Although Maine‘s governor says he’ll veto bills to authorize a pair of racinos and a Lewiston casino, that’s not why S&G gives him the thumbs-up. No, it’s because he’s thwarting legislators from playing favorites. Lawmakers are trying to do an end-run around the initiative-and-referendum process and cut voters out of the equation altogether. But if the bills don’t make it out of the state house then they’ll go to the public in November.
Which is as it should be. Why should Penn National Gaming have had to take the long route in the Bangor area (and Black Bear Entertainment the same in Oxford County) while other potential operators are allowed the convenience of a legislative on-ramp? It’s crony capitalism, it’s shoddy and it’s probably unconstitutional. Maine can surely absorb the extra casino capacity — but the process shouldn’t be made easier for some developers than others, nor should voters be disenfranchised.
Only his hairdresser knows for sure.
Sheldon Adelson can call fired Sands China CEO Steven Jacobs pretty much anything he wants. Jacobs’ defamation claim against the mogul was tossed today. In view of the criminal actions with which Adelson stands accused, Jacobs can hardly have expected his former boss to have shown Franciscan restraint. Still awaiting a ruling is the Solomonic question of whether to split the Las Vegas Sands/Sands China baby. The notion that they are discrete entities wouldn’t appear to pass the laugh test. (I’d like to see LVS try and stay upright without its Chinese revenue stream; it’d be a near run thing, as the Duke of Wellington might have said.) However, we’re used to Las Vegas judges issuing flaky decisions, so there’s no telling where this case is headed … which could be a courtroom in Macao, if Adelson has his druthers.
As for the “red-haired billionaire” and his contention that Macanese operators should be required by the government to build full-fledged resorts, not casinos, that idea’s an affront to free-market principles. (How would he like it if the Clark County Commission required him to finish the decapitated St. Regis at its full, intended height, as shown?) Just because the newly crimson-maned mogul overspent on his Chinese empire hardly means that everybody else should be required to jump off the deep end after him.
