Today marks the date that the casino industry officially became too large for the country to support, symbolized by the closing of Harrah’s Tunica. “There’s gambling everywhere. If you just want to gamble, you don’t have to go very far to do it.” So said Mississippi Gaming Commission Executive Director Allen Godfrey, perhaps with a touch of rue. In five years, April revenues in Tunica have fallen 29%.
At least Caesars Entertainment has been able to cushion the immediate blow by placing 350 employees at other properties, although that still leaves 900 at loose ends. For instance, 66-year-old worker Jimmy Adams offered this heartbreaking plaint: “I don’t have anywhere else to go. Nobody’s going to hire me.”
Little did we know that Harrah’s Tunica had been for sale for four years and no takers could be found. As for the surviving casinos, tax relief has been mooted. But, cowed by the Religious Right, Gov. Phil Bryant (R), is turning a deaf ear to gambling’s struggles. As for Caesars, it has chosen a heckuva time to pursue a big national expansion (in keeping with CEO Gary Loveman‘s vision of a casino on every corner). It’s pushing against an adverse economy and the economy is pushing right back.
* Speaking of crazy overexpansion, Illinois state Rep. Robert Rita‘s gambling-expansion bill had too many moving parts to succeed in generating a consensus. Neither of the two key players — Gov. Pat Quinn (D) or Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel (D) were on board with the legislation, nor were several smaller but equally vexatious interest groups. Look for Rita to attempt an autumn comeback.
thus constitute a violation of substantive due process,” wrote District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton. “Caesars can only reach that negative conclusion, however, by assuming a series of improbable inferences, themselves resting on the shaky foundation of a number of naked assertions. Stripped of its sensational accusations of Crosby’s nefarious motive, assertions the court does not assume to be true at this juncture, plaintiff has simply alleged a violation of procedural due process that the court considers a close call. Courts must accept well-pled facts as true but need not indulge in improbable conspiracy theories.”
In a separate statement, Caesars gave a strong indication of the tack it will take in the appeals process: “Throughout his ruling, Judge Gorton acknowledges the merits of the claims made by Caesars in its lawsuit. The opinion states that the court is ‘disturbed by Crosby’s failure to avoid the appearance of impropriety and convinced that public trust in the casino licensing process has suffered as a result.’ The ruling further acknowledges Crosby’s ‘ethical lapses.’ The company emphatically disagrees with the court’s assertion that it is not empowered to rule on these ‘lapses.’ ”