It’s a tried and true adage of American life that if you can’t get what you want fair and square, take it to court. Case in point: Full House Resorts. Having lost out on the Indiana Gaming Commission‘s selection of a casino developer for Terre Haute, Full House is siccing its lawyers on the IGC, charging it with lawbreaking. And the IGC may have handed Full House a valid case by adjourning in mid-meeting to hold an executive session, something Indiana open-meeting laws expressly forbid. The gist of that secret conclave may never be known but Full House’s proposal went from contender to zero in the interim. Full House’s implication—the fix was in.
While we do not pretend to be mentalists, it seems pretty clear that by choosing Churchill Downs the IGC wanted to select an applicant not currently represented in Indiana. But Full House contends its American Dream proposal was better and represented a $250 million investment. In an argument that is unlikely to draw many tears of sympathy from the court, “It says that it spent a lot of time and money to secure a highly visible site, which can be seen by approximately 11 million cars annually.” Churchill Downs’ site, it continues, is far less discernible, near both a prison and a sewage-treatment facility (clearly visible from Churchill Downs’ planned rootop bar): “The nature of a sewage treatment plant in such close proximity to a public entertainment venue is counter-intuitive to any prudent, rational individual; the same can be said for locating an entertainment venue near a county jail.” Besides, the investment ($190 million) would be smaller.
Churchill Downs may have screwed up too, by enclosing an attachment that mooted an alternate site for its casino. This extra flourish was allegedly not disclosed and would also break Indiana law, which specifies one casino site per application. Full House does not go so far as to demand that it be awarded the license outright (and it won’t make any friends on the IGC) but it wants Churchill Downs run out of town on a rail and the process replayed. No offense to CHDN but it looks like Full House CEO Dan Lee has himself a case.
Will Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts (R), an anti-gambling activist, pitch a fit and veto the state’s new rules and regulations for racinos? Nebraska Horsemen’s Benevolent & Protective Association veep Lynne McNally hopes not. “He knows that this was an overwhelming mandate of the people of the state of Nebraska last year and so I am confident that he would not want to do anything to stand in the way of getting significant property tax relief back,” she said, adding, “They have taken ideas from other states that already have casino gambling and they went through an independent evaluation process, they did an RFP, hired an evaluator to look up the rules and regs and make sure they didn’t leave anything out.” Do the right thing, guv.
Speaking of playing politics with casinos, the issue will be revisited in next year’s Alabama Lege. State Rep. Greg Albritton (R) wants to put a bill in the hopper legalizing a lottery and casino gambling. “This simply needs to get off our plate, off the table. We need to deal with this and waiting another year is not going to help us. That would just be revenue thrown aside or thrown away,” he remarked. However, his colleagues find themselves caught between the rock of raising money and the hard place of potential primary-election challenges, which augurs ill for legislation’s success. The main obstacle is the state Senate, which ran out the clock on a previous bill to legitimize nine casinos and create a lottery.
Robbie McGhee, vice chairman of the Poarch Band of Creek Indians Tribal Council, thinks the lawmakers have an easy ‘out’ by passing the constitutional amendment and sending it along to a general election, where the onus would be on voters themselves. “I think this is the perfect opportunity to say, ‘That I’m going to give the power to people to make this decision.’” That’s pretty magnanimous, since the Poarch Band enjoys a casino monopoly at present, a state of affairs that irks electronic-bingo operators and owners of dog tracks. Of course, there is is the Religious Right to contend with. It would rather see the mentally ill continue to suffer than enjoy the service funding Albritton aims to finance. Hypocrites.
Academy Awards odds are out even before the nominations and Kenneth Branagh‘s Belfast (no, we didn’t see it either) is the favorite for Best Picture at +240, closely followed by Steven Spielberg‘s lukewarm remake of West Side Story at +300, then Western The Power of Dog (+400), with Licorice Pizza well back at +1,100. (What did we say about the National Board of Review jinx?) Will Smith (-225 for King Richard) is a near-prohibitive favorite, as well he should be, while Best Actress is a similar story, with Kristen Stewart (-225 for Spencer) leading Lady Gaga (House of Gucci, +700). Early odds have Academy members splitting their ticket, going for Jane Campion (The Power of Dog, +110) for Best Director over Spielberg (+500) and Branagh (+700), as well as Licorice Pizza‘s Paul Thomas Anderson (+900). Of course, the actual nominations tend to cosset plenty of surprises and snubs, so don’t take these odds to the bookie.
Jottings: According to Global Gaming Business, Bally’s Corp. made a major gaffe in its pitches for a Chicago casino. One of the two proposals is for a resort on a site Bally’s doesn’t even own. Between lacking capitalization, lacking resort-development experience and now this, Bally’s would already seem to have at least 2.5 strikes against it … Are VIP junkets to Macao really doomed following the downfall of Suncity? Some argue that although Wynn Macau, Sands China and Melco Resorts & Entertainment have opted out of hosting junketeers the business will find a way to evolve, even thrive but for the moment uncertainty is the rule … Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) is sitting on a sports-betting bill that passed the Lege with veto-proof majorities. We’re wagering that he’ll let it become law through inaction, the safest course … The Omicron variant is playing hob with casino trade shows. ICE in London has been postponed well into April following a supplier meeting described as “contentious.”
