sens. Harry Reid or John Ensign instead.

• Good news for Gibbons: The Mason-Dixon poll used a pitifully small sample (400 respondents), although the resultant margin of error -- 5% -- still doesn't afford Midnight Jim much hope. And even the anemically polling Rory Reid needs only 4% of undecideds to put him across the top vs. Gibbons, if the poll is to be trusted.

• Good news for Republicans: Sandoval would cruise to victory against any Democratic challenger. I've interviewed Sandoval in his gaming-regulator and AG days, and -- other than then-Sen. Richard Bryan -- he's probably the classiest public servant I've dealt with in Nevada (close third: then-Secretary of State Dean Heller). He's got my vote unless perhaps his opponent is ...

• Oscar Goodman. The World's Happiest Mayor will be made more joyful still to see himself trouncing both the spineless Barbara Buckley and the surprisingly unpopular Rory Reid. (The son does not also rise, it seems.) During Hizzoner's recent 70th birthday celebration, the Fremont Street Experience showed a montage of Goodman family photographs (births, weddings, bar mitzvahs, etc.). After the seedy sexual shenanigans of Messrs. Ensign and Gibbons, Oscar looks -- dare I say it? -- downright wholesome.

• Bad news for Goodman. Even he loses to Sandoval in the theoretical general election ... but the generous (6%) margin of error and large number of undecideds hold out a slim Reid, er, reed of hope.

I still say: Run Oscar, run! Goodman vs. Sandoval would be the best choice Nevadans have had in 12 years. Sandoval knows how the levers of power work in Carson City (unlike maladroit Midnight Jim), while a Gov. Goodman wouldn't be afraid to put some elbow grease and forceful rhetoric behind his budget proposals, unlike former Gov. Kenny Guinn. Nevada would be well-served by either of them.

Stupid Politician Tricks

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 11:43:00 -0700

Please meet our contestants:

Sen. John Ensign (R-NV). "I think it would be inappropriate to start any other way than to say I'm sorry. I've said I'm sorry. I can't say I'm sorry enough. I made a big mistake in my life and I apologize once again to all of you." Thus spake Johnny Casino to 100 supporters in Fernley, Nev. Perhaps he was rehearsing those remarks for when he has to deliver them to his dad, Mike Ensign, whose Prairie Sky casino proposal was (rather too) coincidentally and summarily dismissed in Kansas this week.

Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT), techno-whiz and renowned psychic. "There were a couple of people in the crowd 'with YouTubes, Mr. Baucus added (meaning cameras), and he posited that the agitators were paid and probably from out of state. ('I could just sense it,' he said.)" Yes, my fellow Americans, it is this clueless old fogey whom Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) has made virtually the sole arbiter of the future of American health care. If you have reasons to vote for Reid next year, subtract one.

Gov. Bobby Jindal (R-LA), churchy casino opponent. The hypocrisy here is so rank that ... well, let's just go to the video (Jindal's up first, so you can skip the remainder if you like):

Ah yes, because the Baton Rouge-New Orleans corridor is so much more heavily traveled than I-15 between SoCal and Vegas. Besides, New Orleans is a renowned temple of virtue and Louisiana doesn't have any o' them vile casinos like Las Vegas. [/sarcasm]

Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA). Included for party balance and on the presumption that he continues to employ, at taxpayer expense, a raging termagant who hates, hates, HATES being called "Liz." And boy, will she let you know it.

Quote of the Day

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 21:30:00 -0700

"Obama is deluded if he thinks this will win him any peace or respect or Republican votes. Weakness does not lead to consensus in Washington. It leads to more weakness. The Party of No intends to bring him down and will pile on. Obama has inadvertently demonstrated their strategy of vicious invective seems to be working."-- William Greider on President Obama's timid, appeasement-based approach to the health-care debate. I wish I could quote the whole thing but you can read it here.

Update: The previous blog entry, "This just in ..." has been augmented with the extended-play version of the "Heil Hitler" hoedown at Stoney's. In it, Connie McCrazy (or whatever her name is), reveals her 100-proof ignorance of several facts ... such as that federal funding of abortions is illegal. Probably shouldn't be, but it is.

This just in ...

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 21:17:00 -0700

If getting slammed in a Time Magazine cover story weren't indignity enough for one week, Las Vegas just made national headlines again -- and in a very bad way. That crackpot (below) has handed Vegas' detractors one more stick with which to belabor our noggins.

Greek Isles sold, few care

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 19:23:00 -0700

Vegas' hardest-luck casino changed hands ... again. Short of another irrational spike in off-Strip land valuations, Canpartners Realty Holding Co. IV LLC is never going to see its $67 million again. The Greek Isles is in a dead zone, a block too far north (being a block away from Encore doesn't do you any good if you're on the wrong side of the block) and two blocks too far east.

Ah well, kinda serves Canpartners right for lending $56 million against a property that was never worth but a fraction of that amount. And until Canpartners gets a gaming license and captures the casino revenue, instead of leasing out the space as a big-ass slot route, it might as well buy a Motel 6 instead.

Had enough? You'd think that after spending six of the last eight years being used as a doormat by the opposition, congressional Democrats would be saying, "It's payback time." Not yet. If anything finally gets their back up, it may (ironically) be a President whose desire for comity too often translates into giving the store away.

There are still a few crumbs left upon the table for those of us who are uninsured, afflicted with pre-existing conditions or laboring under onerous co-pays. But that'll probably be bartered away, too, and we'll be left at the mercy of people like this s,o.b. M.D. who says it's a "privilege" to be healthy. So I'm guessing he's not down with that Hippocratic Oath stuff, either, huh?

Hard Rock overextended. Having doubled down on its costly purchase of the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, manager/minority owner Morgans Hotel Group finds itself playing for time with its lenders. Reinventing The Joint proves to have been a good idea; ditto the new convention space -- both are helping to stave off catastrophe.

But it was sheer pigheadedness of Morgans to push ahead with not one but two new hotel towers amid declining ADRs and slippage in occupancy. When Boyd Gaming called a timeout on Echelon (partly due to partner Morgans' fecklessness), it should been a cue to "wrap" the megaresort-sized expansion of the Hard Rock, at least for the time being.

Quote of the Day

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 15:05:00 -0700

"When tens of thousands of Nevadans are losing their jobs, their savings, their homes, their dreams and their way of life, cronyism generally and the particular 'pattern of generosity' practiced by the Ensigns has roughly the same effect on the senses as the maggot-infested corpse of a bloated pig rotting over a broken sewer line on a hot August day." -- Hugh Jackson, on Mike Ensign's payment of $96,000 in hush money to his son's kept woman and her avaricious husband.

Senator Sue?

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 21:49:00 -0700

Why should Nevada have only one former casino executive in the U.S. Senate when it could have two? Sen. John Ensign (R-Nevada Landing) might soon be keeping company with Sen. Sue Lowden (R-Santa Fe Gaming Corp.), if a poll commissioned by Lowden supporters is in any way indicative. Lowden, an ex-legislator who was drop-kicked by her constituents in '96, was co-owner of the Santa Fe Hotel until it was sold to Station Casinos in 2000. Station then did to the pro-union workforce what the Lowdens could not: sacked every last one of them. Business suffered afterward (customers didn't appreciate the disappearance of familiar faces) but Station has always liked to live dangerously.

Lowden currently sits on the board of Archon Corp., proud owner of the Pioneer Hotel in Laughlin, as well as of the Wet 'n Wild remnants that almost became the site of James Packer's Crown Las Vegas. Archon has a habit of turning up in the newspapers every now and again, sometimes when investors get riled up about dubious, insider-friendly stock moves. Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) may not even have to unpack his heavy artillery; the Culinary Union will be only too happy to unleash its attack dogs on Lowden ... again.

Casino wars in Macao

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 16:25:00 -0700

Bloomberg's interview with Credit Suisse's Steven Chan is now online and is must-see TV:

Quote of the Day

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 13:34:00 -0700

"There was a time I greatly respected Mike Ensign for what he accomplished in the gaming industry. After his son John's affair broke the news I wondered how this would affect the reputation of his father. Then we find out that his father and mother paid off the Hampton's [sic] in what has become a monumental scandal. In the end this has greatly reduced the reputation of the Ensign name in Las Vegas. Actually so much so that Ensign has become synonymous with hypocrisy." -- "LVPaco," commenting in the Las Vegas Sun. The elder Ensign's "pattern of generosity" to Doug and Cynthia Hampton has complicated his attempts to obtain one of Kansas' four casino licenses. Also, GOP efforts to field a candidate against Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) have been torpedoed by Ensign Junior's wayward penis.

The sins of the son ...

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 15:54:00 -0700

... are visited upon the father, it would seem. The Sen. John Ensign sex-and-payola scandal becomes more incestuous and nepotistic by the day, and even the Las Vegas Review-Journal has slowly realized that this is not A Good Thing for the new-casino ambitions of former Mandalay Resort Group chair Mike Ensign.

By buying the silence of ... I mean, continuing a "pattern of generosity" to senatorial mistress Cynthia Hampton and her money-grubbing husband, Ensign Senior gambled with his reputation. It was a bad bet, a busted hand that's already making casino proponents uneasy and playing right into the hands of the anti-gambling crowd.

Quite simply, the State of Kansas has to decide whether it wants to entrust one of four casino licenses to a man who's been caught paying hush money. Is that indicative of how he'll do business as a casino owner? Ditto the convoluted structuring of the payola so that it would fly below IRS radar. Or do you cross your fingers and hope that, as boss of Prairie Sky, Mike Ensign doesn't sail too close to the wind?

As for Johnny Casino's political sidekick, Mike Slanker, he probably thought hitching a ride to Washington on holier-than-everyone Sen. Ensign's coattails would be a ticket to national prominence. He just never figured this is how he'd become famous:

What many thought/hoped would be a 48-hour story has become nearly a two-month extended engagement that shows no signs of ending soon. Neither is there any telling how much farther down Mike Ensign will be dragged by his son's skirt chasing but for the sake of his reputation and that of the casino industry, this would be a good moment for him to quietly re-retire from the fray.

Back here in Nevada, where the Ensigns are still awash in "juice," regulators could probably be persuaded to take a forgiving view. But Toto, we're not in Nevada anymore.

Quote of the Day

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 14:08:00 -0700

"Privé. Gibbons. Ensign. Rampant foreclosure. Half-built, hubristic casinos. Record unemployment. UFC. Mob Museum. Maybe Las Vegas 2009 is just Tom Wolfe's next novel." -- Las Vegas Weekly Editor Scott Dickensheets, from Facebook.

Quote of the Day

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 13:30:00 -0700

Sig Rogich's choo-choo to nowhere. Some parts of Sig sold separately.

"Even with the Victorville-Palmdale link, which is not a dead certainty, a Las Vegas rider who wanted to see the Magic Kingdom would have to travel from Sin City to Victorville to Palmdale to Sylmar to Burbank to Los Angeles to Norwalk to Anaheim.

"Start early if you want to see the fireworks." -- CityLife Editor Steve Sebelius on the Harry Reid/Sig Rogich juice train. Speaking of "juice," über-lobbyist (and Reid crony) Harvey Whittemore has prevailed again in one of the greasiest juice jobs I've ever seen. Poor John Ascuaga's Nugget; it never stood a chance.

Quote of the Day

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 12:13:00 -0700

“A brightly tanned, hapless figure, who uses his [F]amily connections to graft holiness to his gambling fortune name.” -- former "The Family" member Jeff Sharlet on Sen. John Ensign. Sharlet's new book delves into the neo-fascist religious cult to which Ensign belongs.

MGM booting Midnight Jim?

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 16:56:00 -0700

Whilst Gov. Jim Gibbons is overseas, engaged in top-secret derring-do, there's bad news on the home front. News outlets are starting to report that MGM Mirage is directing all of its 2010 gubernatorial donations to Clark County Commissioner Rory Reid. (The Sun had the story first but good luck trying to find it with Greenspun Media's FUBAR search engine.)

Why does this matter? Because MGM was a veritable cash register for Midnight Jim during his '06 race. Gibbons was then-CEO J. Terrence Lanni's parting gift to the state of Nevada. Lanni doubled down on his support of Gibbons after the then-congressman was accused of getting frisky with a cocktail waitress after a boozy night out with influence peddler Sig Rogich.

Even with a ski-lodge pitchman running his campaign, Gov. Jim Gibbons is going to learn that his re-election bid won't be a run on the bunny slopes.

Lanni's boosterism toward Gibbons never made sense: Nevada's leading proponent of widening a gross-receipts tax onto non-casino business supporting a candidate whose entire platform boiled down to "No New Taxes. Period"? Does.Not.Compute.

Once elected, Midnight Jim showed his true colors, jilting Lanni for the cozy embrace of Sheldon Adelson and basically taking his marching orders from Las Vegas Sands HQ.

If MGM has crossed Gibbons off its Christmas list now, he might as well call it a day. This is the biggest footprint planted on his backside to date. True, Reid fils is no shoo-in, even for the Democratic nomination. Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley is expected to put up a strong fight, although some of us wish she'd done the same in the '09 Lege, where she played the role of doormat to both the mining industry and the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce.

As I said before of an Oscar Goodman "spoiler" candidacy, What's there to spoil? Run, Oscar, run!

From distinction to disgrace

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 15:33:00 -0700

Even as CEO of Mandalay Resort Group (before it was subsumed into MGM Mirage), Mike Ensign kept well out of the limelight, content to let sublatern Glenn Schaeffer be the company's face. Now, as he contemplates a return to the casino business with a $235 million Kansas project, "Big Mike" Ensign may no longer have the prerogative of obscurity. In fact, his subsidizing of his stepson's tawdry sex-and-cronyism scandal could be the act for which the co-architect of Mandalay Resort Group is ultimately remembered.

The elder Ensign has always been there to support the man Jon Ralston has dubbed "Little Lord Fauntleroy," even installing him in key positions at then-Circus Circus properties like Nevada Landing. Industry crticic Sally Denton, writing in The Daily Beast, voices a hithero-unasked question about Sen. John Ensign's larger political aspirations.

Namely, "Johnny Casino" has made a career of shamelessly pandering to the religious right, which abhors gambling. Yet he (literally) made his fortune in the gaming industry. If push had come to shove and were the White House still in his sights, who would have gone under the bus? Casino baron Mike Ensign or his stepson's Goody Two-Shoes constituency?

S&G couldn't find a picture of Mike Ensign, so you'll have to make do with his "rigidly coiffed" stepson.

