Scarcely was the ink dry on the American Gaming Association‘s proclamation of improved anti-money-laundering compliance than a plea-bargaining agreement was revealed involving the Normandie Casino, a venerable Gardena, California, card room. According to the Los Angeles Times, the Normandie “failed to properly record and report a series of large-scale cash transactions in 2013.” As a consequence, it will have to forfeit $1.3 million in winnings, plus pay a federal fine of $1 million. The Normandie’s sin was to structure big wins by high rollers as a series of small victories — and also to substitute the names of “independent gaming promoters” for actual gamblers in Treasury Department filings.
The Normandie was also chastised for ignoring suspicious transactions that could well have been money laundering. Nobody is going to do jail time, thanks to the agreement, and the Normandie will remain Gardena’s only place to play cards. The timing of the Normandie was most inauspicious, leaving egg on AGA President Geoff Freeman‘s face.
* Station Casinos would seem to be a perfectly good and brand-equity-laden name … but we’re going to have to get used to calling it Red Rock Resorts, at least for stock-exchange purposes. The IPO will be a big payday for the Fertitta Brothers, whose management company will be bought out with $460 million of the proceeds (and whose flagship spa just played to rave reviews). Those two always land on their feet.
* Sheldon Adelson can claim until he’s blue in the face that online casinos are vulnerable to underage players (and vice versa) but the facts from New Jersey refute him outright. Besides, Adelson’s own Sands Bethlehem has been caught with underage patrons on its casino floor again and again. Pot, meet kettle.
* The Mashpee Wampanoag are getting in the first punch in their dustup with Neil Bluhm. Rather than simply apply for a Massachusetts casino license and let the best bid win, the tribe is demanding that the Massachusetts Gaming Commission reject Bluhm’s proposal outright. Between this brassy request and the commencement of work on the casino site, the tribe is certainly feeling its oats.
* Kudos to MGM Resorts International for paying a bonus to non-managerial staff at MGM Macau equal to one month’s salary. Generosity in difficult times is especially appreciated.
