… when we call our new casino Circa. An S&G source has done some research on the matter and found that “Circa” is trademarked to Michigan company NMH Acquisition. The Patent Office gave Circa “trademark serial number of 87960443.” 
NMH stands for National Mentor Holdings and it sold the Circa trademark to an unnamed buyer (probably answering to the name Derek Stevens) in December. However, this does not mean that NMH is unconnected to Las Vegas. Its parent company, Vestar, owns The District at Green Valley Ranch. Also, Vestar owner Leon Tsoukernik has been sued by poker player Matt Kirk over $3 million that Tsoukernik lost to Kirk at Aria. The indebted Mr. T is also owner of Kings Casino in the Czech Republic. He countersued Kirk and Aria, citing the familiar complaint that Aria management had conspired to get him drunk in order that he might lose. (Considering that Aria had very little skin in the game, I find this difficult to believe. So did the courts, which tossed the counterclaim.) Columnist Erik Gibbs calls Tsoukernik “a shady character whose integrity has been called into question a numerous of times, even prior to the debt with Kirk.” Let’s hope Stevens is keeping him at arm’s length from Circa, trademark or no.
* Since the Department of Justice re-reinterpreted the Federal Wire Act, there’s been a deafening silence coming out of the American Gaming Association. The AGA finally rose to the bait today, albeit with a strangely noncommittal, everything’s-ducky response to 
the DOJ’s challenge. “It is unfortunate that the Department of Justice departed from well-established practice in reversing its previous opinion without a compelling reason to do so. However, the 2018 OLC opinion does not impact the ability for states and Tribes to legalize and regulate gaming on a state-by-state and tribal basis,” wrote Sara Slane. “With over 4,000 regulators and billions of dollars allocated to compliance, casino gaming is one of the most highly regulated industries in the country and for decades has provided its customers with cutting-edge products in a safe, regulated environment pursuant to state, Tribal and federal law. We will work with all stakeholders to preserve the ability of states and Tribes to regulate gaming, and we encourage DOJ to investigate and shut down illegal, unregulated gambling operators who prey on consumers.” We somehow doubt the DOJ will heed the AGA’s advice.
* Whatever happened to Glenn Schaeffer? Try looking for him along the New Zealand coast, heading up the Mahana Estates Winery. Into said winery did Schaeffer persuade 
Full House Resorts CEO Dan Lee (pictured) and MGM Resorts International CEO Jim Murren invest. Things went so badly, however, that Murren and Lee “claim Schaeffer misled them into thinking they actually owned a stake in the business and squandered their money. Schaeffer said Lee threatened to kill him, and his dogs. Lee said he was joking.” A New Zealand court sided with Lee and Murren, awarding them over $2 million in damages. The winery is in the process of being sold.
Murren, Schaeffer and Lee had been wine-tasting buddies from the wayback. Bloomberg reports that the MGM Grand acquisition of Mandalay Resort Group was pitched to Schaeffer by Murren over some fine Kiwi pinot noir. “Schaeffer had [subsequently] convinced Murren and Lee to back him in the winery. He pitched it as an opportunity to buy vineyard land cheaper than in the U.S. and as a currency hedge against the weaker New
Zealand dollar, according to Lee.” However, the duo eventually discovered that, instead of buying the shares in the winery, their money had gone to retire debts incurred by Schaeffer. “There was a high degree of unorthodox merging of Mr. Schaeffer’s personal interests with the assets of [the winery] and a striking failure to properly record the investments made by Mr. Murren, Mr. Lee and the other limited partners,” ruled the court.
As for the alleged threats, “[Lee] said, ‘You’re the luckiest guy if you can steal a couple of million dollars from two Las Vegas CEOs. Thirty years ago, you’d be dead out in the desert.”’ Regarding Schaeffer’s dogs, Lee explained that he wanted to seize the pedigreed Rhodesian Ridgebacks as collateral. (You could well say that Mahana Estates had gone to the dogs.) Schaeffer, who claims still to be on speaking terms with Murren, plans to appeal.
