Well, at least somebody displaced by the California wildfires is getting a comped Las Vegas stay out of it. And that somebody is/are unfortunate, homeless horses. They’re getting free room and board in the paddock area of the Plaza Hotel downtown. Let’s thank CEO Jonathan Jossel and the good people of the Plaza for doing the right thing. There’s at least one casino in Sin City that doesn’t see the SoCal conflagration as a quickie cash-in opportunity from somebody else’s misfortune.
“The wildfires in California have been devastating, and when we learned how they are displacing horses, we saw a unique opportunity to help the animals and their owners who may have limited options to rehome them as they rebuild,” said the munificent Jossel. The magnificent animals get a 10-by-10 stable (uncovered), free food and water, and room to exercise every day. There are only 75 stalls available, so e-mail CoreArena@PlazaHotelCasino.com while yet ye may.
Making news quietly earlier this week was Wynn Resorts, which snapped up a London casino to add to its increasingly international portfolio. Wynn is being refreshingly candid about the acquisition, saying it hopes to gather up gamblers from Great Britain, India and, yes, the Persian Gulf to funnel to Wynn Al-Marjan, currently fast-rising in the United Arab Emirates. It’s a canny and strategic move by Wynn, unlike Caesars Entertainment‘s blundering purchase of London Clubs International, which gave the Roman Empire footholds in the United Kingdom and Egypt that it couldn’t monetize. Another Gary Loveman misstep for the history books. Wynn is being cagey about the purchase price for Crown London but we’re confident it will pencil out and give Wynn a chance to hone its chops for the Middle East.
You may remember OSB provider Intralot, the smooth Greek operator chosen to hold monopolistic control over online sports betting in the District of Columbia. In a typically dysfunctional move, the D.C. government gave Intralot a virtual stranglehold on sports betting in the District and Intralot responded with a system that everyone hated. It was the most unpopular sports betting regime in the United States, infamous for crashing on Super Bowl Sunday. Well, it seems that some palms may have been crossed with silver to juice Intralot into that crappy deal. You don’t say!
In addition to getting the boot from Washington, D.C., Intralot is going to have to pay $6.5 million to the city “to settle claims they deceived regulators to win the contract and submitted fraudulent invoices.” It’s yet another scandal that D.C. government needs like it needs a hole in its head (it has so many already) and appears unlikely to dissipate soon. $5 million of the fine comes out of Intralot’s Grecian pockets and another $1.5 million from subcontractor Veterans Services Corp. According to the D.C. attorney general, the duo cooked up a scheme whereby Intralot basically would do the work and VSC would take the credit, which wasn’t on the up and up.
Instead of going to local subcontractors, D.C.’s money went back to Greece, pocketed on the down-low by Intralot. “Intralot and VSC’s sports betting deal was a sham from the start,” said A.G. Brian Schwalb. It was also a colossal fuck-up but let’s leave that aside for now. Shamelessly, VSC is claiming it did nothing wrong, just is settling to avoid legal fees. Meanwhile, it got filthy rich off the dirty D.C. deal, making almost $20 million, plus $1.4 million for the company’s owner. Anyway, if the U.S. sees the last of Intralot as a consequence of this, then good riddance.
Just to the south, it didn’t take long for the Virginia Lege to try and bigfoot Petersburg‘s new casino. It hasn’t even been built and already politicos in Richmond are trying to confiscate the public monies Cordish Cos. will generate. The sasquatch in question is Del. Mike Cherry (R), who seeks to set up a cabal, er, Tri-Cities Improvement Commission that would seize Petersburg’s tax dollars and reallocate them. As you can imagine, this went over like a lead balloon in Petersburg. Cries of “hurtful” and “immoral” soon arose. That’s usually what they say against casinos!
Turncoat Del. Kim Taylor (R) of Petersburg was quick to jump on the bandwagon of Cherry’s rapine proposal. Taylor alleged strong civic support for the bill. The city responded that Cherry’s money-grab was “submitted without any prior consultation with Petersburg City Council, Administration or any surrounding local government.” The bill “attempts to set a destructive precedent whereby the Commonwealth dictates and redistributes local economic development revenues, taking control away from local governments and citizens.” Considering that none of Virginia’s other casino cities has been subjected to this post-election indignity, we have to suspect that it’s legislative revenge upon Petersburg for succeeding where Richmond failed—twice. Needless to say, we think Cherry should stick his bill draft where the sun shineth not.
Perhaps realizing that the Cavalier State’s fast-growing casino industry is a shambles, Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) has laudably proposed a Virginia Gaming Commission to bring the various facets of gambling under one remit. The pitch was made as part of his State of the Commonwealth address. Since Youngkin is a lame duck facing a Democratic majority in both houses, we fear he’s swimming upstream—but our hearts are with him. The governor also made it clear that he’s deaf to the pleas for legalization of black-market slot machines, which have been slowly and painfully extirpated in Virginia, much to the relief of the casino industry. As in Nevada, these slots function as a crutch upon which non-gaming business rely for income.
Youngkin did waffle a bit, palming the ultimate responsibility for the black-market slots (and the “safeguards” that would allow them to become legit) onto his proposed commission. Still, there are times when Big Gaming is on the side of the angels (and Youngkin) and this is one of them.