A Kansas casino license seemingly within his grasp, Ensign Sr. will now have to answer questions about the 96 dimes he lavished upon Ensign's mistress and her morally flexible husband. (Note to Papa Ensign's lawyer: If you have to assert that it's not "hush money," it's hush money.)

The cherry atop this sundae of seaminess is that the Ensigns structured the 96 grand payoff in multiple increments in order to circumvent having to pay taxes. Oh, and the acceptance of the Mike Ensign largesse by money-grubbing cuckold Doug Hampton went unreported and is currently unsubstantiated. So are we talking "on the up and up" or "under the table"?

When Mike Ensign has to make his case to Kansas officialdom as to why he ought to be entrusted with one of the Sunflower State's precious few casino licenses, he's gonna have some 'splainin' to do. The rest of us can thank our lucky stars that the former CEO was out of the industry at the time of this sordid imbroglio. Had corporate money found its way into the Hamptons' Love Nest Chest the collateral damage to the casino industry as a whole would be incalculable.

Guess we dodged a bullet there. But as for Mike Ensign, thanks for nothing, sir.

Case Bets: Midnight Jim, Sands, "Peepshow", Hard Rock, Reid

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 12:50:00 -0700

Chronic ineptitude by Nevada's governor is endless fodder for comedy (like entrusting your re-election campaign to the former marketing director of a ski resort and political novice.)

But it also has perilous consequences. For instance, his thoughtless decision to pack the Nevada Gaming Commission with lawyers now threatens to hamstring the board. Jane Ann Morrison details how new Commissioner Joe Brown had to abstain from 24% of last month's votes. Seems he had conflict-of-interest issues with a couple of miniscule slot houses called Station Casinos and Harrah's Entertainment. Whoops. Brown's is the most egregious problem but it's hardly the only one.

Most of Jim Gibbons' appointments to the NGC and the Nevada Gaming Control Board have been solid but this was a real boner and somebody up in Carson City should have seen it coming.

Midnight Jim discovers Facebook. He also learns the need to think before you "friend." He sure won't be getting Bill Raggio's vote next year.

Rescue may be at hand for the beautiful and historic Boulder Dam Hotel, thanks to a mysterious benefactor. As for recent arrival Shear Madness, not so much. I hear that the "interactive" show may not have been interactive enough to ride the Vegas wave of Marriage Can Be Murder and Tony 'n Tina's Wedding.

In case you missed it ... Apparently eager to stanch the flow of exiting executives, Las Vegas Sands has given Rob Golstein a promotion to senior VP. The new title comes with a $535,000 raise. For those of you keeping score at home, that's $2,758 for each of the 194 workers Sands just pink-slipped.

Bean out, O'Day in: The producers of Peepshow are, more than anything else, great at generating publicity. It's official that Shoshana Bean will be supplanted in late summer by Playboy cover girl Aubrey O'Day. It sounds as though Bean was plugged into the cast on very short notice (with seven days or fewer of rehearsal), lending credence to the reports that Mel B.'s disappearing act came as an unpleasant surprise to the erstwhile Scary Spice. At present, Bean is the best thing Peepshow has going. How unfortunate it was but a brief fling. Shoshana, we barely knew ya.

Rushing in where angels fear to tread, Morgans Hotel Group will open 490 more Hard Rock Hotel rooms on July 27, well ahead of schedule. The timing seems odd but Morgans and financier/hostage DLJ Merchant Partners have to make their rash of expansions at the HRH start turning a buck.

Reid safe at home. The window of opportunity for unseating Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) is closing fast. Thanks to Reid's support of assault weapons, the National Rifle Association has got his back. Avowed challenged Sharron Angle is woefully short of cash, while GOP dream candidate Rep. Dean Heller has even less financial traction. If Reid's unpopularity with the home crowd makes him a low-hanging piñata, the GOP just keeps flailing at empty air.

Back from Michigan

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 01:25:00 -0700

With the cats fed and their indiscretions cleaned up, I can report that I have just returned from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, land of indescribable scenic beauty and intermittent Internet access. I spent the better part of five days in the bosom of a truly wonderful -- and big -- family, and only one did I hear the dreaded words, "Michael Jackson." And, lemme tell ya, the annual Pioneer Days fireworks display in Negaunee, Mich., put Las Vegas' most recent Fourth of July shoot 'em up to shame.

Along with souvenirs, I also brought home a nasty cold, so I beg your indulgence as a I get back up to speed. While on the subject of bacteria, I see that "Johnny Casino" has dragged his dad, ex-Circus Circus coporate ringmaster Mike Ensign, into his increasingly sordid sex-fund scandal. Oh, and S&G was way ahead of Huffington Post on this angle. As my U.P. pal Sydney Dorow would say, "Score!"

Wynn vs. Dealers: The final (?) round of the tip-confiscation controversy played out last week. The Transport Workers Union is right about one thing for sure: If Wynn Resorts prevails, its policy will spread like wildfire throughout the state.

Peepshow 2.0: The second time's the charm. As for nearby After the Show, how much you like it will probably be in direct proportion to how many drinks you've had.

Blood: The Last Vampire: Internet responsive to this Chinese-Argentinian-French sanguinary spectacle has been universally derisive. So, wouldn't you know, I liked it.

Trop and tribulation

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 07:47:00 -0700

A pair of New Jersey lawmakers are hopping mad about the costly, dubiously competent Tropicana Atlantic City trusteeship of Justice Gary Stein. The solons are particularly het up over the way Stein was feathering his own nest.

"It is unacceptable, but not surprising, that this transaction would drag on for almost two years, yielding a cut-rate price for the sale and ballooning legal fees for the law firm of the state-appointed conservator," fumed Assemblyman Vince Polistina (R). He and colleague John Amodeo (R) will seek to impose new ethics rules and fee ceilings on future casino conservators. Good on them.

Divergent responses from within the New Jersey Casino Control Commission make interesting reading. The NJCCC's spokesman circles the wagons around Stein while Chairwoman Linda Kassekert -- clearly hip to which way the wind is blowing -- lines up with Amodeo and Polistina. She put Stein in the catbird seat but clearly has scant compunction about cutting him loose now that he's a millstone around her neck.

Harrah's goes to the dogs

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 13:49:00 -0700

A future Harrah's employee?

Harrah's Entertainment is poking its snout into the prospect of obtaining a management contract at bankrupt Twin River Casino, a dog track with VLTs in Rhode Island. The paraphrase of the explanation given by Harrah's senior veep Jan Jones seems fairly counterintuitive: "the state might be motivated now to give the company a shot because Massachusetts was on the brink of legalizing casinos."

OK, so Massachusetts is likely to legalize casinos, which makes this the perfect time to expand into ... Rhode Island? With its 60% tax rate? The part of Jones' explanation that makes more sense is that Harrah's would be able to tap into its New England base of Total Rewards players much closer to home (the nearest Harrah's outposts being Chester, Pa., and Atlantic City).

This could all be moot if the R.I. Lege scuppers a gubernatorial compromise that would can the dog racing and keep the casino open 'round the clock. Greyhound racing is a sport that really needs to be put out to pasture. Besides, it's only in place at Twin River because of a Byzantine legislative arrangement that Steve Friess rightly calls "a very weird deal," much of which involves propping up the dog-race union. (I never knew there was such a thing, but there is.)

So it's a win-win, right? A corporate savior for Twin Rivers and no more suffering doggies, yes? Well ... no, not if you're a nearby homeowner like Hal Perry, whose semi-rural lifestyle has been impinged upon by creeping incrementalism at Twin Rivers. Rather than lower the usurious tax rate, the state (which is seriously hooked on VLT revenue) simply keeps moving the goal posts -- longer hours, more machines.

Here comes Harrah's and, if you're a Twin Rivers neighbor worried about your property value, the noises are ominous indeed. As Jones tells Friess, "you couldn’t build a hotel right now ... So all of this is a process. But it's the beginning of the process and the point is that it's an excellent opportunity."

"Right now ... process ... beginning." In other words, Mr. Perry: Sell! Sell now! Get out before Harrah's drives you out.

Harrah's wins one. Sort of by default, but a win is a win. Dissident bondholders S. Blake Murchison and Willis Shaw had a shyster for an attorney. Case dismissed. Clearly, their due diligence with regard to lawyers was even worse than that they displayed as investors.

Gunshot? What gunshot? Although the Las Vegas Hilton was able to keep an on-property suicide out of the local papers, the news eventually surfaced via the Louisville Courier-Journal.

Case Bets: A.C. Trop, 21, Ensign, Boulder City, Jacko, etc.

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 12:45:00 -0700

After conservator Justice Gary Stein turned his trusteeship of the Tropicana Atlantic City into a $7.4 million gravy train, the New Jersey Casino Control Commission is belatedly bolting the barn door. It's going to petition the Lege to limit the ambit of future trustees, none of which would be necessary had the NJCCC not let Stein run amok in the first place.

The failings of his butterfingered stewardship have been rehearsed enough in this space. However, the Press of Atlantic City's story adds yet another incredulity-making touch. Stein, a former member of the New Jersey Supreme Court and with an entire law firm at his command, still had to rely upon legal opinions from the NJCCC's general counsel.

Lower bet limits are no bargain, the Las Vegas Sun finds. The Strip casino that has the stones to go back to 3:2 blackjack will become the hottest spot in town.

Who knew? Seems that Sen. John Ensign's curriculum vitae included a stint at the helm of the Gold Spike, one of downtown Vegas' seamiest casinos. Given the comparable seaminess of Ensign's ongoing scandal, perhaps it was a case of water seeking its own level. Las Vegas Gleaner reader "Goldy" puts the sordid mess in perspective: "... he didn't reveal the affair until the demands from the Hampton's [sic] (including Doug) became 'outragous.' [sic] That implies that prior demands were 'reasonable' and Doug was making them. ... he essentially was selling his willing wife, and Ensign was buying, until the number got too high. So, like most things, this entire deal was really just about the number." [emphasis added]

You can take Ensign out of the casino but you just can't take the casino out of Ensign.

A potential tragedy. Several weeks back, the Better Half and I spent a beautiful Sunday in Boulder City. The highlight of our visit was the Boulder Dam Hotel, where we enjoyed a splendid lunch and an eye-opening tour of a museum devoted to the history of Hoover Dam. (Suffice it to say that the people who built it endured privation that 21st century Americans would find unimaginable.) Sadly, we do not have the $60,000 that it's going to take to keep the Boulder Dam Hotel open. Please, philanthropic Nevadans, do not let this treasure go dark like ...

Nevada itself. Visitors to Gibbons-era Nevada are likely to find it closed. History? Books? Parks? Them's pansy egghead stuff fer Commie states like Kalifornia, doncha know? Gawta get me some more guns afore Harry Reid repeals the Decoration of Independence or whatever.

Speaking of museums ... could the untimely demise of Michael Jackson spell opportunity for mistake-prone Colony Capital? The casino owner has the opportunity to monetize its acquisition of Neverland Ranch as never before. Converting it to a tourist attraction rather than a (misguided?) real estate play seems a no-brainer.

The Trop heist that wasn't

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 14:49:00 -0700

"An improvident indictment." That's what New Jersey officials are calling a case that was quietly quashed in May. Sacked Borgata veep John Conklin and two other men had been charged with plundering the Tropicana Atlantic City's database when they were in the Trop's employ (and when the Trop was still owned by Aztar Corp.).

Closer examination revealed that nothing had been purloined and the data in question was not particularly sensitive, either. All three indictees have been exonerated ... but where does John Conklin go to get his career back?

Phantom redux: Defying the odds, the Venetian's production of Phantom of the Opera celebrated its third anniversary Wednesday night. I jotted down a few observations for CityLife. (Tina Walsh fans, take note.) Having seen the Broadway production -- albeit many years ago -- I'll be the first to allow that it actually improves on the original in a respect or two. Oh, and my CityBlog entry misspells choreographer Gillian Lynne's last name. My apologies.

Two titans of American popular music "played Vegas" last weekend. Actually, Loretta Lynn was in North Las Vegas and Aretha Franklin all the way out in Primm ... not remotely near the Strip. What's wrong with this picture? Or this one ...

Midnight Jim: taking down Big Oil

It's summer and gas prices are -- like, duh! -- on the increase. Gov. Jim Gibbons doth suspect that dark, foul, untoward schemes are afoot. But Midnight Jim assures us he is on the case. I feel safer already.

Gay cowboys. They're queer, they're here and they're at The Rio specifically. A straight-gay coalition turned out in force last night to celebrate its victory over Midnight Jim's benighted opposition to domestic partnerships. (Because that's not how he rolls, y'see.) Speakers included Harrah's Entertainment Vice President Jan Jones, who led the charge on Carson City.

For all the failings of CEO Gary Loveman's stewardship of Harrah's, on his watch the company has expanded its already-enlightened attitude on social issues. It's not just a question of being gay-friendly; it's good business.

Worth -$23 million?

Isle of Blight. Is the woebegone Greek Isles casino-hotel worth less than nothing? In a sense, yes, since it owes $67 million on a book value of $44 million. Even a resale price at book value seems wishful thinking, considering the Isles' chequered history.

Asserts the Las Vegas Sun, "With its strategic location near the Las Vegas Strip and the Las Vegas Convention Center, the Greek Isles and its associated real estate are seen as having long-term value after the recession ends."

Yeah, but it's had that "strategic location" for as long as it's been in existence and the Isles' progress has been a steady one from Bad to Worse. I wouldn't give a plug nickel for the place -- not with Strip land prices in freefall and vast acreage there lying fallow.

Miracles are possible. Work on Marina Bay Sands is, believe or night, a fortnight ahead of schedule. Next step: Hold the line on that (already swollen) $5.4 billion budget.

The waiting continues in the great state of Kansas. Its lottery commission wants another two months to review applications for the Wichita and Kansas City markets. Considering the recent flurry of dropouts (including Vegas' own Golden Gaming), you'd think this would expedite the process. Instead, the coronation is six months away.

Squeeze play. No time is being wasted as Pennsylvania rushes toward expanding into Class III casinos. Two rival proposals to add table games are presently on the table. Casino lobbyist Steve Rittvo is forwarding a plan that would tax new games at 12%. This is projected to generate $165 million for the Keystone State (assuming that slot play concurrently increases sufficiently to generate a $61 million impost).

House Whip William DeWeese (D) counters with a 21% tax, combined with a one-time $10 million/casino fee, for a potential Year One windfall in excess of $300 million. I wish Rittvo luck but fear that solons will -- as they so often do -- gravitate toward the bigger dollar sign. It's an institutional failing.

