Two and a half cheers for Bally’s Corp., which has banned smoking at table games at its two Rhode Island casinos. We’ll throw in the other half-cheer when Bally’s nixes smoking in all gambling areas. (Ironically, the company is part of a consortium fighting a rear-guard action against a smoking ban in Atlantic City.) The company bowed to pressure from its table-game dealers, who had been protesting outside the Twin Rivers-branded casinos in Tiverton and Lincoln. Bally’s isn’t completely out of the woods, as state Rep. Teresa Tanzi (D) has filed legislation to revoke Bally’s special exemption from the state’s smoking ban. But this does take some of the pressure off.
No wonder executives at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas were so george with their workforce. They knew the doorknob was about to hit them in the keister. Among those who fell on their swords (or “made the decision to pursue new opportunities,” in management-speak) was General Manager Patrick Nichols. He’ll be supplanted by Niklas “Nik” Rytterstrom, former COO of The Mirage, who’d be needing a new job soon anyway. The Cosmo is being folded under the CityCenter umbrella and Rytterstrom will be reporting to CityCenter prexy Anton Nikodemus. However, MGM Resorts International is retaining some of the Cosmo braintrust, including Edith LaVoie, promoted to CFO, newly elevated HR supremo Adriana Kasunic and vice president of slots and slot marketing Danny Ruiz. Congratulations to all for surviving. Besides, MGM has to keep somebody around who knows “the right amount of wrong,” no?
There’s thunder Down Under and not in a good way. Crown Resorts is in the soup again, having been hit with a $57 million fine for accepting Chinese Union Pay cards for gambling at Crown Melbourne (a legal no-no). You can use Union Pay to defray the cost of your meals or hotel room—so Crown management laundered gaming transactions as innocuous room levies. In a mea culpa, Crown bosses admitted to “historic failings” and promised to mend their ways. A new broom arrives soon, in the form of Blackstone Group, and it would be well-advised to make a clean sweep of Crown’s upper ranks, as relying on ‘institutional memory’ would be an express road to Hell paved with good intentions.
“Crown benefited handsomely from its illegal conduct,” remarked Fran Thorn, chairwoman of the Victorian Gambling & Casino Control Commission. “The fine will ensure that Crown is stripped of the revenue it derived from the process and will send a clear message that it must comply with its regulatory obligations.” While Crown leadership says they’ll do better in the future, they’re a pretty old dog to be learning new, legitimate tricks. After all, they’ve already been stripped of the day-to-day operations of Crown Melbourne, which are now handled by a government-appointed minder.
Blackstone inherits a helluva mess, including a six-year investigation (still in progress) and what Ken Adams describes as “sloppy procedures and a willingness to skirt laws and regulations governing casino operations and money handling.” Meanwhile, over at Star Entertainment, things are little better. Regulators in New South Wales are hearing testimony that Star is unfit to hold a license, being supposedly culpable of “suspected money laundering, organised crime, fraud and foreign interference at Star Sydney.” The nub of the inquiry is an illegal casino cage run by notorious junket operator SunCity (now under a new name but too late to change the leopard’s spots). Some $900 million switched hands at the renegade cage and Star staff lied to banks about it. Star even tried to squelch the regulatory hearing from being held publicly.
Regulatory counsel Naomi Sharp said this was only the beginning. “There has not yet been the period of deep reflection which of course will be necessary in order to develop a concrete plan about what … can bring these corporations into a position of suitability.” Reining in Star will be difficult, as it has been allowed to run wild for years. It racked up only $148,700 in fines over the past six years, most of that for a single infraction. The best that can said of Star is that it is taking out the trash, having sacked CEO Matt Bekier, CFO Harry Theodore, Chief Casino Officer Greg Hawkins, Chief Legal Officer Paula Martin and Chairman of the Board John O’Neill. In a sense, the government itself carries much of the blame, not only for lax oversight but for having allowed Star and Crown to grow to the point where they now represent 95% of the Australia casino industry. This has led some to ask: Are they too big to regulate? Well … are they?
Blackstone will sound find out. Adams warns that “Buying Crown is not like buying Hilton, La Quinta, Motel 6, Wyndham, Cosmopolitan, Bellagio, or Aria and Vdara. Crown will require onsite management watching carefully to see that no high rollers are hiding cash in the backroom or little old ladies are playing two, three, or—horrors!—four slot machines at once … Blackstone is buying Crown’s history, reputation, and regulatory burdens.”
Jottings: It was a big week for Bally’s Corp. By a 41-7 margin, the Chicago City Council ratified Mayor Lori Lightfoot‘s choice of Bally’s as the Windy City’s megaresort developer. After a contentious council meeting, Lightfoot promised “the taxpayers of this city will not have to be called upon again to shore up our police and fire pensions.” … Former junket boss Alvin Chau has been indicted in Macao for a variety of charges including fraud and money laundering. Chau used to run SunCity Group, once the enclave’s dominant junketeer, now fallen upon evil days … Aspects of the United Kingdom‘s much-ballyhooed gambling reform are starting to manifest themselves. One of the first would a ban on sponsor logos on soccer players’ jerseys … There are now four states in which players can engage in interstate online poker. Michigan has joined the practice, currently connecting New Jersey, Delaware and Nevada.
