Next stop, Pahrump. That’s where Silverton hopes to be heading, proposing Silverton Ranch just off State Route 160. “We like the growth of the area … and we like the Death Valley component, with the 
number of tourists and tour buses that pass through. We have current customers and employees of Silverton that live in Pahrump, so we thought it would be fun to build an extension of the Silverton brand there” Silverton President Craig Cavileer told the Pahrump Planning Commission. We don’t think casinos do things just for fun, so obviously the metrics of this project look good for owner Ed Roski and his gaming braintrust. If approved, the casino would have five table games, 250 slots and a 125-room hotel. In other words, Silverton management is moving forward prudently.
Declaration of interest: This author once directed a Las Vegas Little Theatre production of a play by Erica Griffin called Juju Goes to Pahrump. Inspired by a week’s stay in a Pahrump trailer park, it included the immortal declaration, “We’ve even got a fro-yo shop. We’re all quaint and shit.” So you’ll forgive us if we equate Pahrump with frozen yogurt and space aliens. (Long story.)
* Raving Consulting columnist Kevin Parker has been scoping out rural casinos and finding table-game holds that compare to those on the Las Vegas Strip. He writes, “After observing this trend over and over and across the country, it leaves me asking myself if these table operators understand the true importance of happy engaged players and their 
relation to both the drop and hold in their pits? … Destination property house advantages, designed for a transitory player base, can be disastrous for a rural property with a static player base.” He adds that casinos are overlooking other important table-game metrics, such as time on table, average bet and decisions per hour.
Parker resumes, “Many table games operators make the mistake of listening to their peers or industry experts on adjusting these options without regard to their own situation. In order to meet the budget needs in the short term, they remove the advantages the players prefer to increase the hold and then lament when those same players look for a different place to play.” We’d hate to see regional casinos breeding the same animus from their players that is already marring the Las Vegas experience. After all, there are plenty of other places consumers can take their gambling budget.
* Hold the iPhone! Rush Street Gaming has pulled its application for Internet gambling on the Rivers Casino skin in Pittsburgh. No “why” was 
given but it could have something to do with the high tax rate and even more to do with unnecessary duplication of product, since Rush Street already offers Internet gambling on the SugarHouse skin. The pullback will save Rush Street owner Neil Bluhm $10 million. There hasn’t been any further clarity on Bluhm’s apparent hit job on the Mashpee Wampanoags and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D), but political junkies must surely enjoy the irony of one of the Democratic Party’s most “george” donors sapping its presumptive presidential nominee for 2020.