Neil Bluhm, Philadelphia's Sugar[House] daddy

On a happier note, Neil Bluhm's revised design for his Sugarhouse Casino, on the Philadelphia waterfront, has received the green light from the City of Brotherly Love. Barring further legal mischief by sore loser Donald Trump, this means the project can finally move ahead, with a temporary, 1,700-slot casino slated for a Spring 2010 opening. Hallelujah!

Just when you thought ... the sequel

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 14:15:00 -0700

Just when you thought we'd heard the last of ultra-vile "Slick Rick" Santorum, the troglodytic former Pennsylvania senator turns up as the leading suspect in the "Who tipped off John Ensign?" scandalette. Most GOP senators are admirable men and women doing what they think is right (pun unintended) for the country, but the terminally self-righteous Santorum raised being a dickhead to the level of an art form.

Anyway, the good news for conservatives in all of this is it appears to take Fox News at least partly (but not wholly) off the hook for seemingly being asleep at the switch. Closer to home, CityLife is hot on the trail of a previous "Johnny Casino" imbroglio that, if it can be corroborated, would make the Ensign/Hampton ménage look like a church picnic.

F'bleau: 'But who would want it?'

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 20:11:00 -0700

No sooner had I -- perhaps foolishly -- posed that question than the Las Vegas Review-Journal answered it. Top dogs from both Wynn Resorts and Harrah's Entertainment had been given tours of Fontainebleau, as had sundry other potential investors.

You've got to wonder how this news is playing with two constituencies: Harrah's bondholders and Wynn employees. Both have been poor-mouthed of late, with the latter absorbing severe pay and benefit cuts for the company's sake. As for Harrah's debtors, they're probably long since resigned to taking a bath on their investment, since the timeline for repayment already stretches far into the next decade. In other words, it's not the best moment to be seen out shopping.

Also, there's the small matter of cost. F'bleau's official budget has now crept up to $3.1 billion and -- if its bankers are right -- the completion money needed is close to $1 billion. (Insert Dr. Evil inflection here.) Steve Wynn might have enough socked away to swing that. Gary Loveman, on the other hand, says his company doesn't even have enough scratch to change its letterhead to "Caesars Entertainment."

Theory: Perhaps Loveman's sugar daddies at TPG Capital and Apollo Management underwrite the completion of F'bleau, maybe more -- but as a separate entity. Harrah's is then jobbed in to run the joint. It'd mean some administrative headaches for Loveman but nothing compared to those involved with being the out-and-out owner. Personally, I'd give Wynn better odds of actually getting this Spruce Goose into the air, but it's liable to be a charity case, whoever inherits it.

There's another reason for Wynn and Harrah's to approach F'bleau as they would a live grenade: the morass of litigation that surrounds Big Bleau. The latest batch of lawsuits alleges diversion of funds. Any casino company riding to F'bleau's rescue is going to want to be well indemnified against being dragged into this nightmare. No, Turnberry West and Fontainebleau will surely have to sort this out themselves.

Out of danger: That's where MGM Mirage says it is, largely by dint of mortgaging several key properties. CEO Jim Murren, meanwhile, complains that offfers for MGM assets aren't "close to what we believe the values are worth. The multiples are low. It seems like the wrong time."

Damn that free market! S&G humbly suggests that the low multiples are a reflection of the parlous state of the industry. Seven times cash flow just ain't what it used to be. Agree about the "wrong time" thing, though. Few are buying and even fewer banks are lending, so it's a heckuva juncture to be peddling one's wares.

Ensign concubine unmasked! He two-timed his wife with her? Beauty comes in many forms, but I'm thinking "lox," not "fox." As for well-remunerated cuckold Doug Hampton, he looks big enough to clobber the Nevada senator. Instead, he wrote a whiny letter to Fox News.

Despite his primitive spelling, grammar and punctuation, Hampton parlayed his husband-of-mistress status into a high-ranking sinecure at Allegiant Air. The latter says Hampton's employment was based on "his credentials and experience" ... not his education. Still, I feel as though my B.A. in English ain't worth the sheepskin upon which it's printed.

Quote of the Day

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 14:20:00 -0700

"I think that's a problem that the party has ... they've tried to govern morality rather than govern morally." -- Nevada GOP guru Chuck Muth, on the domino-like succession of toppled "family values" politicians, most recently Sen. John Ensign (R-NV, above).

Quote of the Day

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 13:02:00 -0700

“I worry Bush Administration holdovers ensconced at the Fed, Justice and Treasury [departments] will use the cover of much more pressing issues to step up enforcement action before either of the [Barney] Frank bills can work their way through Congress.” -- unnamed House Banking & Financial Services Committee staff member, on the prospects of UIGEA repeal in the current Congress.

1 picture = 1,000 words

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 11:32:00 -0700

One person's scandal is another person's marketing opportunity:

MGM: Deal or no deal?

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 17:55:00 -0700

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.

Better than sex

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 17:37:00 -0700

Even a prairie wildfire couldn't keep pace with the scandal that's charring what's left of Sen. John Ensign's political career. Cynthia Hampton's dalliance with the dashing Circus Circus scion was quite lucrative for the Hampton family overall. It's all very reminiscent of the way European monarchs used to sustain their mistresses and the latter's complaisant husbands.

Quoth The Associated Press: "An Associated Press review of federal records showed Cynthia Hampton, 46, received a promotion and a pay raise around the time of the affair at one political entity controlled by Ensign and a pay raise at a second."

The prevailing narrative has been that Ensign was being squeezed by Mr. Hampton for hush money. But it looks like quite a bit of such lucre had already changed hands -- particularly the cuckolded husband's severance payment, which coincided with the end of the affair.

As with the downfall of prostitute-patronizing Eliot Spitzer, it's not the sex, it's the hypocrisy (and the possible misuse of taxpayer dollars). Like Spitzer, Ensign loved to mount his soapbox and lecture America on personal morality -- with the sanctity of marriage being a favorite hobbyhorse. If you haven't already, expect to hear quite a bit about "Johnny Casino" and his flexible moral standards when the shoe is/was on then-Sen. Larry Craig's foot rather than his own. Like this ...

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

This morning I thought it was too soon to write obituaries for Ensign's political career. This afternoon, I'm not so sure.

D'Amato shoots, he scores!

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 17:03:00 -0700

Former Sen. Alfonse D'Amato (R-NY) has become an energetic champion of the online-poker community. Enjoy his virtuosic and highly entertaining verbal blitzkrieg against the Obama administration's misguided continuation (nay, escalation) of Bush-era anti-casino prosecutions. I'm skeptical of his projection of $20 billion in annual tax revenues from regulated Internet gambling, but otherwise I'm with "the Fonz" all the way.

In case you're joining this story already in progress, here's some exposition:

Thanks to Fox Business News for latching onto this story and devoting so much airtime to it.

Train to Nowhere II

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 13:59:00 -0700

Sig Rogich's choo-choo to nowhere won't really be the privately funded enterprise that it's being sold as, the Las Vegas Sun helpfully explains. Bottom line: Rail transportation is inherently unprofitable, so you and I will be ponying up for the R&R Express (as in Rogich & Reid) sooner or later.

Vegas on TV: Our fair city is showcased on Dateline NBC tonight, but not in a nice way. Look for the cameo appearance by Bally's Las Vegas in the pimp-daddy segment. Judging by the brazen attitude of the miscreants shown in this morning's preview on Today, they've taken that "What happens here, stays here" bromide for gospel truth.

Case Bets: Colony Capital, Siegfried & Roy, Obama smacks poker players

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 12:24:00 -0700

"Bats hang over the doorway to the building that housed Mr. Jackson's private arcade; guano stains the threshold." That's how the Wall Street Journal describes Michael Jackson's decaying Neverland Ranch. It gets even freakier from there, with the WSJ receiving a tour of the compound that might be described as Charles Foster Kane meets Pennywise.

Neverland is the latest can't-miss investment play by Colony Capital, whose crackerjack CEO, Tom Barrack, says: "We think we made a very smart real-estate deal ..." Then again, that's probably how Barrack felt about his acquisition of Station Casinos, which just took a bath on some of its land holdings.

Even by Vegas standards, Neverland is way up there on the Bizarre-o-Meter. Too bad Colony can't find a Native American tribe that can claim it as their ancestral land and have it taken into trust. It'd make a casino-based destination resort so demented and perversely infantile, Sin City would be green with envy.

The most blackly funny line in the video comes when the narrator says Colony is taking steps "to remove the taint of scandal." Man, there's no bleach on Earth powerful enough to eradicate that stain. Infamy, like nuclear waste, has a half life of forever.

A Tiger's Tale: Those cats of Siegfried & Roy's were endangering life and limb almost 30 years ago. And gosh, whatever became of the Siegfried & Roy IMAX movie that never screened locally? CineVegas, how can you let this introuvable escape your programming grasp? Maybe Johnny Brenden will let you rent his IMAX screen ... provided you show the movie at 7 a.m. or thereabouts.

So much for the conventional wisdom that Internet poker, at the very least, might find a sympathetic hearing from our poker-loving POTUS. The Justice Department's jihad against online casinos has taken a particularly nasty turn. The DoJ is striking at the soft underbelly of the business, going after players. So if you won $$ fair and square on the 'Net, too bad: Uncle Sam is going to relieve you of your money and if you don't like it, it's not like you can call the cops.

As I. Nelson Rose points out, we're getting into a legal gray area here -- not least because the federal injunction was brought in New York State, where online wagering isn't illegal. Let's give the banks the benefit of the doubt: They probably had little choice to go along with this draconian and unconscionable action, yet another intrusion by Big Brother. Rep. Barney Frank's proposed UIGEA rollback can't happen soon enough.

Adding insult to injury, the Obama administration is going to the mat on behalf of one of Bill Clinton's worst mealy-mouthed compromises -- the Defense of Marriage Act. In doing so, it's resorting to some of the most troglodytic arguments imaginable. Like: Equal rights are bad 'cause they cost the guvmint money 'n stuff.

Heavens, yes, just imagine how expensive it would be if we'd given women and African Americans the vote. What ... we did? I need to read my memos more closely.

So culturally benighted am I that I had to have someone explain to me who this Jon & Kate are and why they are the object of so much fascination. Sometimes ignorance really is bliss. At least they haven't "hosted" at a Vegas nightclub yet ... have they?

Xanadu: the prequel?

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 13:26:00 -0700

Martin Stern's 1975 conceptualization of a Xanadu casino-hotel, as virtually reconstructed by Dr. David G. Schwartz, struck a familiar chord with one S&G reader. They quickly detected a resemblance between Welton Becket's 1971 Disney's Contemporary Resort, built in modular fashion (hotel rooms were hoisted into place one at a time) for Disney World ...

... and the Xanadu design ...

How does it look to you? That pyramid look was certainly the "in" thing back when Stern was pitching Xanadu (which probably explains his choice of concept). Here's another example, from Cancun, the Grand Oasis:

Of course, when Las Vegas did get around to a pyramid-shaped hotel, it was such a flub (Luxor) that it's still being "fixed" to this day. Too bad we'll never know if Stern's concept would have worked because post-Luxor nobody's going to try anything remotely like it in Vegas again.

In other news: What may soon become know as Juice Train 2 continues to make headlines, thanks to Sen. Harry Reid's (D-NV) sudden flip-flop.

Goodman for governor ... again?

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 12:21:00 -0700

It's been bruited since at least 2002 and it's happening yet again: Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman is mulling a gubernatorial run for the umpteenth time. "Spoiler!", cry some. I look at the uninspiring field (Montandon, Heck, Midnight Jim, Buckley, R. Reid) and ask, "What's there to spoil?"

Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story: Drove the Chevy (Cobalt) to the levee but the levee was dry. How do you stretch a 75-minute tribute act into a two-hour/two-act Broadway musical? Badly, it seems.

Xanadu: It wasn't just a wretched Olivia Newton-John movie, Kubla Khan's pleasure palace or Charles Foster Kane's crib. It was also was also Martin Stern's unbuilt casino magnum opus. Dr. David G. Schwartz has revived his online museum dedicated to this project, "Paradise Misplaced." If it had been built, over 30 years ago, Xanadu would probably be one of those Strip casinos we now chuckle at, thinking it small, quaint and perhaps overdue for implosion. But it might have saved us from having to look at the oversize eyesore that is Excalibur, which looks laughably crude next to Stern's elegant designs.

Dr. Schwartz even recreates the Vegas of 1975. We've come a long way since then ... but who wouldn't want to hop into the Wayback Machine and experience the more spacious Strip that existed 34 years ago?

In between trying to wrap up Question of the Day essays on Carl Icahn, Stan Fulton, and condo sales in Las Vegas, I'm clearing the blotter of a few things that have fallen through the transom lately, such as ...

Elements: CityLife's Al Mancini didn't care for this new eatery, just off Tropicana Ave. The not-quite-missus and I ate there on opening night and had a better experience for our money. This review, intended for the most recent Las Vegas Advisor, didn't make the cut, so I offer it for your delectation:

Oscar didn't turn up for the May 13 opening but he'd definitely be in his, uh, element here, considering that the menu boasts no fewer than 253 martinis. Choosing but two was difficult but we opted for a chocolate-banana martini and the Miami Vice. If you want Strip-quality (or better) eating and drinking at off-Strip prices, you cannot go wrong with Elements. Both the martinis and the small plates inhabit the $7-$9 range, while the costliest entrée tops out at $25.

We started with the Kona beef short rib on gorgonzola polenta ($9) and it did not disappoint in either tastiness or generosity of portion. There are only two steaks on the menu but both were outstanding, though the black angus flank steak ($21) is quite a bit spicier than even the peppercorn-garnished black angus filet ($25). Both were accompanied by mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables. Only the dreaded cold butter-on-cold bread basket and sluggish service (despite a small crowd) detracted from a flavor-rich experience.

Off the wagon

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 12:46:00 -0700

Desert Xpress, now the R&R Railway ... as in Reid & Rogich.

That's it. I'm done. Stick a fork in the "Sin City Express" from Anaheim to Las Vegas. It's all but dead now that Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) has flip-flopped and thrown his support to a rival project touted by Sig "The Fixer" Rogich, in a juice job that's fooling absolutely frigging nobody. That the maglev project is now effectively dead is but a subplot. Seeing the handwriting on the wall, the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority hopped aboard, too.

The official story is that it's just a great big coinky-dink that the Sigmeister just so happens to co-chair Republicans for Reid. This collection of local muckety-mucks unmasked itself last week, sending the tacit message that Reid's 2010 challenger can expect bupkes from the bidness community.

In its defense, Sig's Desert Xpress is projected to be considerably cheaper than its maglev rival for federal funding. It also, Reid sayeth, would require fewer taxpayer-provided doubloons. (At least until it reaches "too big to fail" status, whereupon Harry & Sig have got John Q. Public by the short hairs; shades of the Las Vegas Monorail.)

