Tax legislation currently before Congress has the gaming industry, well, not up in arms but decidedly concerned. The House of Representatives version would close some 
loopholes for deductibility of interest on growth investments. Rather than take up its argument with the lower house, the industry — via the American Gaming Association — is making its case to the Senate Finance Committee, submitting letters to Sens. Orrin Hatch (R) and Ron Wyden (D). “In addition to having a negative impact on economic growth, limits to interest deductibility amount to a harmful new tax on businesses that borrow to invest and grow,” read the letter in part.
Although the American Gaming Association is a prominent member of the Businesses United for Interest & Loan Deductibility Coalition, AGA CEO Geoff Freeman stresses that many industries are represented. “The gaming industry is so vastly 
different than it was in 1986 [the year of the last major tax reform] in terms of our big-business nature and in terms of our omnipresence around the country,” he added. However, since the interest-deductibility reduction is an important revenue offset, if the budgetary axe doesn’t fall there, where will land?
Perhaps it will chop away the ability to deduct gambling losses from tax returns, another potential crimp on gamblers’ discretionary income. Can Freeman have his cake and eat it too? This bears watching.
* The first scapegoat has fallen in the saga of New York State‘s underperforming new casinos. Rivers Casino in Schenectady has rid itself of General Manager Mary Cheeks. According to 
the company, Cheeks “has decided to pursue other opportunities outside of the company,” such as taking the blame for Rivers’ slow start. That’s an unceremonious way to treat a seven-year employee, not to mention a knee-jerk method of handling what is a region-wide problem. Assistant General Manager Justin Moore takes over on an interim basis but we doubt he’s going to be any more capable of fixing the problem (a paucity of customers) than was Cheeks.
* While we’re on the subject of the Empire State, S&G says ‘thank you’ to Resorts World New York which, since its opening in 2011, has generated $2,079,037,190 in tax dollars for local schools. That’s enough to pay 37,000 new teachers or generate 142 million field trips — not to Resorts World, we hasten to add.
