If at first you don’t succeed, Bill Miller, try, try again. Persistence for the American Gaming Association prexy paid off with a new set of Small Business Administration rules for Paycheck Protection Program loans that include all business that receive legal gaming revenue, desperately 
needed relief for small casinos, manufacturers and slot-route operators. Hedge funds and private equity are explicitly excluded from PPP money under the newest rules, banishing one fear. Bankrupt companies are also out, so you don’t want to open Chapter 11 right now. “We are pleased that the new regulatory guidelines released today make small gaming companies eligible for this critical program just as Congress has replenished its funding,” said Miller, adding, “I’m grateful to President Trump and his administration for recognizing that commercial and tribal gaming industry employees deserve the same support available to other small businesses, and for the significant, sustained efforts of members of Congress to amplify the need for changes to the guidelines to get small gaming operators and their employees through this challenging time.” We heartily second those sentiments.
* Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) has two tribal compacts down, umpteen more to go after coming to terms with the Otoe-Missouria Tribe and Comanche Nation. In addition to “competitive” exclusivity fees that are actually lower than the ones paid previously, the compacts include:
- House-banked card games and table games (including blackjack).
- Sports betting
- Three new casinos apiece, off reservation land (in return for higher exclusivity fees)
- No “one size fits all” gaming compacts
Sounds like the two tribes got a pretty good deal. None of this prevented Oklahoma Indian Gaming Association Chairman Matthew Morgan from going off on Stitt. The governor, he said, “does not have the authority to do what he claims to have done today. Without the 
engagement of the Oklahoma Legislature, he has entered agreements based on a claim of unilateral State authority to legalize sportsbook, to revamp the Oklahoma Lottery, and to authorize new gaming facilities in Norman and Stillwater, among other places. That’s simply not the law.” State Attorney General Mike Hunter also broke with Stitt, declaring that the new compacts were “not authorized” under state law. Hunter wrote, “only gaming activities authorized by the [Tribal Gaming Act] may be the subject of a tribal gaming compact. Sports betting is not a prescribed ‘covered game’ under the act.”
“I suppose everyone can have their own interpretation or belief,” yawned Stitt’s attorney, Phillip Whaley. Those interpretations will include the Lege and the Department of the Interior, neither of which has weighed in on the matter yet.
* Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott (R) has appointed two gamblers to his Strike Force to Open Texas and they couldn’t be more different. In 
this corner, Golden Nugget owner Tilman Fertitta, a man who is by his own admission in desperate financial straits and has a vested interest in reopening sooner, not later. In other, John “Mattress Mack” McIngvale, beloved philanthropist and heavy sports bettor. Named one of the “Heroes of the Coronavirus Pandemic” by the Houston Chronicle, Mattress Mack says, “The thing we need most is customers, but the priority is safety, of course.” Well said, sir.
* While on the subject of sports betting, The Venetian is upgrading its sports book to bring it to the five-star standard of the rest of the resort. Gone is the old Cosmopolitan Sportsbook, replaced with “a very dark room, near a restaurant that has stadium seating.” The new book has been 
described as “the most luxurious” on the Las Vegas Strip. It will take bets from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m., extending its hours during NFL and MLB seasons, with odds set by CG Technology, which also handles The Venetian’s mobile sports-wagering application. According to BetTheFish.com, “Every guest that enters the sportsbook area is given their own personal TV to watch the event they placed a bet on. These areas are also equipped with a desk, calculator, and pens and writing paper, along with a tablet.” A 10′ by 100′ curved screen will be able to show as many as 42 games at once. Sounds like luxury to us.
* Coronavirus did a good job of scaring travelers away from McCarran International Airport last month. Passengers were down 53% to 2,064,393, driving year-to-date numbers down 15.5%. The carrier hardest hit was Southwest Airlines, off 62%, while Frontier suffered least, down 10.5%. International travel was particularly affected, falling 58%, although it is a small piece of the larger puzzle.
* Here is heartwarming news for a time when we all could use some.
