Caudill casinos recovering; Slick Rick strikes again

It now appears that Terry Caudill‘s two casinos were the victim of a “ransomware” hack that crippled the slot floor, among other debilities. It wrecked last weekend’s business and “scattered outages” were still seen as of Monday. The Nevada Gaming Control Board has initiated an investigation. Eternal vigilance is the price of a well-functioning casino, it would appear. “No matter what you do, the hackers just have to be right one time and as an IT professional, I have to be right every single day and all those attacks are happening on a daily basis,” said pundit Garvin Bushell. Caudill remains under the cone of silence, which may be the best thing to do while the NGCB does its work. Meanwhile all those customers who had to ‘cash and carry’ their hotel bills will have a Las Vegas memory upon which they will not look back fondly. As for Caudill, he can take comfort in the fact that his Skinny Dugans Casino & Lounge escaped the hack unscathed.

* Gamey wannabe Illinois casino owner Rick Heidner is back with another blast at the Illinois Gaming Board, courtesy of PR Newswire. (We’ll say this about Heidner, he’s well-financed.) Before we go any farther, it should be noted that Heidner is the individual who wants Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot (D) to put him in charge of all the Windy City’s slot routes, should they be legalized. Anyway, Slick Rick says the IGT abused the Freedom of Information Act ” to publicize negative information about them, while also denying their legitimate FOIA requests as part of an orchestrated campaign.” ‘They’ refers to Heidner’s Gold Rush Gaming. The only gold rush we can see is Heidner’s serial filing of lawsuits, this being his third.

Anyway, “The new lawsuit alleges that the IGB willfully and intentionally violated FOIA by failing to produce all non-exempt public records relating to three requests Gold Rush and Mr. Heidner submitted for information about the data breach and the IGB’s unequal treatment of them compared to other licensees.” Aforementioned data breach is a whistleblower’s disclosure of questionable Heidner activities, including ties to organized crime. The revelations were so scandalous that Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D, below) kicked Heidner out of a racino deal, one that is going forward with a different partner.

At the heart of the lengthy complaint is the accusation that a Chicago Sun-Times reporter received unflattering information on Heidner only 33 minutes after filing an FOIA request (lucky bastard)—but that the IGB has been much tardier to respond to similar requests from Heidner and Gold Rush. “The IGB’s slower, incomplete, and cavalier responses to the plaintiffs’ FOIA requests have hindered the plaintiffs’ ability to defend their reputations and Gold Rush’s terminal operator license,” contends the press release. Wrapping himself in the flag of Illinois, Heidner’s lawsuit declares, “When the IGB ignores the mandates of FOIA, public access, government transparency, and accountability to the citizens of Illinois―the core principles of FOIA―are the real victims.”

Admittedly, Heidner is a sleaze. But he’s a sleaze with a point. The IGB does not appear to have dealt fairly with him and, furthermore, has botched this entire matter. Other than the newspaper reporters, the only person above reproach is the whistleblower, who kept a shady character out of a casino license. Perhaps we do not do justice to Heidner’s 10-paragraph press release but we can’t read it without wanting to vomit.

* Nevada unemployment fell to 3.5% in January, very good news (unless you’re part of the 3.5%). “I am excited to see January’s numbers reflect that Nevada’s unemployment rate has hit its all-time low and that our employment growth is ongoing,” said Gov. Steve Sisolak (D). All the more reason to keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best during the coronavirus crisis.

* Speaking of which, the news media is all over the coronavirus-impelled closure of Wildhorse Resort & Casino in Oregon. One employee tested positive and “a state health official said the virus is likely circulating and will appear in additional locations in the state.” This is the first occurrence outside the Portland area. The Wildhorse scare occurs parallel with a large-scale quarantine at Kaiser Permanente Westside Medical Center, near Portland. The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation learned of the Walla Walla case in somewhat circuitous fashion, hearing about it from Gov. Kate Brown (D). In addition to the casino, a community center, cultural institute and school are going dark.

A victim of “community transmission,” the infected employee fortunately did not have a job that required him to interact with customers. Said tribal spokesman Chuck Sams, “people have very strong concerns with this … but the tribe has tried to make sure that people are calm.” It’s difficult to know how calm customers can be when they’re told to leave the casino because someone has contracted coronavirus. “Wildhorse is closed until further notice. They are sanitizing the entire facility,” tribal Legislative Affairs Manager Jane Hill told the Rotary Club. The prize for understatement goes to InterMountain Education Service District Superintendent Mark Mulvihill, who was awakened at midnight with news of the outbreak. “You can imagine with social media the fear and the panic going on right now,” he told Rotarians. “Having [coronavirus] in our region is very unnerving for everybody.”

Yellowhawk Tribal Health Center Clinical Director Angie Dearing spoke for Oregon and many other places when she said wearily, “There’s a lot of misinformation out there. It may be causing more fear than it needs to.” Wildhorse, meanwhile, is expected to be back in business in a week. It’s the first time the casino has been shuttered in a quarter century. It can’t be a happy time but an ounce of deep cleaning beats a pound of … wait, there isn’t a cure.

Got coronavirus questions? The Wall Street Journal has answers. Japan is on Level 2 alert, which doesn’t bode well for the summer Olympics.

Jottings: Argosy Belle in Alton is already advertising a March Madness sports-betting tourney. The best Rivers Casino Des Plaines can do is say they’re “hopeful” to be ready in time for the big dance … Gambling isn’t legal in Ukraine yet but don’t tell Hilton Hotels. It’s preparing to plunge $30 million in a pair of casinos in Hilton Kiev. A casino-legalization bill is still wending its way through parliament … Minor-league sports will be exempt from sports betting, as Washington State‘s Lege continues to fine-tune the enabling law. Maverick Gaming owner Eric Persson, meanwhile, vows to spend $30 million suing, stumping and advertising to keep the bill from being enacted. Lawmakers beware.