However, Sig's choo-choo would travel roughly half as fast as the "Sin City Express" and would terminate in the middle of nowhere. As Hugh Jackson puts it, "After all, if not for Harry Reid's enormous political clout, Nevadans might not enjoy the newly heightened hope that someday they will be able to take a train to Victorville to eat at the truck stop." Apparently, the success of the project hinges upon its being extended westward to Palmdale, to hook up with CalTrans. (Or vice versa.) So it sounds like several shoes are as-yet undropped.

Pay no heed to the man behind the curtain, either. Reid lauds kindred spirit Rogich as "connected to people on just about every side of every issue." Or, in the immortal words of Boy George, "I'm a man/Of no convictions." Having foisted Gov. Kenny Guinn on Nevada twice over, Sig shamelessly flung himself into the arms of Guinn's bete noire, then-Rep. Jim Gibbons in 2006. After all, the most important thing is to come out on the winning side, right?

Rogich was master of the revels on a night of boozing that ended with Midnight Jim being accused of assaulting a cocktail waitress in a Hughes Center parking garage. (The incident is under civil litigation at present.) Aforesaid bacchanalia was conducted in lieu of Gibbons making a scheduled TV appearance to debate opponent Dina Titus, who's since gone on to bigger and better things. Tasked to provide adult supervision for Gibbons, Sig failed miserably.

Would you buy an unused locomotive from this man? At least one thing's clear. If Jackson, myself and Review-Journal Publisher Sherman Frederick are all of one mind on this Reid/Rogich lovefest, the Apocalypse must surely be nigh. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Quote of the Day

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 12:01:00 -0700

“We’ve got to diversify the tax base. It’s painfully evident that you’ve got to make everybody pay, not just gaming. And if the Legislature won’t do it, you may find us doing it ... You can’t operate as the worst state in the nation and expect you’ll have economic diversification.” -- Nevada AFL-CIO Executive Secretary-Treasurer Danny Thompson, bruiting the possibility of a petition drive for a gross-receipts business tax.

Reid rewarded, Trop rescued

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 15:47:00 -0700

... Sen. Harry Reid's (D-NV) efforts on behalf of the casino industry have not gone unrewarded. If you can follow this formatting garble, you'll see that his donors include not only Tim & Tom, late of the Golden Nugget, but also several reliably Republican casino CEOs.

Even the Fertitta Brothers have chipped in, which is the least they could do after the Senate Majority Leader shepherded a provision that incentivizes companies to buy back distressed debt ... which Station Casinos has in abundance. All of which means that Sharron Angle and any other GOP challenger will have to build up a war chest from other industries. The coffers of Big Gaming -- with possible exception of Sheldon Adelson's kitty -- are slamming shut. The industry has taken sides and put its money on Reid.

Yemenidjian is in the house. Pending the stamp of approval for the Nevada Gaming Commission, all systems are "go" for Alex Yemenidjian to take the reins of the Tropicana Las Vegas. The feeling at the Trop must be akin to that of a besieged garrison finally seeing a relief column marching its way.

The former MGM Grand boss is saying all the right things. His backer, Onex Corp., will invest $100 million (or more) in the property, which has suffered manifest neglect. Current operator Tropicana Entertainment's capex budget was fairly puny, symbolic of CEO Scott Butera's halfhearted commitment to the LV Trop.

Under Yemenidjian, the casino will be extended to encompass the ends of the two pedestrian bridges. Two new eateries and a nightclub are planned. No word yet about a new evening show (or about chasing the prostitutes, pimps and -- worst of all -- timeshare peddlers from the premises). But Yemenidjian has too much reputation at stake to simply continue the stagnation that has been the Trop's status quo for more years than I care to remember.

(Correction: Yemenidjian plans to lower the bridge, not raise the river. Which is to say that the pedestrian bridges will be extended to reach the casino, not the other way around.)

When Yemenidjian was (unsuccessfully) pitching an Illinois casino -- also backed by Onex -- his prospective management team included two Gulf Coast veterans: Joe Billhimer and Karen Sock, late of Hard Rock Biloxi and Harrah's Grand Biloxi, respectively. Both are heavy hitters and Sock, in particular, is overdue for a Vegas posting. Here's hoping Yemenidjian brings them here. Better late than never ... and the Trop needs some serious brainpower.

"We really mean it this time." Another day, another "Las Vegas Sands has the capital to restart the Cotai Strip™" story. Turns out it's the same old same-old. The prospect of asset sales, if not dead, isn't looking terribly hale. After all, who wants to buy a hotel in Macao if you must forefeit the casino action? Where's the fun in that (to say nothing of the money)?

2009 Lege in 18 minutes

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 13:41:00 -0700

You're used to my griping that the state of Nevada is, economically, a two-legged stool resting on a pair of unstable supports: gambling revenue and retail sales. The wretched excuse for a budget that just emerged would actually increase that reliance. Rather than review the incredibly depressing 2009 Legislature in anything resembling detail, I'll turn over the discussion to two real experts, bloggers Hugh Jackson and Chuck Muth.

In the Vegas One video, Muth opens an interesting line of argument for casinos to pursue in 2011, in hopes of obtaining tax relief -- or, at minimum, parity. He says that some over-taxed businesses (read: gaming) could call out the mining industry and others on grounds of simple fairness, saying: We'll pay our fair share but we want a level playing field.

Dunno if it'll work but it's worth running up the Carson City flagpole. The end result of the prolonged Jello wrestling match between Gov. Jim Gibbons and the Lege was a budget only slightly less penurious than what Midnight Jim originally proposed. (See sidebar.) So who really won?

But ... never again let it be said in re Nevada, "Growth pays for itself."

A great day for Nevada

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 18:19:00 -0700

As an otherwise abysmal 2009 Legislature wound down, solons earned congratulations for doing right by Nevadans in one respect. Thanks are also in order to MGM Mirage and Harrah's Entertainment, which both lent high-profile support to the measure, tirelessly championed by state Sen. David Parks. He -- and the supporters he pulled out of the woodwork -- chipped away until all the votes were in place to override the benighted veto of Gov. Jim Gibbons.

(Even the Las Vegas Review-Journal sides with Parks ... much to the dismay of the knuckle-draggers and mouth-breathers who constitute its core readership.)

Of 41 Gibbons vetos (a record), his opposition to domestic partnerships seemed among the surest to stand. While at least 22 of Midnight Jim's vetos have been overriden (another record -- and the first time it's happened in 20 years), this one was the sweetest of all.

Midnight Jim can now return to demonizing his own employees and to his divorce proceedings, which are taking unimaginably tawdry turns.

As for toxic marriages, the gold medal still goes to the Medea/Jason nuptials-from-Hades, which played out recently here in Vegas. Your humble theatre critic had a look-see. In the editing process, "shaving the dice" somehow became "shaving the device," which conjures up some pretty strange imagery, lemme tell ya.

Quote of the Day

Fri, 22 May 2009 12:15:00 -0700

"Indicative of the worst kind of Democrat, he's a wimp of highest order: a pushover substitute teacher type -- you remember the ones -- standing up there at the chalkboard with a crumpled, submissive posture, quietly begging for everyone to take their seats, while not realizing that cafeteria coleslaw is being clandestinely stuffed into his pants pockets." -- Bob Cesca on Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) and his rope-a-dope political style. By the way, that's from the left. Centrists have nicer things to say about Reid, like "inherent cowardice." And don't even get the conservatives started. No wonder Reid's poll numbers look robust only when compared to those of Gov. Jim Gibbons, he of the 11% base.

Brooks: Steve Wynn sucks

Wed, 20 May 2009 14:10:00 -0700

State of the art Las Vegas ... if you're David Brooks.

OK, so David Brooks didn't go that far in his latest New York Times think piece, but if you applied his nostrums to the casino industry, Las Vegas would still look a heckuva lot like it did in 1988.

"The methodical executives at successful companies just make the same old four-door sedan, but they make it better and better," he writes. Then, further down: "The C.E.O.’s that are most likely to succeed are humble, diffident, relentless and a bit unidimensional. They are often not the most exciting people to be around. ... the virtues that writers tend to admire — those involving self-expression and self-exploration — are not the ones that lead to corporate excellence."

Hmmmmm. Steve Wynn can be egotistical, assertive, self-contradictory, multifaceted, expressive and reflective -- often all of the above in the space of a few sentences. His business track record must be a complete train wreck, mustn't it?

So hit the bricks, Wynn. You too, Anthony Marnell II & III, Glenn Schaeffer and Jim Murren, you art-collecting college-boy snobs. (They probably sip wine too, doncha bet?) We don't need none of yer out-of-the-box, smarty-pants thinking. Just give us the next iteration of the Boardwalk or Bingo Palace and make it snappy, OK?

The sound of obsolesence: The next time Review-Journal Editor Thomas Mitchell pens one of his endless series of musings wherein be strokes his moustache and is mystified by the decline of the newspaper bidness, he might ask himself this: Why did his paper run this wire-service story when the Sun had gotten to it two days earlier and in far greater detail?

The sad saga of Terrance K. Watanabe is rife with disturbing moral, ethical and regulatory questions. About the only clear-cut conclusion is that Watanabe's defense is a non-starter. (Harrah's Entertainment may be in trouble, but that's a separate issue.) Former Philadelphia Eagles owner Leonard Tose tried the same thing and had even less luck in court than at the tables. Fortunately, David G. Schwartz is right here to provide us with the relevant history and the precedent that augurs so poorly for the luck- and sobriety-challenged Mr. Watanabe.

It must be frustrating to keep trying to influence events and yet events refused to influenced, mustn't it? Let's ask this guy. He doesn't have a Puliztzer Prize, 'tis true. (Running stories two days after the Sun does might have something to do with it.) But some guy in Cedar City, Utah (who apparently couldn't find a copy of the Deseret News) is a big fan.

This just in: Schwartz also has the early word on a proposal to legitimize Illinois' gray-market slot route business. At first blush, this looks like a really good way to drive a dagger into the heart of the state's already-struggling casinos. Maybe Neil Bluhm should rethink that Chicagoland casino he's planning.

Surrender in Atlantic City?

Wed, 20 May 2009 12:20:00 -0700

Yesterday, I mis-reported New Jersey state Sen. James Whelan's proposal for downsizing the state's regulatory apparatus. He didn't call for elimination of the New Jersey Casino Control Commission in favor of the Division of Gaming Enforcement, merely an unspecified removal of what he perceives as a redundancy.

(Such are the perils of working from memory. Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.)

Today's paper has a longer clarification of Whelan's position. He'd like to see a DGE/NJCCC merger, although Gov. Jon Corzine sounds strongly resistant to that and other aspects of Whelan's plan. And, after hearing for years that one of Atlantic City's problems is that it has too few hotel rooms to be destination resort, it's quite a turnaround to hear Whelan advocate a 200-room minimum (like Nevada's), a ~~150%~~ 60% reduction from the current mandate.

What's certain to paint a target on Whelan's back is his endorsement of aggressive employment of eminent domain to clear out distressed properties and encourage development. That's a real sore point in Atlantic City, where Donald Trump once tried to use eminent domain to push an elderly woman out of her home. (He lost.) Also, imagine how confrontational matters might have become if Pinnacle Entertainment had eminent domain in its holster when it was trying to expand its 'sphere of influence' around the old Sands site and was trying to berate the local real estate market into acquiesence.

But ... we're talking about a casino market where emergency measures are required. Would the city be using eminent domain to obtain property and then offer it around? Or would the city be taking sides, using eminent domain to pressure Citizen X on behalf of Casino Z? As craptastic an idea as eminent domain is, generally speaking, it's a good thing Whelan's put it into play, because this looks like a debate that has to be conducted as Atlantic City decides what its future is going to resemble.

However, Penn National Gaming COO Timothy Wilmott is welcome to put a sock in it, at least as regards his own aggressive eminent-domain advocacy. Penn has basically given Atlantic City the finger, bypassing several opportunities to get into the market, so who cares what its braintrust thinks? I dare them to operate there. I double dare them!

Aw hell, I dare them to do anything besides sit on their $1.5 billion hoard of gold and bemoan the fact that they can't obtain Tiffany properties at Walmart prices. Wilmott probably didn't mean to come off sounding like, "Kick some old folks and small businesses out and maybe we'll build something," but Penn needs to clearly state its intentions in re Atlantic City and stop playing subtextual footsie. Otherwise, any further discussion is meaningless.

But the Missing the Boat Award goes to Casino Reinvestment Development Authority boss Thomas D. Carver. OK, he's probably right when he says, "I don’t think we’re going to see $2.5 billion casinos anymore." The market's not going to support and, at those prices, you're not building for the ROI but the bragging rights.

But then we get: "We may see $400 million facilities."

No, no, no, no, no! Four hundred million smackeroos is roughly half -- I repeat, half -- the budget for a Pennsylvania slot parlor. It's a locals-casino budget ... and not a top-of-the-line locals place, either. Maybe some of those creaky old monoliths along the Boardwalk need to go away but replacing them with a bunch of Aliante Stations is likely to hasten Atlantic City's decline.

What do the city's three top performers -- Borgata, Harrah's Marina and Trump Taj Mahal -- have in common? Significant capital reinvestment, that's what. The numbers do not lie: Customers are not flocking to the places that are run on the cheap. If Carver's line of thinking gains currency, Atlantic City can forget about competing with Pennsylvania and just run up the white flag. What he advocates is tantamount to unilateral disarmament.

Solving the Pansy Problem

Wed, 20 May 2009 01:34:00 -0700

Amidst today's crush of news, I forgot at least one other potential solution to l'affaire Pansy. Perhaps MGM Mirage can have its cake and eat it as well, by taking a page from Sheldon Adelson's playbook. It'd be a transparent move, a change more cosmetic than substantive. But it also might be procedurally deft enough to sidestep a potential head-on collision with the New Jersey Casino Control Commission.

Were either the company's Macao or Atlantic City assets walled off from everything else stamped "MGM Mirage," it just might do the trick. It's at least worth trying and I'll bet the MGM legal team is burning the midnight oil right this very minute, working on some smooth move of that ilk.

Incidentally, former Atlantic City mayor -- and current state senator -- James Whelan has proposed removing one step from the Garden State regulatory process. Deeming the Division of Gaming Enforcement and the NJCCC to be redundant, he proposes eliminating the latter. Imagine the alternate reality in which Whelan's proposal had already become policy: Columbia Sussex would still be ensconced at the Tropicana Atlantic City but MGM would be metaphorically packing its bags. That just doesn't sound right.

