Ex-Indiana Gov. Mike Pence‘s anti-casino past came back to bite him in the keester this week. A lengthy exposé reveals that, even as Pence was publicly posturing about “no expansion of 
gaming” in Indiana — although Pence never clearly defined exactly what he opposed — his uphill reelection campaign was sucking greedily from the teat of Centaur Gaming, owner of the Hoosier State’s two racinos. Aforesaid campaign also received $1 million from Sheldon Adelson, although we don’t know what the “pro quo” for all those quid was. Now that he has a million-dollar marker on Pence, Adelson could presumably call it in to get the vice president to lobby against Internet gambling (which President Trump has favored in the past). To take Adelson’s money is always a Faustian pact, although we’ve yet to see what his particular claims on Pence’s soul are.
* Among the eyewitnesses to Stephen Paddock‘s shooting rampage on Oct. 1 was Massachusetts Gaming Commission Chairman Stephen Crosby. “It was a horrifying time to be out there,” Crosby said of the massacre. Crosby, who was in town for Global Gaming Expo, took advantage of the latter to have skull sessions with fellow regulators about security issues, talks which are continuing within the MGC itself. “We were able to have a lot of conversations about active shooter training, terrorism training, what are other jurisdictions doing,” Crosby said.
The group is to be commended for its proactive approach, considering that only one of Massachusetts‘ eventual four casinos is open at this time. “As a commission, we need to be cognizant of public safety issues, which we are, and as with any major public safety incident, we will be attentive to the after-action plans and lessons learned,” said MGC Executive Director Edward Bedrosian. The MGC’s makeup includes Gayle Cameron, a former lieutenant colonel in the New Jersey State Police and another bystander to the Paddock shooting spree. She told the Lowell Sun that the MGC “had numerous conversations about how to collaborate” with local police departments on security issues. Massachusetts is to be commended for taking such an activist approach to the sort of thing that caught Las Vegas flat-footed.
* Maryland casinos are approaching the state Legislature with the goal of apprising it of skill-based slots and e-sports, and what it could do for their venues. Maryland State Lottery & Gaming Control Agency PR director Carole Bober Gentry characterized it as a case of “fine-tuning and adjusting [the] 
gaming floor to meet customer trends and demands.” We don’t see why SKS should be a point of political contention since it doesn’t require governmental approval.
“Interestingly enough, the first people to play skill-based games in America was a Vietnam veteran and his wife, which debunks the idea of who people think it would be,” said GameCo CEO Blaine Graboyes of his product. As for e-sports, even the casinos themselves are having trouble getting their arms around it, although Maryland is to be commended for getting out in front in an area where Nevada is lagging.
* The governments of New Jersey, Nevada and Delaware have compacted to offer interstate Internet gambling. This should jolt a little extra life into the feeble Nevada and Delaware i-poker industries. New Jersey is doing so well that any play from the other two states is surely lagniappe. Garden State Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D) said the move was “the first step” 
toward making New Jersey “the Silicon Valley capital of internet gaming.” He added, “The key factor here is having broader participation. You have to have a larger pool of players to make it interesting. [Online gaming] “kept the lights on in some casinos in Atlantic City.” Geez, we didn’t think the situation on the Boardwalk was that dire.
Online play won’t start right away. Operators in each state have to submit their product for testing in the other states. Unlike its new bedfellows, New Jersey allows a full suite of casino games and is on track to make $240 million this year, while poker-only Nevada and Delaware trail far behind.
* Kudos to the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria and Station Casinos for ponying up $1 million to help victims of the wildfires raging in northern California. Such a good deed should not go unmentioned.
