Just when it seemed like casinos in Virginia were a done deal, some last-minute tinkering by Gov. Ralph “Blackface” Northam (D) could scupper the whole deal. Northam unilaterally amended the enabling legislation to 
redirect two-thirds of the tax collections from the general fund to school construction. A gubernatorial adviser explained, “The language is going to be relatively broad given the revenue from the casinos won’t start coming in for at least a couple years, probably more.” The Lege can only vote the amended bill up or down and if the latter, it’s back to Square One for yet another session. Northam also tinkered heavily with a sports betting bill, levying $50,000 background checks on principals (i.e., owners of 5% or more in equity) and—here’s the wallop—on managers of sports books, most of whom probably can’t afford it. As Global Gaming Business reports, when piled atop $250,000 for a three-year license and $200,000 for renewal, the startup costs for a sports book reach $1 million.
In other news, the Eastern Band of Cherokee, owners of two North Carolina casinos, are crashing the party in Bristol, where Hard Rock International seemed juiced in for a casino. Also, the peripatetic Pamunkey Indians have shifted their loyalty from Norfolk, which went out of its way to accommodate them, to South Richmond. Perhaps the only clear winner in all of this is Colonial Downs, which is on track to be compensated with 2,000 additional VLTs.
* One thinks of Las Vegas Sands CEO Sheldon Adelson as a builder, not a buyer, but he’s hinting meaningfully at “strategic opportunities” once 
Covid-19 ebbs. He also gave himself a haircut in the form of a dividend reduction, which could cost him a billion dollars. “I am known for the phrase, ‘Yay dividends!,’ and I assure you that it is still my mantra,” Adelson assured stockholders. The mogul is said to be looking at snapping up “large luxury casino resorts in tourist destinations that have [expo] possibilities.” (Let the speculation begin.) He’s looking a post-Coronavirus world as being one in which casino values are depressed, hence the sudden shopping spree.
Adelson’s decision played to a good review at JP Morgan, where analyst Joseph Greff praised it for preserving liquidity, extending Sands’ cash-burn runway and keeping powder dry for potential acquisitions. “[W]e estimate this gives LVS 18 months’ liquidity in a zero revenue environment,” he wrote. Sands, meanwhile is going ahead with The Londoner and a third hotel tower at Marina Bay Sands. It has also budgeted $175 million in maintenance at the latter and $875 million for Chinese capex. When the customers come back Sands will be ready.
* Pennsylvania casinos eked out $121 million last month before Gov. Tom Wolf (D) closed them. That’s -62% for slots ($87.5 million) and -60% for tables ($33 million). Since slots are taxed at 54%, the state stands to take 
a serious revenue-collection hit. With April a dead loss, casinos must now dance attendance upon Wolf to see how far into May it will be before they get the all-clear order. Gaming may be idle but regulators are busy. According to Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board spokesman Doug Harbach, “Our staff continues to be involved in a diversity of work, including receiving and reviewing gaming license applications, completing background investigations of individuals and gaming entities, issuing licenses, addressing enforcement matters, assisting individuals with gambling problems, and receiving requests for new games and wagers.” But, as Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs President Jeff Hamilton rightly puts it, “Our primary goal right now is to maintain the safety of our community.”
Keystone State sports-betting handle slumped 60%, in what analyst Dustin Gouker called, “waters that are unprecedented anywhere.” Handle was $131 million. Gouker elaborated, “The first weekend of March Madness is the second-biggest sports betting event in the U.S., behind 
only the Super Bowl, and its cancellation leaves no feasible way to make up that revenue. Obviously, there are dramatic health and economic concerns for everyone right now, but the loss of revenue will be felt by Pennsylvania’s gambling industry for quite some time.” 90% of betting was done online, with $54 of that at FanDuel Sportsbook at Valley Forge Casino, which translated to $3 million in revenue. Rivers Casino Philadelphia was first in walk-up betting, with handle of $2 million. Punters played online instead, with Internet casinos grossing $24 million. Rivers Philadelphia was tops with $7 million, although Mount Airy led online poker with $3 million.
* It looks as though professional gamblers in Nevada will qualify for unemployment insurance. And why not? What’s sauce for Ruth’s Chris Steak House is sauce for the gambler. Besides, given the shambolic manner in which the CARES Act has been administered, we no longer begrudge the gambling pro his compensation. After all, they may qualify to be “independent contractors” under the CARES Act, which green-lights benefits to workers who cannot telecommute to their jobs. University of Notre Dame economist Jason Reed explained, “This is what the CARES Act is designed to do, to catch all these people who would not have been caught with traditional unemployment insurance.” They’re taxpayers in Nevada, too. As poker pro Chris Konvalinka reasoned, “It seems like a free roll to me. Worst case, they say no.” Indeed.
* We hope this doesn’t bode ill for Virgin Hotel Las Vegas: Strapped by the current economic meltdown, Sir Richard Branson has offered his Necker Island in the Bahamas as collateral for a loan to bail out his Virgin Atlantic airline.
* We can’t get toilet paper at the supermarket for love or money. But this guy hoarded enough to improvise a homemade slot machine from it. In other times we’d admire his creativity but right now he’s just an assclown.
Jottings: Tourism to Macao over Easter weekend was fewer than 1,000 people. You read that right … The United Kingdom‘s ban on using credit cards to gamble took effect on the 14th. The crackdown comes just as online play is spiking … Eureka is where you want to be in Nevada if you want to keep your job. Its 4% unemployment rate trails the state while Las Vegas leads with almost 7% … The Stars Group is benefiting from players sheltering in place. Revenue for TSG is up 27% to $735 million, as “healthy underlying customer activity and the reactivation of former poker and casino customers has more than offset the impact of cancelled sporting events and disrupted markets.” The chink in the armor is the U.S., where a wipeout of sports betting drove a $15 million first-quarter loss.
