MGM National Harbor President Lorenzo Creighton dangles some shiny objects and big numbers before Georgia newspaper readers, promising even bigger things for Atlanta, as MGM Resorts International tries to counter lawmakers’ congenital opposition to gambling with suasion and seductive dollar figures. Hearings begin today in the Peachtree State’s Legislature on the potential legalization of as many as six casinos.
It won’t be an easy sell for MGM Resorts International, as impressive as National Harbor may be. Georgia solons are so straitlaced they won’t even legalize horseracing, depriving the monied elite of one of its favorite 
pastimes. The state does have a lottery, one which already has to worry about competition from gray-market “amusement” machines (i.e., slot machines in drag). There’s also the question of how big a tax bite the state wants to take out of billion-dollar casino projects. The current proposal contains a developer-friendly 12% tax rate, which would easily be the lowest on the East Coast.
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed (above) has been doing a two-step on the issue, calling it “fiscal malpractice” not to break bread with casino developers. Yet he busts out the NIMBY argument, saying, “I believe that Las Vegas is in Las Vegas for a reason, and I just have real issues with putting a facility in Atlanta where working folks can get off work and walk into a gaming casino, as opposed to having to go a destination for it.”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution‘s coverage of the casino issue serves as a blueprint for the opposition. It points out that state-
issued projections for casino revenue in Maryland didn’t pan out and that the regulatory apparatus grew significantly. These are familiar bogeyman tactics, but no less effective with lawmakers for all that. However, MGM may not have to fight alone for much longer. Penn National Gaming and Boyd Gaming are recruiting foot soldiers for the 2016 Lege, and both Steve Wynn and Sheldon Adelson are said to be circling the Georgia market like hawks. Confronted with the Big Five of the casino industry, could legislators continue to say “no”?
Casino proponents are already projecting a $280 million annual windfall for the state, and MGM is raising the project of high middle-class wages, saying the average salary at MGM Grand Detroit is $55,000 and National Harbor workers will make even more still. (Mind you, those casinos are deep in union territory and the wage numbers may be distorted by executive salaries.)
The legislation would divvy up Georgia into five casino zones, with only two companies getting a bite of the Atlanta apple. As 
consolation, minimum investment for a non-Atlanta casino would be no more than $200 million. However, the bill would have to garner a two-thirds majority in the Lege, win a statewide constitutional referendum, then be passed at the host-community level, too. So it’s possible that voters statewide could approve casinos for Atlanta, only to have the city itself reject them.
On the plus side, not only have Speaker of the House David Ralston and Gov. Nathan Deal (above) softened their opposition, the Georgia Christian Coalition‘s Beth Harris sounds resigned, referring to the lottery when she says, “You already opened that door. You can’t close it.” Now that an $11 billion company is knocking on aforesaid door, are lawmakers going to slam it shut?
* Sri Lanka is giving an object in how to smother a thriving casino industry. True, the latter isn’t sweating a proposed ban on local players, as they make up only 4% of the customer base. However, President Maithripala Sirisena‘s budget also calls for slapping 
casinos upside the head with a one-time levy of $7 million, along with an ongoing 10% on gross gaming revenues (apparently) and the imposition of $100 admission fees on every tourist who wants to set foot in one of Sri Lanka’s four remaining casinos. Sirisena’s government recently chased three casino projects — including one by James Packer — out of the country. While Sirisena doesn’t seem bent on killing the golden goose outright, he appears to be trying to strangle it to within an inch of its life.
* Derek Stevens has tipped his hand as to his plans for the Las Vegas Club. “Downtown needs more high-quality hotel rooms,” he says. Whether it needs more casinos is a question he doesn’t address (but it’s one with which the non-Stevens Downtown Grand is currently struggling).
* Presidential aspirant Gov. Scott Walker (R) just blew that Culinary Union endorsement, though I doubt it will cost him a wink of sleep. Rolling out an anti-union agenda in Las Vegas is either a kamikaze tactic or bearding the lion in its den, depending on your perspective.
