This just in … It’s here! The Southern Nevada Health District has reported a possible case of coronavirus. More details as we get them. In the meantime, there are at least six confirmed cases in Macao, as gaming stocks suffer and the outbreak’s devastating effect on casino revenue strengthens President Xi Jinping‘s case for Macanese economic diversification.
MGM Resorts International has received the nod to be an “official gaming partner” of the Las Vegas Raiders. You have to be an early riser to beat MGM when it comes to inking sponsorship pacts with sporting leagues and teams. MGM will be hosting “official” pre-game and post-game parties, so it had been brace itself for some wild and woolly venting of steam, especially if the Malosos lose. Raider Nation has to be the rowdiest fandom in the NFL, which holds its annual draft in the Bellagio lagoon. Theoretically the famous fountains will be firing away during the draft—although I suspect the prevailing wind direction will have the definitive say in that: Can’t let Roger Goodell get soaked, you know. Kudos to the Raiders on getting involved early in community outreach with “Clean the World.” Now lets see that “Commitment to excellence” on the gridiron.
* Are Jack Cleveland and Jack Thistledown really worth the $843 million that Vici Properties paid for them? Judging by their grosses, they should be a good return on investment and Dan Gilbert will be getting a $66 
million bargain in leaseback payments. He also rents 2,759 slots and 120 table games. Vici is also leasing Harrah’s Atlantic City, Harrah’s Laughlin and Harrah’s New Orleans to Eldorado Resorts for $154 million a year. Caesars Entertainment having pulled out of Ohio under a previous administration now finds itself back in, thanks to Vici. Had the Jack-branded casinos performed better when they were Horseshoes, Caesars might never have left.
* Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont (D) “has proven naive” in his quest for a grand, overarching bargain for Nutmeg State gaming. On the table is sports betting. OTB operator Sportech wants it. So do the state’s tribal 
casinos. So does MGM (which has no Connecticut presence). And so does the state lottery. If the decision on whom to award sports betting were predicated on who brings the most money to Hartford, the lottery would vanquish the tribes, $370 million to $255 million. Since MGM is busy trying to siphon off Nutmeg State revenues up in Springfield, solons may feel no warm fuzzies toward Leo the Lion. State Sen. Cathy Osten (D) is pushing for online gambling and wants to deal the tribes in, figuring to raise $13 million off sports betting and another $26 million from Internet casinos. Lady Bountiful personified, Osten would throw in a tribal casino in Bridgeport, in addition to the already-approved Tribal Winds in East Windsor.
Foxwoods Resort Casino, which owes $1.9 billion to Wall Street, certainly needs the extra money. They’re paying the price for having screwed up in Philadelphia, and overreaching in California and Kansas. Mohegan Sun is 
in even worse shape, if possible, owing $2 billion, even as CEO Mario Kontomerkos develops new megaresorts in South Korea and Greece. Being on the front lines of sports betting at Resorts Atlantic City, Mohegan Sun knows the added value of that play. “We believe it is a casino game, and you should offer it to the two people that are in the business. Let us offer it. We’ll pay you for the exclusivity,” said Chief of Staff Chuck Bonnell. Sportech’s Ted Taylor calls his company “a perfect fit” for sports betting but it is a minor donor to Connecticut’s tax coffers.
Since the tribal compact negotiated long ago by Lowell Weicker gives tribes the prerogative of offering any games available elsewhere in the state, if Sportech gets its wish, so do the tribes, although Lamont’s administration does not share that interpretation. With Connecticut having already been lapped several times over by Michigan and nearby New Hampshire, cutting of the Gordian knot that is sports betting is not to be expected anytime soon.
* McCarran International Airport set a record with 51.5 passengers passing through it in 2019. That didn’t flow through to gambling grosses but, with that many people visiting Las Vegas, somebody’s bound to be prospering.
* Convicted felon O.J. Simpson‘s defamation suit against The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas will go to trial instead of arbitration. No word from the Cosmo as to its next move.
Jottings: Japan Casino Academy is opening its doors to would-be dealers. So far, the student body is 57% female … A fifth tribe has piled onto the federal lawsuit against Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt (R). The Muscogee Creek Nation is the newest plaintiff, budgeting $500,000 for legal expenses. With the tribes and Stitt having painted themselves into corners, federal adjudication might be the best thing that could happen for the Sooner State.
