Billboards in the eye of the beholder; Betting on Trump

One of the greatest scourges of drivers in Las Vegas is mobile billboards, 79 of which tool up and down the Strip. It’s been a nuisance for years but something might finally be done about it, now that the casino industry has had its fill of the visual pollution. The messages range from the sinful (“Asian Girls for You”) to the saintly (“Jesus Rose From the Dead for You”) and it’s irking the casinos that they’re blotting out attractions like the Mirage volcano. “We would like to see the county place a moratorium on new applications and study the operation of mobile billboards until such time as a study of the impacts and limitations can be established,” Nevada Resort Association President Virginia Valentine said.

Valentine cited the lost productivity of casino employees who are stuck in traffic behind these eyesores, continuing, “Add to this the even direr direct economic consequences of visitors stuck within eyesight of their expiring dinner reservation, spa appointment or evening show. This causes innumerable dollars, including public revenues, to be left on the table out of our community’s reach while our guests sit in traffic exacerbated by slow moving and abundant mobile billboards.” We all know that money talks and, in this respect, the NRA has the billboard industry deafened. “I’m not interested in clogging up the roads,” billboard owner Jeremie Watkins said with a straight face.

Rory Reid, representing one billboard operator, evidently realizes that outright, wide-open victory is impossible and is arguing for a compromise—regulation. “Any given day, substandard vehicles without Nevada license plates advertise up and down the Strip and throughout the county. Some of these operators, we assume, pay no taxes or fees of any kind,” he said. “For any regulation to be effective it must be enforced,” responds Valentine and some clearly aren’t. (Like no U-turns.) One thing she wants is a firm cap on the number of billboards that can be in motion at any given time. As Clark County Commissioner Tick Segerblom (D, pictured) said, envisioning 80 billboards on the move, “If they are on the Strip at one time that’s way too many.” Billboard lobbyists say that no more than 50 are out—on a busy night.

At present no one is taking the hard-line stance once espoused by then-Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani. She wanted a total ban on the trucks. We don’t have a problem with that.

* Look out, Las Vegas, hear comes Pickering, Ontario. Getting on the bigger-is-better bandwagon, Pickering’s Toronto-area casino resort will sprawl 330,000 square feet, providing space for 100 table games and 2,350 slots. The hotel (225 rooms) and event center (2,500 seats) will be small by Vegas standards but Pickering Casino Resort is but a modest cog in a $2 billion project that will include a convention center and movie studio. Said Mayor Dave Ryan, “In addition to filming and production, there will be post-production facilities as well. I can foresee the TriBro film studios becoming one of the main arts, cultural and filming hubs in the province.” Ice rinks, a water park and golf course are all envisioned several phases down the line. The casino is designed to appeal to “guests of all demographics.” It looks like it will have the capacity for them.

* Will Donald Trump try to run for president in 2024? Wanna bet? Well, you can’t do it in the U.S. (legally) right now but DraftKings Director of Sports Book Operations Johnny Avello (late of Wynn Resorts) says that there’s a good chance betting on elections in this country may be approved by 2024. “It’s a huge market, especially for the presidential race,” Avello told Casino.org. “You can book it for a long time.” I believe him, given our perpetual election cycle. “There was volatility throughout for a couple of years,” Avello says of the 2016 election. ” think it’d be a great booking opportunity.” In some states it would require changing the laws governing betting—and how would members of your Lege feel, knowing that their political fate might be the subject of a wager?

Star Spangled Gamblers blogger Alex Keeney opines that “talking about politics in a purely outcomes-related way just unlocks a whole form of communication and discussion that you can’t do anymore … So, I think by taking that conversation and putting it in a casino instead of in a newspaper building or a government room, you can just have fun again. You can be frank, and you can be honest again. And you can create a game that rewards the best answer.”

Heck, there’s a Web site—PredictIt—that trades in political futures. Before the Iowa caucuses, Sen. Bernie Sanders was the best bet ($0.69), followed by Joe Biden ($0.23), Mayor Pete Buttigieg (a dime) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (seven cents). If Sanders turns out to have won the disputed caucus, a 100-share purchase nets you $31. The best bet for 2020 remains Trump, who is $0.46 to be re-elected against Sanders’ 30 cents, Biden’s 14 and Michael Bloomberg‘s 11 cents. Just imagine all the sports books that would like a piece of that action.