A federal judge dealt a major defeat to the Justice Department in its efforts to reinterpret the Federal Wire Act as a ban on Internet gambling. Nope, only sports betting ruled Judge Paul Barbadoro. The ruling is a boon to New 
Hampshire and other states whose online lotteries were upheld. As for casino-style gambling, its status remains to be clarified, although the World Series of Poker took a victory lap. “Ultimately, the District Court failed to be moved by the DoJ’s grammatical re-interpretation of the Wire Act, namely a missing comma, and found instead on the basis of context,” although the issue seems certain to wind up in the lap of the Supreme Court. While sports betting across state lines is nixed, the legality of daily fantasy sports remains unclear. Among those who had reason to be chagrined was Sheldon Adelson, the DoJ’s disputed memo having parroted a legal brief filed by El Bombastico’s attorneys.
In an undercard, an unspecified number of Pennsylvania casinos are suing the Keystone State’s lottery. Why? Because they say it is deploying games which replicate casino ones too closely. The terrestrial casinos go online in six weeks and are obviously trying to extirpate competition from the lottery.
* Airline passengers from China may online represent 3% of a $1.1 trillion travel industry in the U.S. but they mean a lot more than that to Las Vegas, which has to be worried over a recent warning against visitation to America from the Red Chinese government. When you hear that Chinese travel could
fall by 50% and you’re in Big Gaming it’s time to panic. “On this front, the U.S. has more to lose than China,” warned Deutsche Bank strategist Robin Winkler. The Chinese despots have been stirring up fears of the U.S. as a land of frequent “shootings, robberies and thefts.” (In other words, just like Macao when Stanley Ho was running the place.) “Las Vegas has already noted weaker Asian gambling trends. Baccarat gross gaming revenues are often a barometer for the health of the Asian consumer and are down 26%,” reported Bank of America analyst Andrew Didora. And for those who argue that this is the era of a different, diversified Las Vegas, luxury retail is also expected to take a hit. So there.
* Atlantic City‘s two newest casinos, Hard Rock Atlantic City and Ocean Resort, are teaming with its oldest, Resorts Atlantic City, to market their part of the Boardwalk as “North Beach.” “It makes no sense whatsoever not to work together and promote this end of town,” said Resorts President Mark Gianantonio. And when your casino on the ropes, as Resorts is, it makes no sense not to grab a lifeline thrown to you by the new kids on the block.
* Caesars Entertainment is already catching flak over the potential Eldorado Resorts takeover. At a hearing of the Indiana Gaming Commission, employees 
belonging to Unite-Here painted a picture of dilapidated, Caesars-owned casinos being run at bare-bones staffing levels by exhausted, underpaid workers. They also protested that Carl Icahn was able to personally select Mark Frissora‘s successor as CEO despite having less than 10% of CZR stock. “I know Caesar’s can make these jobs better because they are doing it at other properties,” said food-and-beverage worker Selby Wood from Indiana Grand Racing & Casino. The IGC, meanwhile, is more concerned with sports betting, which it appears unlikely to implement in time for the start of NFL season.
* Station Casinos evidently is experiencing some ramp-up issues at the Palms and new-look Palace Station. Analyst Joseph Greff at JP Morgan trimmed his Station revenue forecast for precisely that reason, lowering his Palms cash-flow contribution for next year from $90 million to $70 million. I guess not too many people are booking the $100K/night Empathy Suite, not much of a bargain when you can stay on the International Space Station for $35K/night. (Would I go if I won the Georgia Lottery tomorrow? In a heartbeat!) No word on new projects at Station. Perhaps management will have something to say on the 2Q19 earnings call.
* The Oneida Indian Nation is taking a dive into sports betting and has tapped 
Las Vegas Sands veteran Justin Arnett as director of sports operations for its three New York State casinos. Arnett will have to get right to work, as 60 positions are unfilled. Despite his apparent youth, Arnett has a lengthy resumé that includes postings at Hard Rock Casino Hotel & Casino, M Resort, The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas and the Gold Coast Hotel & Casino. (If you can survive the smoke-choked Gold Coast sports book you can handle anything.)
* 666 pence is the mark of the beast at GVC Holdings, the British gaming company whose executives executed a massive stock dump at that price per share. Stockholders are expected to rebel at management’s compensation packages, even after one exec’s pay packet was cut by $193,000. However, activist shareholders are not believed to control enough stock to make heads roll.
* Want to gamble in Singapore but don’t want to pay to enter a casino? Simple, set up a gambling den in your own house. There’s just one small problem: It’s very illegal and will bring 5-0 crashing through your door. Five days of raids netted 56 arrests and the confiscation of 13 computers. Some human-trafficking charges were thrown in for good measure.
* Maroon 5 will perform at the opening of Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood, Florida, but don’t get excited just yet: The $1.5 billion expansion doesn’t debut until October 24. That hasn’t stopped Hard Rock CEO James Allen from giving media a sneak peek at the almost-finished product.