Boob job

Tue, 19 May 2009 17:34:00 -0700

You've have to enlist Tom Stoppard if you were trying to script something as incredibly, comedically non-responsive as the following exchange between Peepshow producer Scott Zeiger and the Los Angeles Times' Richard Abowitz, regarding The Great Pasty Controversy of 2009:

A: Who is replacing Mel B or is she staying on?

Z: That role is undecided. I think Holly Madison will be great.

A: Does she sing?

Z: She has other talents.

A: What are they[?] Please feel free to say what they are.

Z: You can say what they are.

A: I can't say. All I know is she dated Hugh Hefner and Criss Angel. What is the talent in that?

Z: She was also on Dancing with the Stars and she is quite beautiful.

Peepshow star Mel B ... because she's hot and Holly Madison is not.

It's wise of Zeiger to simply say Madison was "on" DWTS, because it would be a painful stretch to say that she "danced." Then again, I doubt the Peepshow choreography will be anywhere near as demanding.

Actually, the best Zeiger quote comes higher up, when he says that the show's producers "are in Vegas and we are watching the audiences and evaluating the competition and deciding what is appropriate for the market."

Pardon my impertinence, but isn't that what you do in pre-production or, at the very latest, during the preview process ... not one month after opening? The Peepshow braintrust gives the impression that it's been in a Planet Hollywood biosphere and needs to get out more.

Speaking of boobs ... the Nevada Lege has slapped together its budgeterial Band-Aid for 2010 -- and it's a disgrace. As widely predicted, it's a slapdash assortment of hikes on existing taxes -- almost all of them regressive -- plus some robbing of Peter to pay Paul. Probably the single more reprehensible stopgap is the pillaging of a county-level fund to help indigent victims of auto accidents.

Of course, the counties will have raise this and other plundered monies somewhere, so the tax-hike ball just keeps a-bouncin' along. Casinos were spared an increase in the privilege tax, so that's one bullet dodged, but upping taxes regressively -- especially in tandem with salary cuts for teachers and other guvmint-paid folk -- means less discretionary income for many bread-and-butter casino patrons. So the gaming industry will take it in the shorts, after all.

State Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford (D) has been making some noble noises about revisting Nevada's volatile revenue structure ... two years hence, when everybody's safely reelected. Unlike Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley (D), Horsford actually pushed for substantive changes this session.

But we've been hearing that arthritic "wait 'til next session" excuse for a long time now. If a recession of this magnitude -- one in which we learned that casinos, retail and tourism do not comprise a stable fiscal tripod -- doesn't bring us the long-promised re-examination of how Nevada pays for itself, nothing will. My money's on "nothing."

(Slots A) Fun Fact

Fri, 15 May 2009 12:22:00 -0700

I've just read that the 2008 cash flow for Slots A Fun, the crown jewel of what used to be Circus Circus Enterprises, was $2.8 million. Which means that current owner MGM Mirage could justify a sale price of $22.5 million-$28 million. (Penn National CEO Peter Carlino, this is your chance!)

Then again, MGM could sell Slots A Fun four times over and probably still not recoup the cost of its Criss Angel vanity project, Believe.

Atlantic City gets a monorail. And other infrastructural-type stuff. That $3.6 billion would probably be better invested into building two or three new casinos, not to mention getting rid of those Colony C(r)apital grind joints.* New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine (D) thinks Atlantic City's recovery is on the way. But as long as the market breaks down -- as its revenues do -- into Borgata and Everything Else, "recovery" will just be a euphemism for "much slower rate of decline."

* -- If banks won't underwrite new development there, why -- laws permitting -- shouldn't the state? I'm just askin'. The alternative is pretty bleak.

This just in: Yes, TV ads for impotence drugs (think of "Viva Las Vegas" debased to "Viva Viagra"), with their tacky innuendi, are embarrassing (albeit not as much as those for incontenince drugs). But Congress has slightly better things to do that adopt the proposal of Rep. Jim Moron, er, Moran (D-VA) to force them off the air ... least not untl it's amended to outlaw any TV programming featuring the bloated visage, voice and ego of failed casino boss Donald Trump. (Sorry; can't link to the Yahoo News video. I tried.)

Perp Show

Thu, 14 May 2009 12:38:00 -0700

If you're bald, weight 285 lbs. and have one arm in a cast, you're not exactly inconspicuous. So how was it that that such a hefty man was to infiltrate a VIP area of Planet Hollywood and bust into Peepshow headliner Kelly Monaco's suite? It gets weirder: Merrill Wetter was a long-term denizen of Planet Ho and had been 86'd last month for following a money cart around. And yet his reappearance on the 50th floor didn't raise any alarms, literally or otherwise. This new information suggests a serious lapse of security at Planet Ho, something that the Nevada Gaming Control Board might want to investigate.

April in Atlantic City. The numbers are out and they suck. Again. Unless you're Borgata, which was basically flat with April '08 -- a veritable triumph in this context. The Showboat didn't do too badly (-7%), pushing ahead of the larger Tropicana Atlantic City (-21%). However, another Harrah's Entertainment property, Bally's Atlantic City is way off last year's pace (-19% YTD) and risks joining the Dead Man Walking quartet of Trump Marina, Trump Plaza, the Hilton and Resorts.

The partial reinvention of Trump Taj Mahal continues to pay off, with gaming win down less than 1% through the first four months of the year. Don't you wish we had this kind of reporting transparency in Nevada?

Reid's smooth ride: Would-be GOP challengers to Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) are not only thin on the ground they're probably hearing casino-industry check books slam shut after the Senate Majority Leader jawboned banks on behalf of CityCenter and Fontainebleau. (It was a futile effort but, at this particular moment, that says more about the lending-averse banking industry than Reid.)

Party leaders say a "highly motivated" "strong GOP challenger" is out there and will emerge ... in five months or so. The only person shaking the money tree so far is former state legislator Sharron Angle. She'd rough Reid up, to be sure, but has an Achilles heel or two. To date she's been a single-plank candidate -- property taxes; not what you'd call a senatorial issue. Also, state GOP chairwoman Sue Lowden doesn't want a divisive primary ... and Angle was very divisive when she ran against Dean Heller (R-NV) three years ago for the congressional seat Heller now holds. She even tried to have the primary results overturned in court. But for now she's the only game in town.

Double duty: For the unforeseen future, I'll be spelling the estimable Dave Surratt as CityLife's theatre critic. First up is a show directed by Zumanity emcee Christopher Kenney. Called The Facts of Life: The Lost Episode it's ... it's ... well, it's different.

The good, the bad, the Jeb

Tue, 12 May 2009 13:23:00 -0700

Florida's popular, gaming-friendly Gov. Charlie Crist is going to make a run for the U.S. Senate seat that opens up in 2010. First, he has to get past former archnemesis Marco Rubio, who recently termed out as speaker of Florida's lower house, but early polling suggests Rubio won't be much of an obstacle, running a mere 46% behind Crist.

Rubio was the loudest and most nuisance-making of the various opponents of Crist's compact with the Seminole Tribe. His qualms were ultimately upheld by the Florida Supreme Court and there's never been any love lost between those two. If the GOP hopes to keep that Florida seat, Crist ought to be a lock.

Speaking of Florida, whose face keeps popping up in TV footage of GOP pizza parties but ex-Gov. Jeb Bush. Never mind "brand equity" problems that the Bush name might have these days. The Jebster's diehard opposition to gambling, his backhanded treatment of the Seminoles and his socially interventionist tendencies (think Terri Schiavo) make him the perfect presidential candidate for '12 ... as in 1912.

Update: Crist's declaration inspired this blogosphere zinger, "Florida's Crist to run for US Senate -- anti-Crist says bring it on." Throw in a speedy NRSC endorsement and it looks like Game Over for Rubio.

Harrah's is right

Thu, 07 May 2009 12:25:00 -0700

Not only because it's putting some elbow behind Rep. Barney Frank's proposal -- finally unveiled yesterday -- to repeal the noxious UIGEA and replace it with a regulatory framework for Internet gambling in the U.S. The love child of former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and ex-Rep. Jim Leach, UIGEA has had deleterious effects on Harrah's Entertainment's online-recruitment efforts for the World Series of Poker. It's also taken a bite out of sponsorships generally and from trade-show attendance, so we'll all be grateful when this Rosemary's Baby is retroactively aborted.

Where Harrahs' really earned its kudos, though, was by permitting an on-site study of the effects of secondhand smoke on employees at three of its Strip properties. Not only did the Bally's, Caesars Palace and Paris-Las Vegas workers manifest health problems related to secondhand smoke, carcinogens turned up in their systems, too.

Smoking in casinos is the industry's devil's bargain. You gamble with the lives of your employees to -- among other reasons -- preserve their jobs. Eliminate smoking in one state's casinos and a mass exodus of players ensues. The example of Illinois could hardly be starker. All the same, cigarette smoke is foul, unhealthful stuff to which no one should be involuntarily subjected. (Two of my grandparents smoked so heavily it would drive you out of the room.)

As Harrah's Gary Thompson points out, the only economically viable solution would be a nationwide smoking ban applying to all casinos. Otherwise, if Harrah's went the clean air route, say, MGM Mirage would be able to use "smoker friendliness" to beat its competitor like a drum. Even a national ban isn't a complete solution, as tribal casinos would be exempt -- giving them a substantial competitive boost.

Whatever route is taken, there's going to "collateral damage," either in the form of lost revenues, lost jobs or, worst of all, lost lives. What's really not going to cut it are intelligence-insulting empty gestures like the "smoke-free corridors" at Palazzo: strips of carpet upon which you cannot light up ... but you sure can catch a lungful of cigar fumes at 20 paces. If that's your idea of a clean air "initiative," why bother?

Boy, was I wrong!

Wed, 06 May 2009 12:29:00 -0700

Given their tightly held scruples about gambling, period, I figured that there was no way on God's green earth that Florida's Republican-dominated House would agree to lowering the gambling age (at least for slots) to 18. That looked, at first blush, like a deliberately inflammatory proposal, a star atop the state Senate's Christmas tree of gaming-industry concession and the first thing to go during negotiations.

Ha! I repeat: HA! House members are still dead-set against letting people in Tampa play blackjack, but lowering the gambling age to 18 has passed without a murmur, reports the Orlando Sentinel. Even the House has come round to granting the Seminole Tribe some tables (but only blackjack), while the Senate counterproposes a two-tier system whereby half the Seminole casinos get the full monty and half get none, just slots. As with poker limits, it's not a question of "Will they or won't they (get tables)?" Now it's, "How much?" Class II machines for parimutuels are off the table but state senators have come back with something even more contrived. It's enough to make your head spin.

No longer a Dream: June 1 has been set as the date for City of Dreams, the first megaresort built by Melco Crown Entertainment. Despite having two (eventually four) hotel towers, it will open with but 600 hotel rooms, potentially maxing out at 2,200 units. Hopefully, the initial business will give CEO Lawrence Ho something to crow about when he addresses G2E Asia later that month.

Irony is Dead Dept. III

Tue, 05 May 2009 18:05:00 -0700

On Monday, Gov. Jim Gibbons (R-NV) proclaimed this to be "State Employee Week," complete with flowery script and many a preambulatory clause. That'd be the same Jim Gibbons who, the week before, vowed to cut those same employees salaries even further than the -6% he'd already proposed. No word yet on whether aforesaid employees think having a whole, entire week designated in their honor makes up for a decrease in their take-home pay. (Nevada has the fewest state employees per capita in the U.S., so it's not like they're underworked ... just pay a visit to the DMV sometime.)

Sic transit gloria Gans: Singer/actress Beyoncé Knowles (above) will be playing a short run at Wynn Encore this summer. Reports a source who keeps tabs on casino Web pages, "she was selling tix on what was formerly Danny Gans' 'page' before he was even cold." Lest we need reminding, this is not a sentimental town.

The 'CityCenter effect.' Although MGM Mirage estimates it's had 110,000 applications for a maximum of 12K jobs at CityCenter, it transpires that 17K of those came from within MGM Mirage. While that may give you a 70/30 shot at a CityCenter job if you're already with the company, the rest of us might as well forget it and scan the job listings for vacancies at other MGM Strip casinos. If a Bellagio slot attendant gets a job at Aria, that promotion should manifest itself all the way down to food chain. On other words, this is your big chance to work at Slots A Fun, the casino of which MGM is so ashamed it doesn't list it as a discrete property on its Web site.

Rising above the fray. Confronted with a classless gesture in front of his casino -- and I say that as somebody who saw the protest-like promotion with his own eyes -- Palms owner George Maloof responded with class. By the way, those weren't just 40 guys with signs, they were wearing illuminated, sandwich board-sized placards on their backs. It made quite a startling sight late on a Friday evening, one of the tackiest things I've seen in Vegas (and we write the book on "tacky" here). The Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, meanwhile, continues its downward mobility.

Sunshine State stalemate

Tue, 05 May 2009 13:45:00 -0700

With the Lege drawing to a close, Florida lawmakers will procrastinate on the tribal-gambling-compact issue in one of two ways: Leave it until the very end or handle it in a special session. (Your tax dollars at work, Floridians.)

Although uncoupling the compact from education funding has slowed negotiations to a crawl, there are hints of movement toward compromise. Stick-in-the-mud Republicans in the lower house, who essentially don't want to concede diddly, may be open to permitting blackjack at one Seminole casino. What the state Senate is prepared to yield is less clear (its pet proposal would spread Class II gaming statewide), although a lowering of the gambling age to 18 is certain to go over the side, if it hasn't already.

The initial Senate proposal was a "Christmas tree" of goodies for every stripe of the gambling industry, presumably with the intention of bartering away this or that bauble once negotiations got serious. And every business with a vested interest in the outcome of House/Senate negotiations seems to have a special exemption or amendment of its own to peddle.

Then again, don't put it past Florida lawmakers to just walk away from $280 million. Gov. Charlie Crist (R) may be in step with the national zeitgeist but he's far in advance of many in his own state party who pine for the days when gambling was unsafe, rare and illegal. At least the GOP's historical preference for lower corporate taxes has been put to good use in the current debate, with Class III private-sector casinos in Miami-Dade and Broward counties granted a 30% reduction in taxes levied. While that's not enough to level the playing field vis-a-vis their Seminole competitors, it gets them back in the game. Here's hoping it brings back some of the companies that have soured on the low-yield South Florida market.

Wynn, unplugged

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 18:27:00 -0700

"Wynncore"'s boss has been all over that series of vacuums and tubes which some call "the Internet" this week. He did Kirk Kerkorian a favor by suggesting that he, Steve Wynn, would be tractable to buying anything the aging aviator had to sell ... even Circus Circus.

