After fielding multiple offers for the Tropicana Las Vegas, one has been accepted by Penn National Gaming and negotiations are underway. All this comes by way of Scott Roeben‘s VitalVegas, which pegs the sale price at $700 million, making a tiny dent in 
Penn’s $11 billion debt overhang. As a return on investment that would be terrific, Penn having paid $360 million—or roughly $10 million an acre—for the Trop back in 2015. At the time Penn felt it imperative to have a Las Vegas Strip presence. However, the company had difficulty ramping up business (or room rates) and upgrades/expansions were put on hold. Wall Street will like this deal … a lot. Meanwhile, Penn hasn’t uttered even a hint of disenchantment with M Resort so we think that is safe for the foreseeable future.
* Sign of the Apocalypse: A robotic sex toy could win Last Gadget Standing at the Consumer Electronics Show. (AVN, look to thy laurels!) Stranger still, it is in the “Health and Wellness” category. The news comes a year after a souped-up vibrator was excluded from—the reinstated into—the robotics-and-drone category. The Associated Press is too demure to say what the artificial-intelligence, Lioness-made nominee is but we’re sure the Lioness booth is seeing a lot of foot traffic.
* Well, this isn’t a casino amenity you see every day: The Riverside Resort Hotel & Casino has hit upon the idea of holding Mass in its chapel. Admittedly, your average casino tourist 
is rarely awake on Sunday morning (or is just getting into bed, preferably with company) but think of all those wedding chapels, standing ready for spiritual use. “Father Charlie” Urnick takes confession in Don’s Celebrity Theater and, in a canny bit of scheduling, performs the sacraments on late Saturday afternoon, a casino lull that’s well suited to a bit of spiritual fortification. Reports Microsoft News, “Father Charlie has given Holy Communion before a huge backdrop of a Skyy vodka bottle and images of sultry Budweiser girls and Elvis, prompting him to jokingly remind the faithful they’re praying to God the King, and not the King.” Not that he’s above having a flutter on the penny slots in his spare time.
Says the genial reverend, “The pope says priests should be where the people are. There are 11 casinos in Laughlin, so this is where we have taken our services. And to those who might say that God could not possibly be here, I say he is.” Urnick has even inherited the name the “Chip Monk,” as casino chips are accepted as legal tender during the Offertory. A New Jersey transplant and former Air Force chaplain, Urnick puts the “good” in good news, using food and humor as staples of his sermons. He’s also met one pope, although magic über-fan Urnick says greeting David Copperfield was a bigger kick. Father Charlie’s health has taken a turn for the worse lately but he insists of the casinos masses, “We’ll never leave here.” That’s the (holy) spirit.
* Online sports betting went live in New Hampshire on Dec. 30, with Gov. Chris Sununu (R) placing the first bet. (We like a governor who puts his money where his mouth is.) “I’m 
the 82nd governor. We’ll do 82 bucks,” the guv said, mulling how much he was going to lay on the New England Patriots to win the Super Bowl. The sluggish progression of Massachusetts toward its own sports betting did not go unnoticed by Sununu, who could not refrain from trash-talking the Bay State. “We’re doing it right. We’re taking advantage. I’m not going to speak to why the Massachusetts Legislature does anything. God knows. Good luck to anybody trying to figure that one out.” (We’ve tried.) He added, “Don’t forget to stop at our liquor stores. We have much cheaper prices than those knuckleheads down in Massachusetts.”
New Hampshire Lottery Executive Director Charlie McIntyre was not circumspect either, telling the media, “The best kind of money is out-of-state money.” (As though to add insult to injury, McIntyre is a defector from the Massachusetts Lottery.) Neighboring Maine remains—pun unintended—on the fence, Gov. Janet Mills having failed to sign sports-betting legislation last summer, putting the Lege back at Square One. If Sununu’s Super Bowl bet doesn’t pay off, the winner won’t be some other NFL team but DraftKings, which has the exclusive contract to operating sports wagering in the Granite State.
Massachusetts lawmakers, meanwhile, metaphorically yawned at Sununu. Said state Rep. Anne Margaret Ferrante (D) starchily, “I understand that a number of states want to rush to the market. The real pressure is making sure that when, in fact, something is put forward that it’s the right thing for the residents and taxpayers for Massachusetts.” Imagine Gov. Charlie Baker‘s frustration at having to deal with solons like that.
* Atlantic City casinos aren’t posting Academy Award odds yet but we’ll go out on a limb with our first Fearless Oscar Prediction, tipping Kathy Bates as Best Supporting Actress for Richard Jewell. Why? A) Bates does the best work of her career and, no, I’m not forgetting Misery B) actors in Clint Eastwood-directed films traditionally do well at the Oscars and C) the competition is weak. Richard Jewell protagonist Paul Walter Hauser seems a shoo-in to be nominated but odds on a win have to be pretty long as he’s certain to be going up against Joaquin Phoenix (Joker), Robert DeNiro (The Irishman), Jonathan Pryce (The Two Popes) and maybe even Sir Ian McKellen (The Good Liar). Our Oscar picks were on the money last year so we’re feeling flush. Greta Gerwig‘s Little Women could throw an X (chromosome) factor into the Best Director/Picture race, so we’re staying on that sideline for now.
