Nevada‘s most famous gaming regulator is dying. Harry Reid has pancreatic cancer and we’d say he’s throwing verbal restraint to the winds now that he has nothing to lose 
— but that has always been Reid’s style. The New York Times paid Reid a visit at his home in Henderson and could not help asking Reid about James Comey‘s equation of Donald Trump to the head of a Mafia family. “Organized crime is a business,” Reid replied, “and they are really good with what they do. But they are better off when things are predictable. In my opinion, they do not do well with chaos. And that’s what we have going with Trump. Trump is an interesting person,” said Reid, continuing the analogy. “He is not immoral but is amoral. Amoral is when you shoot someone in the head, it doesn’t make a difference. No conscience.”
* Despite its backstabbing move to support federal regulation of sports betting, the NFL (no stranger to talking out of both sides of its mouth) named Caesars Entertainment its “official casino sponsor.” Apparently missing the irony, the American Gaming Association‘s Sara Slane said, “The NFL’s official partnership with Caesars Entertainment is a perfect example of the value of contractual relationships between leagues and the casino gaming industry.” We’ll see about that.
* Although outgoing Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder was expected to sign online-gambling legislation, he elected to veto the bill, meaning that it will have to be taken up again 
under Gov.-elect Gretchen Widmer (D). Snyder evidently had it in for Rep. Brandt Iden (right), vetoing every gaming-related bill bearing Iden’s name. Snyder’s justification was that the state lottery and terrestrial casinos would suffer from Net betting. In fact, Snyder engaged in orgy of vetoing, nixing 40 bills that came out of the Lege. Widmer supports sports betting but her stance on Internet gambling is unknown. Meanwhile, as Iden ascends to the chairmanship of the Ways & Means Committee, he will have a bully pulpit from which to revisit Internet gambling.
* The Las Vegas Review-Journal‘s Richard Velotta is making a few predictions about what 2019 holds for the gaming industry. Among them, sexual-misconduct guidelines (finally!) from the Nevada Gaming Control Board, nonstop air service to Las Vegas from Japan and — brace yourself, Wynn Resorts — a fine from the Massachusetts Gaming Commission of at least $10 million for hiding critical information. Considering that Wynn was faced with the potential confiscation of Encore Boston Harbor, it should consider that it is getting off cheaply.