While Wynn may have been merely being playful, enjoying how much the worm has turned since then-MGM Grand forced him out of then-Mirage Resorts, his expression of interest helped goose MGM Mirage stock by 5%. Holders of Wynn Resorts shares, however, may have emitted a collective "Eek!" at the thought of Wynn buying yet another clown-themed casino (don't forget that he once owned the Boardwalk). WYNN shares slipped 3%.

If Steve Wynn on 60 Minutes is good, then 69 minutes with Steve Wynn must be better, right? Either way, here he is at the Milken Institute's Global Conference 2009. What's inarguable is that there is no other CEO in the gaming group -- no, not even Sheldon Adelson -- to whom people would listen for anywhere near that amount of time. True, many Americans do watch an hour-long TV show starring ex-casino mogul Donald Trump, playing a parody of CEO (or could it really be a cunningly disguised Alec Baldwin in the role of Old Fish Lips?) ... much as they do When Animals Attack! or World's Scariest Police Chases.

Bloomberg News cornered Wynn for a few minutes and the unscripted result was better than any televised fender-bender. [Warning: The audio is subject to frequent dropouts.] Wynn began by acknowledging that, times being what they are, Americans are scarcely obligated to visit Las Vegas.

One wishes certain umbrageous local figures would get that memo.

He also notes that Wynncore is cheek-by-jowl with "all the convention centers." So I take it that proposed Wynn Las Vegas/Encore convention center is now off the drawing board. Strip land acquisitions are flatly ruled out -- no doubt causing some long faces at Elad Properties, Triple Five and other companies that bought acreage at the top of the market (i.e., $33 million-$36 million/acre) and can't do squat with it now. Uncle Steve is not coming to their rescue, I'm afraid ... and why should he? As Wynn obliquely acknowledges, he's got plenty of land of his own, fully amortized but not developable in these tight-credit days.

But it's when the conversation turns to politics that things get well and truly interesting. Starting with an observation that the government is too fixated on infrastructure improvements, Wynn gradually works himself up into an fine rage. His description of President Obama's policies runs the gamut of "naive ... doesn't have much credibility ... unimpressed ... ridiculous shopping list ... the right ideas at the wrong time ... shotgun approach." He faults the current administration for lacking "experience and priorities" and -- in a somewhat ironic choice of analogy -- says that when a patient is undergoing major surgery, "you don't give 'em advice on a nose job."

You want must-see TV? This is it!

Unfortunately, Wynn is somewhat hamstrung when pressed for constructive alternatives. His one substantive answer is a proposal that Uncle Sam subsidize new hires if the employer provides health benefits. Beyond that, he falls back on a broad-brush invocation of tax policy (which "incentivizes people to do what the government wants them to do"). Wynn thumps the "tax policy" tub so relentlessly that he starts to sound like a personality-implanted version of Rep. John Boehner, pining for the return of the previous administration's economic policies as fiscal Viagra.

Give the man credit. He's got strong opinions and no fear about voicing them. He's a cheerfully impolitic figure in word-parsing times and the casino industry might be unbearably dull without him.

Quote of the Day

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 13:42:00 -0700

"What are they going to do when this fails, ban poker books and burn our players at the stake? We see headlines like this coming from communist [sic] China but never expect that it could happen here in Minnesota." -- Matt Werden, Minnesota director of the Poker Players Alliance, reacting to an order from the administration of Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-MN) to 11 Internet service providers, "demanding that these ISPs block access by Minnesotans to approximately 200 sites connected to online gambling."

Quote of the Day

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 18:51:00 -0700

"We took their land and it is coming back to haunt us." -- State Sen. Steve Wise (R-Jacksonville), a casino opponent, observing that the Seminole Tribe's gambling-driven ascendancy in Florida is a form of karmic payback.

Saint Jack

Fri, 24 Apr 2009 16:59:00 -0700

Who says nobody finds redemption in the slammer? Washington, D.C. über-sleazeball Jack Abramoff, presently spending some quality time as a guest of the federal penal system, is seeking redemption via a pair of Hollywood liberals. (Irony abounds.) Kevin Spacey and Factory Girl director George Hickenlooper are developing Casino Jack, a biopic that aims to present a kinder, gentler Abramoff.

Considering that Abramoff bilked and deceived Native American clients, fraudently gained control of the Sun Cruz casino line (part of a beyond-seamy saga that included eventual bloodshed) and was an out-and-out racist, Spacey and Hickenlooper are going to have employ a bathysphere to dredge up empathy for this sack of sludge and like-minded sidekick Michael Scanlon (to be played by Young Darth Vader himself, Hayden Christensen).

But, an Abramoff sympathizer insists, it was "Casino Jack" who was the victim and what he did "wasn't ... anything that wasn't happening on K-Street already." Even if you swallow that bullshit sandwich, the supposition that Abramoff's actions were just bidness as usual doesn't even begin to excuse them.

Let's hope this project gets put in perpetual turnaround. Besides, Abramoff doesn't deserve to be portrayed by an actor as good as Spacey. I'm thinking they should cast the part with Ted McGinley instead.

I knew him when ...

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 13:07:00 -0700

Even when we were both students at Macalester College (Class of '83) in St. Paul, Minn., the future courses of both Matt Entenza and myself were set: I was the consummate underachiever and he the consummate politician -- a term that is often meant pejoratively but not so here. Matt knew when to hold them and fold them, with the consequence that he got a great deal accomplished within the system.

However, when the Significant Other and I attended a 25th reunion party at chez Entenza on a sticky late-spring Twin Cities evening last year, I hadn't so much as an inkling of the surprise that Matt had up his sleeve ... although anybody who'd known him should have seen it coming decades in advance. Today he announced his candidacy for the Minnesota gubernatorial nomination on the Democratic-Farmer-Labor ticket. (And, yes, I've already been hit up for a campaign contribution.) Even without knowing who his opposition will be, I think it's safe to say that Matt's extensive DFL connections and not-inconsiderable skills give him the inside track.

S&G doesn't endorse individual candidates, not even ones with whom we attended school. So let's just say that after the erratic Jesse Ventura and underwhelming Tim Pawlenty administrations, a Matt Entenza governorship would be by definition an improvement. (So might a Donald the Duck administration, but I digress.) The same might be said for previous DFL gubernatorial nominees, who have tended to put the "L" (as in "loser") in "DFL."

It's certainly nice to think that the party's standard bearer might be someone I admire, instead of yet another election cycle of, "Oh no, not that clown!" The Peter Principle is a founding tenet of DFL politics but perhaps now 2010 will be the exception to that rule. Also, until further notice, I am holding myself available for the position of Minnesota's Special Emissary to Las Vegas ... especially if it requires "fact-finding missions" to various and sundry casino buffets.

Survey says ... that 90%+ of Americans think the economy is an important issue. Pardon my bluntness, but who the Sam Hill are the -10% of Americans that think the economy isn't important right now and what are they smoking? Wait, I've got it: They must be the ones filling up Internet messages boards parsing, prasing and profaning the profound pensées of Carrie Prejean, Miss California ... although I'd swear she hails from the great state of Mattel™.

Grab your ankles, casinos

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 18:05:00 -0700

Nevada lawmakers' revenue model.

There's one industry that does far and away more than any other to pay the bar tab for the State of Nevada and it's probably about to be mandated to pay even more. That's because even though we're suffering through, proportionally speaking, the worst budget deficit in the U.S. and the methodology underlying Nevada's general fund is incredibly flawed, other industries will be allowed to continue shirk their share of the load.

How do we know this? Because invertebrate gubernatorial wannabe Barbara Buckley (D-[Your logo here]) flat-out won't support a corporate income tax. Which might be all right if she had a viable alternative, other than a pie-in-the-sky suggestion that Nevada diversify its economy.

Heck, people more serious than Buckley have been calling for such diversification for years and it still hasn't happened (in part because the wretched state of Nevada education -- about to get worse -- scares companies away). And it's sure as shooting not going to magically happen in the scant few weeks the Lege has to cobble together something resembling a budget.

Sales taxes and gaming taxes each represent roughly a third of the state's revenue base. The former is regressive both by definition and in practice, while the latter discriminates heavily against one industry, while letting all others pretty much off the hook. For instance, the state's two most lucrative mines paid $13.3 million in taxes to Nevada in all of 2007 -- on $436 million in taxable revenues. Casinos, however, paid $65 million in taxes on $840 million in revenue last February alone.

Were Nevada's gaming industry not in freefall, that disparity would be more glaring still. But Silver State solons would rather jam hot needles into their eyes than ask the sacrosanct extractive industries for one thin dime more. (Boy, they'll be sorry when those mines are tapped out.)

Heck, our legal brothels have actually offered to be taxed but our maidenly lawmakers demurely proclaimed, "No, no, a thousand times, no! You cannot buy my caress." How come? It would create -- get this -- image problems for a state that got on the map as the divorce capitol of America. Prostitutes are showing themselves more civic-minded that our ostensible "leadership" ... but the profession known as prostitution has always been considerably more honest than the prostitution known as politics.

Given the ramshackle history of Nevada's tax structure and some hints dropped by Buckley and crony Morse "Moose" Arberry, we've got a pretty good idea of what to expect from their Secret Budget Plan (under wraps until next month): More of the same. As in higher sales taxes, state fees ... and, yes, gaming taxes. Steve Wynn's warning about the catastrophic effect of the latter is apparently going to fall upon deaf legislative ears. Wynn's said he's "the most powerful man in Nevada." Now would be a good time to prove it.

On another note ...

God forbid, you need to answer the call of nature during the playing of a mediocre Irving Berlin song, at least when you're at Yankee Stadium. Support freedom -- or else! That good old George Steinbrenner spirit remains alive and well, I see.

Case Bets: Seminoles, Iverson, Harrah's, PartyGaming, Station's luck, etc.

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 16:01:00 -0700

Down in Florida, the tide may be turning in favor of the Seminole Tribe. Both the Florida Retail Federation and Restaurant Lodging Association have thrown their support behind the status quo, as represented by Gov. Charlie Crist's Class III casino compact. Crist's unilateral gambling expansion has the not-so-small problem of being unconstitutional but this latest turn of events ratchets up the pressure on solons to pass a version of the compact that meets judicial muster.

That'll be no problem with the state Senate but the uptight House would like to roll back the Seminoles to slots-only status (and would get rid of the casinos altogether, if only they could in their benighted heart of hearts). The table-game genie isn't going back into the bottle -- at least not until the federal courts have their say -- so the Solomonic question at hand is how to level the playing field for private-sector racinos without sacrificing the Seminole tax revenue that Crist secured. Easier said than done, obviously.

"Is too!" "Is not!" Both MGM Grand Detroit and Greektown are refuting a report in the Detroit News (with which MGM has taken issue before) that they'd 86'd former Philadelphia 76er Allen Iverson from their casinos. Let's face it, the man is a boor but he's a wealthy boor, so neither casino is likely to turn him away as long as he only bounces basketballs, not checks.

Headless casino. Not only did Harrah's Entertainment sack the GM and five other execs at Harrah's Reno, it won't be replacing them. At almost any other company, running a casino by remote control would come as a surprise but Harrah's has the reputation of employing a ruthlessly standardized business model. Besides, the company has to free up some dough to pay its new Internet/World Series of Poker guru Mitch Garber, whose former employer, PartyGaming.com, just cut a deal with the feds.

The luck of the Fertittas. Dodging yet another bullet, Station Casinos extended negotiations with its debtors by another month. While some form of bankruptcy at Station is inevitable, the company continues to fend off a takeover attempt by Boyd Gaming. However, Station says that when it comes to the terms offered to unsecured creditors, it's hanging tough. If that's the case, what's to discuss? (Or is Station being more flexible than it's letting on publicly?) My money, so to speak, is still on Station brass and co-owners Colony Capital retaining possession of Station and at a substantial discount to its market value, too.

An obscure racino company is cleaning house and relocating from Las Vegas (where it had no logical business being headquartered) and back East, where all its business is. The board of Empire Resorts really wasn't minding the store, was it?

The company might at least saved a bundle on long-distance charges if it had condescended to have its corporate offices in New York State, where its physical operations were, and not in tax haven Green Valley. But don't cry for outsted CEO David Hanlon, who parachutes out with 100 grand and plus another hundred large for nine months of "consulting services." These days, nothing succeeds like failure -- provided it's done on a grand scale.

Update: These are the same clowns whose Maryland slot application got tossed because they didn't bother to include the mandatory application fee when they filed.

Pennsylvania's biggest gaming screwup is history ... sort of. Former Mount Airy casino owner Louis DeNaples is guilty as hell of hanging out with the wrong crowd but innocent of perjury and will maintain one degree of separation from the casino, which remains in the DeNaples family. The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board can claim a semblance of victory but the four-and-a-half-year imbroglio is a lingering embarrassment to a body whose vetting process has been inarguably the sloppiest in the U.S.

The PGCB needs to pay more attention to background checks and less to "juice" (see Barden, Don) -- and also to develop questionnaires that aren't so "imprecise and potentially confusing" they could open applicants to charges of perjury. It would also behoove Pennsylvania to quit "stovepiping" PGCB and state police investigations. Were it not for a lack of information-sharing (prohibiting by Keystone Kop, er, State law), this whole mess would probably have been avoided.

Quote of the Day

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 15:54:00 -0700

"I say I would greet him if he would rectify the record. I think he owes it to us, and I say that respectfully, to say Las Vegas is a great place to come and do business.” -- Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, outlining preconditions under which would deign to receive the President of the United States.

James Dobson admits he's a loser

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 14:51:00 -0700

Whiny anti-gambling obssessive (and sometime pediatrician) Dr. James Dobson exited his Focus on the Family with an admission that he's on the losing side of the culture war. He blames it on the Nineties, Bill Clinton and that damned Internet. (A bit behind the times, isn't he?) At least Dobson needn't worry about "made fools for Christ." He's been doing a splendid job of making a fool of himself without any assistance whatsoever -- and shows every indication of continuing to do so.

Don't let the doorknob hit you on the way out, Jimbo.

Ader returns. Once the most-read (and arguably the most-feared) gaming analyst on Wall Street, Jason Ader is back in the picture as the newest board member of Las Vegas Sands. Here's hoping he'll have better luck than his predecessor at exercising a modicum of restraint upon CEO Sheldon Adelson, who's been in a pedal-to-the-metal frame of mind lately. Unlike the appointment of Michael Leven as Sands' new prez, this is one Adelson hire whose resumé won't be open to second-guessing.

