All of Disney Worldwide Services‘ horses and all of the Seminole Tribes‘s men may not be able to get Humpty Dumpty, er, Amendment 3 past the ballot box. The 
amendment, which would make gaming expansion subject to direct popular vote, has 54% support at the moment. Trouble is, it needs 60% to become law. The means, despite having spent $36 million to date, Disney and the Seminoles still have to make their case to the 18% of voters who are undecided. The bad news (for proponents) comes as opponents are upping their game, despite inferior financing. Citizens for the Truth About Amendment 3 has $6 million in the kitty and Vote NO on 3 only $981,832. This race is going down to the wire and we expect it to be decided by the thinnest of margins — but not by the size of one’s bank account.
* Encore Boston Harbor continues to take shape, even as its fate rests with the Massachusetts Gaming Commission. In the newest development, Wynn Resorts has signed Big Night Entertainment Group to operate a luxury nightclub (Memoire) and Asian-fusion restaurant, Mystique. Big Night is a New England-based operator 
with plenty of experience in the Boston area, which provides a complementary strength to a Wynn weakness. Mystique will feature a wraparound bar and seat 530 diners. As for Memoire, it will be “an exuberant setting of gold, leather, marble and hand-blown glass chandeliers direct from the flea markets of Paris,” holding 600 sybarites.
“Big Night Entertainment Group owns and operates several of the most popular and award-winning restaurants and luxury nightclubs in the region and is very well respected in this marketplace,” said Wynn Boston Harbor President Robert DeSalvio, inking the pact.
* Did you know that Albania had a casino industry? Yes, it does but the government does not look upon it with much favor. Come Dec. 31 all betting shops and casinos will be forced to evacuate 
residential areas and into the boonies. (A major inconvenience, to be sure.) As for Internet gambling, operators have been warned to expect “a new regime.” The crackdown on gambling advertising was even more severe. Publications and broadcasters were given 24 hours to get those gaming ads off — or else. New licenses for gambling products have been embargoed: There goes the state lottery’s hope for VLTs. (I wonder which manufacturer will face the collateral damage.) The new set of restrictions may be payback for those parliamentarians who overrode a veto and reduced casino taxes from 15% of net to 15% of gross revenues. Stranger things have happened.
* Rank Group is staring at a $657,400 fine after a player was allowed to lose a million pounds sterling in a 24-hour session at Grosvenor Casino. The time comes on the eve of Responsible Gambling Week in Great Britain, serendipitous if undoubtedly coincidental. In addition to not observing rules governing credit, 
Rank is charged with not intervening and with contacting the pathological player during a self-exclusion period. UK Gambling Commission Executive Director Richard Watson said sternly that “operators shouldn’t fall into the trap of thinking that VIP customers don’t experience difficulties.” We’d call that the Gary Loveman Fallacy, after the CEO who once told Global Gaming Expo attendees that Caesars Entertainment didn’t have disordered gamblers because its players were wealthier than most.
“No matter how wealthy customers are, operators still need to monitor them effectively to ensure they aren’t showing signs of problem gambling,” Watson continued. “It is certainly not appropriate to visit customers during a period when they are self-excluded. This penalty package would have been a lot higher were it not for the positive action Rank took in terms of self-reporting their failures and being open and transparent during our investigation.”
