Warning: You’re probably not going to like this post. That being said, the catastrophe at Mandalay Bay demands a more proactive 
response from the casino industry. There is always a certain element of risk in life, but we can ameliorate the worst of it. Las Vegas wishes it was Macao, in most respects (albeit with lower taxes). Well, here’s a Macanese idea that could easily be implemented in Sin City. Casinos in Macao are required to have metal detectors at all points of ingress. It’s about time that Vegas took the same measure. The very idea will provoke howls of outrage from some and yet we willingly submit to far greater indignities when boarding a flight to get to Las Vegas.
If Stephen Paddock had to pass through a metal detector at Mandalay Bay, we wouldn’t be having this discussion. When somebody smuggles 17 guns into a casino hotel something is very wrong and must be addressed. Perhaps an exemption could made for holders of concealed-carry permits (provided their home state’s requirements are as stringent or more so than Nevada‘s). And, finally, it’s time to have an armed, visible security-guard presence on the premises. If someone is prowling the Bellagio casino floors in a motorcycle helmet, it’s not rocket science that he’s up to no good and ought to be trespassed.
Too strong? The 58 dead and 515 wounded from the Mandalay Bay Massacre demand a forceful response.
* Although media reports have been calling Sunday night’s calamity the worst act of domestic terrorism in American history, a sharp-eyed reader in Arizona disputes that, saying the dubious benchmark goes to the 1873 Colfax Massacre, in which 150 black men whose lives didn’t matter were killed by a mob of Southern Democrats. Even so (and to paraphrase Frank Fahrenkopf), one fatality in a casino is one too many.
(Paddock’s brother, meanwhile, is sticking to the ‘he seemed like such a nice guy’ meme, which is always what they say after Uncle Bob cuts up a bunch of schoolchildren with a chainsaw. C&W guitarist and Second Amendment proponent Kyle Griffin, meanwhile, was so shaken by the massacre that he’s come out in favor of gun control.)
* We’d like to take the credit for this but we have to give it to American Gaming Association President Geoff Freeman. He’s 
ceding his “State of the Industry” spotlight to former Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis, who knows a thing or two about domestic terrorism, having had the Boston Marathon bombing take place on his watch. “He will share with us the valuable lessons he learned as he led his community through those terrible days and the early stages of its recovery,” writes Freeman. The AGA is also donating $100,000 to the Las Vegas Victims Fund. Bless them for that. The fund, established by Clark County Commissioner Steve Sisolak, received $900,000 in its first six hours, toward a hoped-for goal of $2 million.
* Despite the Sunday-night disaster, it was business as usual for Deutsche Bank, which hosted a lunch with top Boyd Gaming executives. With construction workers for Resorts World Las Vegas settling around East Flamingo Road, good things are 
expected at Sam’s Town. “We believe the biggest opportunity for BYD is at the Orleans, where it should benefit from both Raiders Stadium construction and Palms renovation disruptions as we move into 2018,” added DB analyst Carlo Santarelli.
Wall Street has finally tired of ginning up REIT rumors about Boyd, it seems. The latter is in an acquisitive mode, with gaming assets held by private equity firms the target of choice. However, Boyd is momentarily thwarted by the gap between the price of the asset and what it is willing to pay. Even so, Boyd’s near future bears close watching.
