Ted Binion is long since dead and buried. So, legend has it, is his treasure. Binion’s corpse wasn’t even cold before sleazy Rick Tabish was caught digging up the casino heir’s silver vault in scenic Pahrump (a sheriff’s deputy discovered the theft with the immortal words, “There’s a shitload of silver!”). The Tabish arrest did nothing to squelch the ever-burgeoning myth that there is another cache of treasure on the grounds of Binion’s ranch. The idiosyncratic Binion is also believed to have secreted thousands of dollars within his home, money that has never been recovered.
Many amateur buccaneers have tried excavating the Binion ranch, shovel and metal detector in hand, in hopes of striking it rich. One of them, Richard Cleaves, got caught in 2017, clad in a moth-eaten wifebeater, and didn’t let the little matter of a prior arrest prevent him from becoming the prime suspect in a recent smash-and-grab raid. The target may have been the fabled diamonds and double-eagle coins that remain at large. Even a CBS News investigation that used ground-penetrating radar rolled snake eyes. Our instinct is that Ted’s Treasure is an urban legend but it will probably only grow in fascination with the years.
* There’s a bill before the Missouri Lege to legalize slot routes in the Show-Me State and trade group the Missouri Gaming Association is not one bit happy with it. The bill is currently slumbering quietly in the 
lower house, but MGA Executive Director Mike Winter is not going to let this sleeping dog lie: “This irresponsible bill would permit slot machines on every street corner where a restaurant, bar, convenience store or truck stop is located. These machines look and play just like slot machines,” he added, raising some confusion as to whether these are actually slots or something subtly different.
Winter is right that Missouri could have more slots outside casinos than within if HB 423 passes. That’s what’s happened in Illinois, to the detriment of the casino industry. “Voters were very careful to restrict casinos to certain locations and to limit the number of casinos” when 
the state authorized casinos in 1994, says Winter, who is concerned that lawmakers are circumventing the initiative-and-referendum process in what looks like an expedient tax grab. “The same towns and cities that opposed casinos in their communities could suddenly see hundreds of slot machines in family restaurants, convenience stores and other retail establishments,” complains the MGA, in a press release. Boyd Gaming and Penn National Gaming could protect their flanks by extending their Illinois slot routes into Missouri but companies that don’t own slot routes, such as Caesars Entertainment and Eldorado Resorts, will be vulnerable. With Missouri casinos trending gently downward, the timing of this move could not be much worse.
* What’s in a name? Not much if it’s Ocean Resort Casino. But execs 
at Ocean evidently felt that the wrong message was being sent, so now it’s Ocean Casino Resort, an announcement made on Twitter Wednesday morning. “We are a casino first,” quoth the Tweet, in an obvious pitch to meat-and-potatoes gamblers, the kind that the casino spurned during its Revel incarnation. We hope the message resonates, as we’d like to see the Ocean rise.
* Flipping the coin, in a first for Las Vegas Sands, its new hotel tower (to be) at Marina Bay Sands will be casino-free. Instead, the existing casino floor will be expanded by as much as 183,000 square feet. MBS prexy George Tanasijevich said this was the “more appropriate” thing to do. No word yet on the design of the planned hotel but the existing casino-resort, with its Moshe Safdie design, gives it a very high bar to clear, aesthetically.
* On Tuesday, North Carolina‘s Senate voted to approve a bill legalizing sports and race betting at the state’s tribal casinos. It flew through on a 42-7 vote, perhaps sped along by the brevity of the bill: one and a half pages of text. Mobile and online wagering fall into a gray 
area, not being addressed in the bill. Also, bets will be restricted to game and race outcomes. No prop bets for you, North Carolina! Bill sponsor Sen. Jim Davis (R, left) projects that his baby will generate $41 million a year for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. A companion bill is momentarily stymied in the House. Some think Gov. Roy Cooper (D) will veto sports betting if its his desk—only $1 million in new taxes are expected—but it’s hard to see the sense in not keeping up with the Joneses. We applaud Davis for his leadership but, with the wind at his back, we wish he’d asked his colleagues for more.