Fun with numbers. Nevadans, apparently angry about having the day off or maybe irked from shouldering the second-lowest tax burden in the nation (Wyoming is #50) rallied in Carson City today. A Southern Nevada anti-tax newsletter estimates the crowd at 2,000. Local constabulary spotted only half as many, tops. (Subseqently revised to "more than 1,000.") I hope Stephens Media is better at bean-counting than head-counting.

Gibbons Follies. Having lain low for a few days, Gov. Jim Gibbons is back in the news with a vengeance. After saying he simply wouldn't sign a domestic-benefits law making its way through the Nevada Lege (about the only solid accomplishment emerging from that frivolous convocation), all it took was a quick chat with untiring homophobe Richard Ziser to make Midnight Jim wimp out completely. Now he says he'll veto the bill, thereby continuing to consign many Nevadans to second-class citizenship. (Supporters of the bill are trying to get Gibbons' ear but are more likely to receive the back of his hand.)

This is just plain wrong and a slap to a lot of hard-working, taxpaying citizens whose committed relationships might as well not exist, as far as the current law is concerned. "I just don't believe in it," sayeth Midnight Jim in re domestic-partner benefits for gay and lesbian citizens. Judging by his two divorces, Gibbons doesn't put great store in conventional marriage, either.

Jim Gibbons finds something he can believe in.

But alas, his latest strategem for meeting chicks laid an egg. Or did it? You be the judge. More seriously, Nevada can't afford to fill open Nevada Gaming Control Board positions but it can afford 5,000 gubernatorial eggs? Something's cracked here and it's not an eggshell.

Are you there, God? It's me, BetOnSports.com

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 12:26:00 -0700

I'd like to think this portentous Conversations with God-style update on prosecutions of online casinos (with Special Guest deus ex machina Rep. Barney Frank) is all a big send-up. But I fear it's meant in deadly earnest. Either way, it must be seen to be believed.

Never a dull day in Nevada

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 16:56:00 -0700

At least one good thing happened today. In other news ...

"Infidelity is not relevant ... in Nevada": Faced with being all over the teevee and not in a good way, Gov. Jim Gibbons set off a series of distractions. First, he tried to score a photo op with the BMOC. (Midnight Jim's blustery public comments form a droll contrast to the obsequious tone of his letter to POTUS.) Then he managed to piss off the Armenian community. Whoops, there go those campaign contributions from MGM Mirage, governor.

Maybe those dollars will go to former casino owner and outgoing Reno Mayor Bob Cashell. He's the latest Nevada Republican to pass up the chance of taking on Sen. Harry Reid, preferring his odds against the decreasingly viable Gibbons. Cashell says he's got "well-connected" backers down here in Southern Nevada.

Ensign for President? Despite having been an ineffectual fundraiser and candidate-recruiter during his tenure at the RSCCC, Nevada's junior senator (and Circus Circus scion) appears to have his eye on the Oval Office. S&G encourages such presidential aspirations, if for no other reason than that all the other presumptive candidates for 2012 are from the anti-gambling subset of the GOP. Since Ensign's nickname on Capitol Hill used to be -- and perhaps still is -- "Johnny Casino," he can expect to hear a lot of that on the campaign trail.

Elsewhere ...

The chicken is back! The tic-tac-toe-playing chicken is the new star attraction at Greektown. When you're $777 million in the hole, a bit of fowl play can't hurt. The chicken is only playing Detroit through June 9 but an extended engagement would be advisable: With MGM Grand Detroit openly on the market, Greektown's chances of finding an interested buyer just took a mighty wallop.

St. Stanley. The benediction of the American Gaming Association will be bestowed upon Stanley Ho during G2E Asia. Quoth AGA President Frank Fahrenkopf, "we are excited to hear his thoughts during his keynote address.” Yes, Frank, especially the part where Stanley starts ranting about the pernicious effects upon Macao of American capital, as he is so wont to do these days.

Where's Sheldon?

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 12:10:00 -0700

Down in the Lone Star State, where else? The Las Vegas Sands CEO was making some Texas-sized boasts to the Lege, trying to impress them with a show-and-tell presentation of "large glossy photos of his company's properties -- the Venetian and the Palazzo in Las Vegas, and a casino development in Macao that cost billions of dollars to build."

Never mind that Sands has an abortive condo project on the Strip (where its latest marquee retailer is ... Walgreens), has had to scale back Sands Bethelehem and the Cotai Strip™ has ground to an ignominious halt -- at least until equity partners materialize. No, Adelson says he's prepared to expand into Texas and the money will be there. Indeed, he says he'll spend "Whatever it takes."

The money certainly isn't there in Macao, where "there's nothing imminent," despite hopeful talk of two Chinese construction moguls vying for a piece of Sands' Macanese action. It wouldn't be the first time Adelson's crystal ball came equipped with a rose-colored filter.

The proposal before the Texas Lege appears doomed not only because of the fierceness of its opposition but due to its over-ambitious scale. Fifteen casinos (including three tribal ones), an unspecified number of racinos, a related push for legalized and regulated poker ... it's too much for such a profoundly conservative state to swallow in one great gulp.

Besides, there's a huge disparity in the proposed tax rate for casinos (15%) and that paid by tracks (35%), meaning the Lege would have to bite one or more bullets: Raise the casino tax, lower the parimutuel one, or do some combination of both that isn't revenue-negative. If the gaming industry wants to get its boot in the door, the competing racino-only bill looks like a more viable and incremental means of establishing a Texas footprint.

The current debate has also provided another excuse for Phyllis Schlafly's Eagle Forum to make a nuisance of itself. One of its harpies squawked, "Why in the world would we want our children to grow up to be card dealers and waitresses?" I presume she would prefer that they grew up to be unemployed.

Thank god for Gibbons

Mon, 30 Mar 2009 17:59:00 -0700

Update: It looks as though Gibbons has muffed two new appointments to the Nevada Gaming Commission, replacing outgoing commissioners who include a banker with two additional lawyers ... who now comprise 80% of the commission. Nevada law specifies that "preferably" no more than two members of the same profession sit on the NGC simultaneously.

Maybe we can't take any more bad news. Or we're collectively strung out from all the CityCenter Sturm und Drang. For whatever reason, the news wires have been relatively (blessedly?) quiet today.

"I'm J. Terrence Lanni and I approved this governor."

Fortunately, God's gift to gadflies just keeps on giving. I'm talking, of course, about Nevada's utterly unique Gov. Jim Gibbons, another of J. Terrence Lanni's parting gifts to the people of the Silver State. Whenever you think his latest pronouncement has taken the cake, he goes it one better.

In descending order of importance, Midnight Jim's baffling proposal to basically scotch the Nevada Tourism Commission is getting backhanded by the Lege. 'Cause if there's one thing Nevada doesn't need right now it's tourists, but those darned lawmakers just don't get it.

Sarcasm aside, I was happy to see the RV park at Circus Circus packed like a sardine tin this weekend. No matter how difficult we make it for them sometimes, people keep on coming, bless their hearts ... or wallets, as the case may be.

(The Nevada Film Commission, from which Gibbons was going to pull the plug, also got a legislative reprieve. S&G was with the guv on that one.)

Case in point, the room-tax hike that kicks in -- with "kick" being the operative word -- this July. Midnight Jim has been going out of way to let people know that, even if he didn't lift a pinky to oppose it, that tax increase is no fault of his. Nope, it was "the people of Nevada" who done it. He didn't want to put that tax money into his budget (which he did) but we forced it upon the helpless man. Well, not me personally -- I voted against the tax hike -- but you heartless, tax-loving, Gibbons-burdening bastards know who you are. Midnight Jim has been reduced to wailing, "I used those revenues to my benefit, but I did not propose any tax increase." Damn that vox populi!

It got even funnier last week, when Gibbons was asked about oncoming primary challenges from fellow GOP-ers North Las Vegas Mayor Michael Montandon and Dr. Joe Heck. Suffice it to say, this came as news to the current occupant of the governor's mansion. Confronted with the information, Midnight Jim huffed, "I think you've mischaracterized their interest in running for governor."

The next governor of Nevada will by definition be more competent ... but we're sure going to miss the regular episodes of Theatre of the Absurd that are acted out in Carson City.

The Unlucky Club & other Case Bets

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 14:40:00 -0700

Did somebody build the inaptly named Lucky Club (above) over an Indian burial ground? A deprivation of access is but the latest indignity suffered by this North Las Vegas grind joint. While it was still the Speedway Casino, it was ravaged by fire. Years earlier, it was the Cheyenne, most famous for having its bookeeping described as "smoke and mirrors" by then-Nevada Gaming Control Board Chairman Bill Bible. That rumpus -- and a few others like it -- would dog casino speculator Shawn Scott for the rest of his spotty career. Last we heard, Scott had hunkered down in the Virgin Islands.

Better fortune was in store for the long-on-the-market Ritz-Carlton Lake Las Vegas, which couldn't find any takers not so long ago. I'm guessing "undisclosed price" is code for "fire sale."

(Update: It sold for $98 million.)

At least I'm not alone in thinking that Las Vegas Sands is headed over the brink. So does John L. Smith who has more bad news for Sheldon Adelson.

Need to raise awareness of your bookmaking service? Hire a gambling addict as your pitchman! The surprise isn't that this, er, novel marketing initiative was ashcanned but that it got as far as it did. Earth to Better Bet, Earth to Better Bet ...

Earth to Wynn ... Weather forecasters have been predicting high Thursday gusts of wind all week long. But Wynn Resorts must not have paid its cable TV bill because it sent window-washers up Encore anyway. Not surprisingly, something went wrong and they had to be rescued. Now that everybody in Vegas is on a curtain-wall craze, expect crises like these to multiply exponentially.

Going out on a limb, the Las Vegas Sun says that Sens. John Ensign and Harry Reid were doing the right thing ... now that a consensus has formed and the story has faded, making it safe to take a stand.

Wendover: Casinos, yes; mental health care ... not so much.

If you're going to lose your marbles in Nevada (some would say I already have), don't do it in Wendover. It's still OK to lose money there, though. Wendover Will approved this message.

On second thought, you might not want to bring your money here, either. At least not if you use debit cards. Where do I sign the petition to abolish the Nevada Legislature? They don't need any stinking due process, do they?

The scandal that wasn't

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 18:38:00 -0700

Like a summer storm, the hoo-ha concerning the intervention of Sens. Harry Reid and John Ensign on behalf of troubled CityCenter, blew itself out in a hurry. Once the New York Times decided to spike a story on the ethical quandary, it was pretty much over and done. About the worst charge ethics watchdogs could level at the two lawmakers was "implied pressure" and the consensus was that both Reid and (especially) Ensign had been on the square in their handling of the matter.

Sadly, it says little for either's clout -- Reid's in particular -- that, after weeks of beavering away at the banking industry, financiers haven't budged. MGM Mirage says it can fund its half of CityCenter by diverting cash from other parts of the budget, but even that's not enough to loosen any purse strings. (Dubai World's de facto sabotage of the project is the subject for a whole 'nother post.)

Ensign and Reid were in a no-win bind: Come to CityCenter's aid and be accused of exercising undue influence or do nothing and get raked over the coals (or worse) if MGM Mirage collapses under the project's weight. Treasure Island owner Phil Ruffin was particularly pithy, telling Steve Friess, "I wouldn't jump all over them. That's exactly what your senators are supposed to do."

For my part, I received a valuable civics lesson from a reader, who wrote:

"You're amazed/outraged that Sen. Harry Reid is shilling for MGM Mirage. I'm here to tell you that's exactly what politicians are expected to do -- enthusiastically front for a) their constituents in general and b) the biggest, richest, most powerful constituents in particular.

"Are you also amazed/outraged that Sen. Carl Levin, Rep. John Dingell and other members of the Michigan congressional delegation continue to shamelessly promote the interests of GM, Ford and Chrysler -- all home state companies that can't really compete with their Japanese counterparts? That Sen. Charles Schumer of New York insists on defending that homestate financial services firms that have wrecked the nation's economy?"

Point taken. As I (prophetically?) wrote someone earlier this week, I'm not so proud I don't think I can learn from my readers.

Case Bets: Florida standoff; No Goa; "Good news"?

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 16:39:00 -0700

Legislators in Florida are occupying different sides of the planet when it comes to crafting a new casino compact with the Seminole Tribe. At the risk of being accused of giving the store away, the state Senate favors granting full Class III gambling to the Seminoles, in return for $400 million a year. The lower house, meanwhile, would roll the tribe back to slots-only parity with southern Florida parimutuels and charge tribes $100 million ... for games they're to which already entitled under federal law. In the unlikely event the Seminoles assent to Plan B, it will probably get a constitutional body-slam in court.

The upper house's proposal is also more "george" for private-sector casinos, as the Miami-Dade and Broward county parimutuels would get limited table games and all parimutuels statewide would be allowed Class II gambling. The stingier House bill is the Line of Death for anti-gambling forces, who'd prefer to cut off a $100 million-plus nose to spite their collective face. Even if it prevails, it's too late to do more than protract the agony of existing non-tribal casinos in Florida. This war is over and the Seminoles have won.

Oh, and revocation of the existing compact would deprive the state not just of money of hard-to-get (if limited) judicial purview over disputes that occur on tribal land. These sorts of exemptions to tribal sovereignty are rare as hen's teeth, so solons might want to ponder whether it's something they're willing to forfeit for the sake of striking a pious stance.

Slumdog customer relations: What do you do when one of your players wins big at the tables? Beat the living crap out of him, of course. Let's see if this innovative form of customer-relationship marketing catches on ... not!

Unclear on the concept: "Good news No. 3: As of January 2009, Las Vegas’ hotel room inventory was 140,729, and this number is expected to increase by 9.9% to 155,562 by the end of 2009. In comparison, Orlando, Florida has 111,700 hotel rooms and San Francisco a little over 33,300."

Uh, this guy obviously wasn't CC'd on the memo that an onrush of new hotel rooms at a time when visitation is in decline is not "good news."

(Quoth Andrew Zarnett of Deutsche Bank, "We view a CityCenter postponement as a net positive for the overall Strip demand and supply dynamics, which is currently lopsided towards oversupply.")

Taking a page from Red China, lawmakers in New Jersey propose "stopping payments to state prisoners who make license plates and do other work." I hold no brief for convicted felons but, the last time I checked, slave labor was illegal in this great land of ours.

Iowa lawmakers wring hands

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 11:18:00 -0700

As Andy Warhol once observed, sometimes the best satire of something is the thing itself. With that in mind, I present to you the erstwhile solons of Iowa, as they observe the 20th anniversary of legalized gambling in the Hawkeye State.

