Revel: Christie catches a break; Illinois remains suicidal; Online poker debuts in Nevada

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) is one lucky fellow. Bankrupt Revel threatened to become an albatross around his neck, thanks to a $261 million tax break that Christie helped push through Trenton. Last week, it turned out that Revel hadn’t drawn down so much as one penny from the Economic Development Authority, whose leader was able to testify that “no funds have been paid to Revel by the state.” Revel probably still intends to go for the gold but hasn’t filed the requisite paperwork. EDA tax abatements are not uncommon — 228, to be exact — but a state-subsidized megaflop at Revel is an issue Christie can very well live without if he intends to continue his promising political career. Even so, given the amount of taxes it will be exempted, Revel is one of the largest, plumpest infants in the EDA’s maternity ward, mostly reserved for small start-ups.

Christie could still face uncomfortable questions about why he put not just political capital but real money into a business plan as bad as Revel’s. Chief Restructuring Officer Dennis Stogsdill has been taking inventory of the mistakes and they are staggering in their naivete. They include:

• Underestimation of customers’ preference for day trips vs. overnight stays

• No players club

• Over-reliance on high-end eateries

Now I know that Christie is of the hands-off persuasion when it comes to governmental relations toward businesses. But when John Q. Taxpayer is, in effect, an investor in something like Revel, would a little due diligence have been out out place, instead of just handing Kevin DeSanctis a blank check?

Like a vampire that can’t be killed, casino-expansion legislation in Illinois just keeps coming back over and over again. Adding five casinos — three in the Chicago area, plus one each in Rockford and Danville — plus 2,100 slots at racinos and airport slots (“airsinos”?) will yield a theoretical in $1.2 billion in front money, as the state sells the licenses. That’s assuming there’s enough market demand to generate interested buyers in sufficient number. Dubious to the point of bullshit is the “$269 million in recurring revenue” that some legislative numbers wizard has conjured out of his butt. No sane person who has followed the prolonged crash and burn of Illinois’ casino industry could do anything but look at those projections and shake their head in dismay. However, as Gov. Pat Quinn (D) shuffles in the direction of approval, one must ask yet again why Land of Lincoln lawmakers are so eager to kill and eat the goose that has lain so many golden eggs for them in the past.

Still blundering ahead with its problematic Ho Tram Strip project in Vietnam, bullish Pinnacle Entertainment also got a thumbs-up from the Nevada Gaming Control Board for its absorption of Ameristar Casinos. The deal could still be nixed at the federal level, because it would give Pinnacle three casinos in the St. Louis area to Penn National Gaming‘s one. More likely, Pinnacle leadership makes some pro forma, anti-government noises, then secretly breathes a sigh of relief as it puts struggling Lumiere Place on the open market. There’s no obvious buyer but out-of-left-field events like Genting Group‘s recent and sudden incursion into the Las Vegas Strip has taught us to expect the unexpected. Meanwhile, that darn $31 million sale of the former Sands site in Atlantic City just won’t close, by golly!

Interactive gaming licenses in Nevada are going like hotcakes. As of yesterday, 23 had been issued. Station Casinos got its wares to market first, with subsidiary Fertitta Interactive rolling out UltimatePoker.com two days ago. For the next month, it gets to be the lab rat of Internet gambling in the U.S., with the prospective fortunes and vulnerabilities of ‘Net casinos being extrapolated from its performance. To sweeten the pot, “poker tourists” can play from within Nevada, provided that they’ve deposited money beforehand. And, yes, that kind of wagering is still good toward a comped room night or a free buffet.