Neil Bluhm doesn’t have an office in Massachusetts. Nor any employees. But Rush Street Gaming‘s Bay State affiliate spent the second-highest amount on lobbying last year. That’d be 662 dimes lavished on the pursuit 
of the state’s elusive, final casino license. That’s up from 430 grand in 2018. Bluhm definitely believes in spreading the wealth: The 2019 outlay was split between three lobbying firms. Bluhm spokesman Joe Baerlein chalked up the big bucks to the need to persuade a reluctant Massachusetts Gaming Commission to part with that last license in the face of an adverse casino economy.
At present, the MGC is both taking public comments and weighing a possible market study on whether Region C, which Bluhm covets, can support more gaming. Bluhm would invest $677 million in Brockton, which is a costlier—but simpler—proposition than amending state law to allow Tom O’Connell to build a $300 million racino in Wareham. As the law presently stands, you have to invest $500 million, minimum, and you have to offer table games, neither of which O’Connell would do. If money talks, Bluhm’s bucks must be sounding mighty persuasive right about now.
* Pace-O-Matic has hired PR Newswire to pimp its black-market slot machines, er, “games of skill.” To show how harmless they are, it quoted Pennsylvania Lottery revenue numbers that showed scratch-off tickets 
growing from 66% to 70% of total lottery sales last year. Whether that means the lottery is doing better or worse overall is a question that is begged. But that didn’t stop Pace-O-Matic Vice President Tom Marino from taking a victory lap, saying, “We congratulate the Pennsylvania Lottery on its impressive boost in sales from last year to this year. We have been clear that our economic forecast numbers show legal games of skill will not negatively impact the Lottery. We are glad to know that the Lottery’s data is showing that as well.”
However, even the press release had to concede that “The report clearly indicates the loss of lottery revenue has resulted from a drop of sales of Power Ball and Mega Millions.” Pace-O-Matic claims that while its slots have been in play for five years, Lottery revenues have continued to increase all the while. It also frames them as a purely charitable endeavor—and a home-grown one: “All of the games, and most of the parts of the machines, are made in Pennsylvania.” But does that make them more legal?
* Hooray. No, seriously. Hooray Agency is the Irvine-based PR firm that has been tapped to represent $4.3 billion Resorts World Las Vegas. The initial press release says Resorts World “will be the most comprehensive and significant luxury integrated resort to open in Las 
Vegas in over 10 years.” That’s not puffery when you consider that it’s been 12 years since CityCenter. Said agency President Steven Seghers, “Resorts World wanted a partner who would reject traditional marketing approaches in favor of work that cuts through the clutter, and Hooray has a proven record of producing disruptive, compelling ideas that span the creative gamut.” It’ll be a heavy lift, as Hooray must create brand equity for the metaresort, “an overarching tag line” and a cutting-edge Web site. Nothing to it. Hooray is a branding specialist, having worked with Salamander Hotels & Resorts, Hilton Hotels (aha!), Montage Hotels & Resorts, and Preferred Hotels & Resorts. It looks like Genting Group has gone to the right well.
* When I profiled Caesars Entertainment recently for Casino Life (a British glossy), they were a bit cagey about what they had coming up at the Flamingo Las Vegas. I don’t blame them now: It seems that their blockbuster idea is a Whitney Houston hologram concert, playing an extended run starting in April. Wow. Creepy and campy all in the same package. Gary Loveman should be pleased. About the time Houston made a mentally addled appearance on Dancing With the Stars, Loveman was strongly considering her as a potential Las Vegas Strip headliner. I guess he forgot to read the part of the contract where you’re supposed to be reliable. Just remember: Crack is wack.
* Las Vegas isn’t the only Mecca for neon-sign obsessives. Fresno collector Chris Raley has made it his avocation to memorialize vintage neon in miniature, acrylic form. Need a Safari Inn sign? Raley can make one. Raley is part of a California fraternity devoted to “the glory days of roadside advertising.” Most of the vanishing neon they are trying to document is found up and down the Golden State. It’s a race between preservation and catastrophe, as when the Astro Motel was doomed by a right of way for (slow-moving) high-speed rail. Once upon a time, “If you didn’t have a sign, you didn’t exist,” says historian Heather David (so true of Sin City). Raley and his confreres sell the odd model or two but are mainly engaged in miniaturized historic preservation. As Raley says, “The Astro Motel sign—it no longer exists, except for in this room. And so in a way, in a very small way, it’s been brought back to life.”
* Got questions about coronavirus? The Boston Globe promises answers. I’ve seen two existential threats to the casino industry in the last 25 years. The Great Recession was one. This is the other.
* If you’re MGM Resorts International CEO Jim Murren you’re looking good—even prescient—today. Meanwhile Murren bete noire Donald Trump is feeling the Bern, saying,“I think there’s no question the establishment, the Democratic establishment, is trying to take it away from Bernie Sanders. No question about that in my mind.”
