Las Vegas, if you’ll pardon the pun, dodged a bullet when the FBI apprehended a man bent on killing large numbers of Jews and gay people. Conor Climo, the alleged bomber, has been linked to the white-supremacist netherworld and supposedly had both an unnamed synagogue and a Fremont Street bar popular with LGBT citizens in his cross-hairs, and tried to recruit a homeless man to case the joint for him. Climo confessed to the feds that “he wanted to mobilize an eight-man sniper platoon to shoot Jewish people either at a Las Vegas synagogue or some other location.” He had a bolt-action rifle and AR-15 in his possession. This will not be a popular opinion but there is no earthly reason why a private citizen needs to own an assault rifle unless, like Climo and Stephen Paddock, he plans to rain death down on innocent civilians.
Climo’s plans were grandiose. He obligingly “sketched images of such an attack in drawings that included two infantry squads attacking the bar with guns from the outside and one attacking it from the inside.” This was no sudden impulse: He told agents he’d been concocting his scheme for the past two years. If convicted, he faces 10 years in prison, which seems a light sentence. We have some opinions about what Congress should do in light of such provocations, but will keep them to ourselves for the moment.
* How do you get people interested in a game between the Washington Redskins and Cleveland Browns, two teams going nowhere fast? You add 
“predictive gambling,” which is basically prop betting without the upfront money. Monetary prizes are up for grabs, making it a contest rather than a gamble, and you have to go to a special sub channel to do it (the game has already been played but we think this is going to catch on). There, you can track the stats on special menus, which further contribute to the obliteration of televised sports beneath onscreen graphics.
* Credit Suisse analyst Ben Combes is staying “neutral” on Las Vegas Sands, due to softness in its premium mass-market demographic in Macao. Sands 
missed revenue and cash-flow projections, hence the abundance of caution. “Our forward macro indicators are suggesting Macau revenue growth could decelerate further over the next few months,” Combes wrote. On the upside, the sale of Sands Bethlehem is in the rearview mirror, new suites are starting to open at both the Londoner and Four Seasons, and Sands bought back $180 million in stock.
* Although MGM Resorts International also had a cash-flow miss, it showed strength at its regional properties and steadiness in Las Vegas (a below-
consensus performance by MGM Cotai seems to have been the EBITDA-miss culprit.) Combes noted that “forward room rate and air capacity both positive.” MGM was hurt by poor baccarat winnings and helped by strong room revenue. The company has to be breathing a sigh of relief regarding extension of its Macao concession into 2022, giving it a better chance of monetizing $3.4 billion MGM Cotai.
* Bad news for Full House Resorts. The racino in New Mexico on which it was pinning its hopes was nixed by the state’s racing commission. (Full House had planned a state-of-the-art facility with a mobile grandstand.) It seems that CEO Dan Lee would have no luck were it no for bad luck. Speaking of racinos, Churchill Downs plans to add historical-racing machines to its titular track in Louisville. That’s a gaming enhancement that rival Indiana casinos could do very well without.
* No surprise, MGM is suing the federal government to have the award of off-reservation land to the Mohegan and Mashantucket Pequots overturned. If Tribal Winds ever breaks ground it will be too close for comfort—12 miles distant—from MGM Springfield, which could do very well without the 
competition. The suit alleges “a statewide, perpetual competitive advantage on the joint venture.” Ergo, MGM is also suing to block the award of a Bridgeport casino to Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun, and by implication Gov. Ned Lamont‘s mooted transfer of the XL Center to the two tribes. Four Winds spokesman Andrew Doba was unfazed. “MGM pursues litigation because that’s what MGM does … We can either let a Las Vegas company that generates not one dime of revenue for the state push us around or we can stand strong with the tribes and an industry that’s generated more than $8 billion in tax revenue and currently employs 18,000 people.” The tribes are keeping their powder dry, having committed only $14 million to Tribal Winds and keeping a watching brief on developments in Hartford and Bridgeport.