Rather than celebrate two decades of a robust casino industry in the state, onetime supporters now wail that they "couldn't imagine" it would evolve into a Vegas Lite product. Apparently they didn't think neighboring states would follow Iowa's lead, either. Does this mean aforesaid lawmakers are pinning the blame for such naive expectations where it belongs -- on themselves? Nosiree, Bob! These are politicians, after all.

Seriously, they expected a "Disney experience" ... in a casino. Sniffles one former legislator, "It's morphed into something larger than I ever expected. We started a wildfire across the country." Oh, the humanity!

As one of my favorite academics, Whittier Law School's I. Nelson Rose, points out: "Legislators in other states said, 'Iowa is not exactly the center of hedonism of this country, and if it's good enough for Iowa, then it's good enough for us.'"

And so it is.

Senators rush to CityCenter's rescue

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 18:42:00 -0700

In a Sunday update on the CityCenter money crunch, the Las Vegas Review-Journal managed to bury the lead: "One gaming analyst said [MGM Mirage majority shareholder Kirk] Kerkorian and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a close friend, have been calling financial institutions to try and raise the remaining $1.2 billion needed to complete the $9.1 billion CityCenter development."

Whoa, Nellie! A U.S. Senator -- and the most powerful one, at that -- personally interceding on behalf of an MGM mega-project (one with the capacity to not only make or break the company but the Vegas economy)? Doesn't this bear investigation?

Blogger Steve Friess thought the charge "potentially devastating" and was all over it in a jiffy, eliciting confirmation from Sen. Reid's office. To cite two (of many) salient point's in Friess' analysis: A) a banker getting a request from the Senate Majority Leader that he take a closer look at MGM's loan application is unlikely not to feel pressured, B) if Reid's primary concern is "that sound banking analysis is driving credit decisions, not irrational temerity over what is sometimes portrayed as a controversial industry," why isn't he exerting similar elbow grease on behalf of Phil Ruffin's stymied $175 million, say? If he even should, that is?

The sleepy R-J weighed in on the fast-moving story late this afternoon. It had nothing new to show for its efforts other than the disclosure by MGM spokesman Alan Feldman that Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) was in on it, too. And that lone morsel of fresh news was stashed at the bottom of the story.

Whatever opprobrium Reid and Ensign risk on the national stage, it will be a different story at home (save for the crotchety anti-Reid obssessives who produce and read the R-J). Considering the number of jobs that are hanging in the balance -- to say nothing of the campaign checks that will be written by grateful businessmen -- Reid and Ensign aren't just bringing home the bacon but a whole damn pig farm, too.

"Do what we say ..."

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 11:19:00 -0700

"... not what we do." That's both our major political parties' stance on corporate junketeering.

Nevada: Building a bridge to the 19th century

Fri, 20 Mar 2009 13:50:00 -0700

Our antiquated regulatory infrastructure is making headlines again. You'd think fiscal watchdogs would raise a hue and cry about casino regulators having to fly up and down the state every time there's a meeting. Why all the travel? Because previous and current administrations are too damn cheap to invest in more and better teleconferencing equipment. It's a classic example of spending a dollar in order to save a penny.

Nevada is hemmorhaging casino and resort revenue to competing states, so what does Gov. Jim Gibbons propose to do but disembowel the Commission on Tourism. 'Cause if there's one thing Nevada doesn't need it's more of those pesky tourists, right? Good riddance to the varmints!

This shortsighted thriftiness is playing to predictably bad reviews in the Legislature. Even Midnight Jim's own lieutenant governor disses the notion, but the best sound bite comes from Assemblyman Marcus Conklin (D-Las Vegas). He took the commission's fill-in director to task, saying, "Your budget -- and I realize it's not your fault -- lacks vision and general business understanding. Those customers that would traditionally come to Vegas are going to be marketed to aggressively by everyone else, while we're sitting here playing tiddlywinks because we don't understand what's going on in the market."

Call that a proxy smackdown. "Lacks vision and general business understanding ... playing tiddlywinks" -- he's talking about you, Jim.

In defense of Gibbons on another matter, his accidental (?) defunding of the Nevada Film Office doesn't seem like such a big deal. State government isn't -- and hasn't -- done squat to incentivize film production here, content to see it snapped up by neighboring states (and Canada). Until the Silver State is going to do more than pay lip service to the silver screen, why bother pretending otherwise?

Harrah's: One year later

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 17:22:00 -0700

March 12, 2008

How many statements in this pie-in-the-sky pep talk are now replete with irony? All that's lacking is for someone to dub in a laugh track, although the humor would be of the graveyard variety.

Reid safe at home: The Senate Majority Leader has picked up support from two GOP officials, the mayors of Reno and Sparks. Potential rivals Rep. Dean Heller and former state Sen. Bob Beers could still mount formidable challenges but it's already late in the ninth inning.

Case Bets: Macao, Icahn, Atlantic City, MGM Mirage, Sin City Kitties

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 17:17:00 -0700

According to Telegraph correspondent Ben Bland, Macao finds itself in a bind. Peking's efforts to prevent money from being siphoned out of the country have crimped high-roller play, forcing a greater reliance upon mass-market customers. But the recession is cutting into their gambling budgets, too. Who's having the last laugh in all of this? Who else but Stanley Ho? As we're learning, never underestimate old Stan's ability to survive. He's probably found a loophole out of death, too. (But somebody needs to clue Bland in that Celine Dion doesn't play Vegas these days.)

Icahn's in: Well, sorta. Although the former Stratosphere owner is officially making a play for the Tropicana Atlantic City, he wants -- get this -- another six months to close the deal. Since the sale of the Trop was supposed to have been wrapped up 11 months ago, regulatory patience is finally running thin. Keeping the Trop in a 21-month limbo is grossly unfair to its long-suffering employees, too.

Icahn's equivocations could send the Trop caroming straight into the arms of Cordish Co., although it's unclear whether Cordish is still interested. Had chowderheaded, state-appointed trustee Gary Stein -- who was characteristically out of the loop on the Icahn bid -- closed the deal when deals were still to be had, all of this would be ancient history. New Jersey Casino Control Commmission members should be marched off to the woodshed for appointing Stein and then tolerating his interminable (and very expensive) bungling.

Elsewhere in New Jersey, solons have relieved Atlantic City's denizens of their second-class citizen status, albeit with many clauses and exceptions. This was accompanied by the usual howls about casinos wielding untoward influence (they can't even make political donations, which seems blatantly unconstitutional), although "juice" from other industries -- like the sacrosanct horse-racing business -- is implied to be hunky-dory. The horsey set's constant pining for slot machines gets a cold shoulder from the voting public, however.

Remember how I forecast that MGM Mirage's $1.2 billion writeoff of much of the value associated with former Mandalay Resort Group properties was going to kill 4Q08 earnings? Well, it did. However, the company supposedly still doesn't want to take on equity partners in anchor-around-the-neck CityCenter. "I'd be surprised if they dilute the joint venture [with Dubai World]," says a Reuters source. Geez, seems like if they'd "diluted" it with additional partners earlier on, they might not be hawking the family silver to raise completion money. Pride goeth before a ... well, you know.

Literacy-challenged Kitties: There's no better topless show on or off the Strip than the Sin City Kitties, who perform all the way out at Whiskey Pete's (which boasts a surprisingly spacious showroom). OK, I haven't seen Fantasy, probably because Luxor insists on advertising it as "Carrot Top Fantasy." As one wag observed, those are three words that should never inhabit the same sentence.

Anyway, Sin City Kitties is the only topless show I've seen that's predominantly erotic, as opposed to having a good number or three. And none of the girls betrayed signs of "enhancement" on the night we saw it, when it played to an appreciative audience of leathernecks and other servicemen.

However ... somebody needs to inform these pussycats that what they perform is not a "topless review [sic]" -- unless they plan to critique other topless shows from their stage in Primm.

"The Harry Reid Train": The asshat who made this fumbling attempt at an "ambush interview" might want to learn what the "Harry Reid Train" is (or more accurately, isn't) before attempting to smart-mouth Rep. Dina Titus (D-NV). Titus brushes off the uninformed oaf with the contempt he deserves. And hey, that's the "Sin City Express," bucko. Don't go messing up our catchy new brand name.

Station vs. Boyd IV: This time it's spite

Mon, 16 Mar 2009 14:23:00 -0700

Inside the wacky world that is Station Casinos' executive suite, business judgment is evidently trumped by getting even with your main adversary. How else to explain Station's eight-month push to get zoning approval for Losee Casino Station? The company is sitting on a 58-acre non-gaming parcel at the northeast corner of Craig and Losee roads.

In addition to needing a zoning variance, Station must also contend with North Las Vegas Mayor Michael Montandon's stated opposition (which has softened a mite of late) to creating new gaming enterprise districts in NLV while several existing ones remain unexploited. Then again, Montandon is running for the GOP gubernatorial nod in 2010 and the Fertitta family are george Republican donors, so a change of heart may be in the offing.

As for this "Losee Casino Station," it's a project Station pulled out of its ass (and rather stealthily, at that). It has every appearance of being done to checkmate Boyd Gaming's adjoining Park Highlands project (the former "North Coast"), which Boyd obtained by agreeing to surrender the gaming entitlement on land it owned further south. As a business move, it makes scant sense.

Architect Ed Vance's design for Station Casinos' quickly forgotten Castaways site.

Surely major casino companies don't act out of pettiness and spite, I hear you say. Consider this: Durango Station remains in decade-long limbo and previously announced projects for Inspirada (in Henderson) and Cactus Lane, near South Point, are in a holding pattern -- as are redevelopments of the Palace Station and Wild Wild West areas. And don't forget the long-mooted, long-deferred Castaways Station (or whatever that promised casino-restaurant will be called). Or that, just a short drive down Craig Road, new $662 million Aliante Station is trying to make its nut.

No, defying all logic, Losee Station has somehow risen to Priority #1 status. I wish I could put it more politely but Station is throwing a "cock block" on Boyd. The company's appetite for brinksmanship knows no bounds.

Destroying the MGM Mirage village to save it

Mon, 16 Mar 2009 13:39:00 -0700

Over the weekend, several quasi-apocalyptic scenarios have arisen vis-a-vis how MGM Mirage could extricate from its enormous debt burden and liquidity crisis. The direst of the lot has the company shopping around two of its top performers -- Bellagio and comparably profitable MGM Grand Detroit -- to prospective acquirers. MGM is trying to dictate sale prices but that may no longer be a viable option.

MGM is at a dire pass if it's really peddling its Strip crown jewel, Bellagio, in order to preserve that X factor (or albatross, as some would have it) that is CityCenter. A ways back on the Vegas Gang, we saw auguries that any and all of MGM might be put on the CityCenter sacrificial altar. I daresay we hoped that day wouldn't come. CityCenter is going to be the company's defining achievement ... but perhaps not in the manner intended.

Several alternate possibilities are marginally less catastrophic and sometimes considerably more convoluted. These include A) simply pledging existing MGM properties as collateral against CityCenter; B) an outright swap of casinos for debt cancellation; C) offloading casino-hotels to third parties who then reimburse bondholders at above-market rates. Third-party buyers wouldn't qualify for the new tax deferral on distressed-debt buybacks, though.

Almost every one of those hypotheticals would accelerate the "unbundling" of the Strip that Steve Wynn predicted last winter. It'd be a buyers' market for healthy mid-cap gaming companies (though even they are struggling) and a bonanza for management companies whose expertise would come in handy for casinos that are in receivership and suddenly rudderless.

What with a seemingly unhinged (but actually Machiavellian) Stanley Ho railing against foreign devils in Macao, perhaps this is the moment for MGM to challenge old Stan to put his money where his mouth is: Buy back MGM's subconcession or loan daughter Pansy Ho the patacas to take the other 50% of MGM Grand Macau private.

After witnessing slow-motion traffic stretching several miles up I-15 from the California border yesterday, I'm prepared to say that the necessity of high-speed rail service to SoCal is beyond debate. Not so Rep. Mike Simpson (R-ID) but at least his "sin express train" japery makes it clear that his agenda is a moral one. It's damn near refreshing to have someone express his opposition honestly, instead of mincing about in fiscal-conservative drag.

Case Bets: Sands' future; Gibbons' lack of same; Hard Rock woes

Mon, 16 Mar 2009 12:00:00 -0700

An "Adelson dictatorship" no solution: With Las Vegas Sands brought to the precipice of utter ruin, this post-mortem on the William Weidner ouster hits a series of nails square on the head. Only the accompanying poll seems daffy: Given Weidner's mammoth self-regard, it's impossible to conceive of him being taken onboard at any gaming company except one that's otherwise bereft of casino expertise (like the Cosmopolitan, say) or one whose CEO suddenly gets the chop.

Weidner fallout continues: The palace coup that toppled Weidner was conducted by a rump faction of the LVS board. This minority-led putsch has prompted yet another board member to tender his resignation. In the meantime, I want some of that top-flight crack the analysts at Sanford Bernstein must be smoking, as they continue to give Sands rave reviews.

Bad Day at Hard Rock: Even without the help of one-time charges, the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino lost $101 million last year. Not only did the HRH choose a fiendishly bad time to expand (if a 130% increase in your room base can euphemistically be called "expansion"), the construction disruption has driven customers away. Having marched itself and banker/hostage DLJ Merchant Partners into this quagmire, Morgans Hotel Group really needs a 4Q09 economic turnaround or it's screwed.

The jacked-up hotel tax that Gov. Jim Gibbons alternately did and didn't support has motivated yet another challenger for the GOP nod in 2010. Former state Sen. Joe Heck, M.D., cleared his guns last year -- from the front lines in Iraq, no less (Dr. Heck was doing a brief tour of duty) -- when he called out Midnight Jim for his catastrophic lack of leadership during the hepatitis C crisis. So his announcement comes as a less-than-complete surprise.

This is good news for Sen. Harry Reid (one more potential challenger removed from a thinly populated chessboard), not so good for son Rory Reid, who's thought to be the Democratic frontrunner for Gibbons' seat. As for that room tax, not only would Gibbons not sign that tax increase whose revenues he covets, he actually went into hiding. Really.

If this doesn't end the political career of Midnight Jim, nothing will. Never mind the lost productivity that will be entailed if all DMV visits have to be made during the normal work week. For a Nevadan, a visit to the DMV is more dreaded than root canal without anesthetic. And a DMV with fewer hours and fewer workers? You do the math.

WTF?!?!? "Local media has speculated that the world's casino giants would pour money into Penghu [Taiwan] having suffered a hammering elsewhere in the global financial crisis." Local media needs to get a grip.