Betting the farm on Japan, CEO of MGM Resorts International Jim Murren has realized his goal of selling MGM Grand and Mandalay Bay. The price was a sweet $4.6 billion it will only cost MGM $292 million a year to lease them back and operate them. The buyers are a consortium that includes Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust. MGM expects a speedy close, in 1Q20. We’ll have more details, including Wall Street‘s reaction, as we get them.
* Spectacle Entertainment could save as much as $3 million in the next two years, depending on action by the Indiana Lege. Casinos like Spectacle’s Terre Haute project have to pay “hold harmless” fees to nearby competitors’ jurisdictions. In this case, Evansville could collect 
the money from Spectacle because the latter could—by a great stretch of the imagination—impinge on Tropicana Evansville. These sorts of penalties are an affront to free enterprise and we hope they are banned. Legislation to that effect has been introduced by Reps. Alan Morrison (R) and Tonya Pfaff (D). It would also unwind subsidies paid by Caesars Entertainment‘s two racinos to French Lick Resort. (Subsidizing a casino? Ridiculous!)
As Morrison puts it, “Terre Haute was successful in getting a casino last year because we fought for it, sure, but it’s also because the legislature recognized that west-central Indiana needed a spark. With that in mind, I find hold harmless provisions counterproductive. Why would you send money from the communities that need it most?” Adds Pfaff, “Evansville has been in business for almost 25 years. Why should a business just starting out have to pay a company that been successful for years?” Spectacle would also be released from hold-harmless payments to Hammond, East Chicago and Michigan City. Spectacle’s Terre Haute project goes before Indiana regulators on Feb. 7.
* Chinese scammers looking to, so they said, raise capital for an online-casino venture falsely represented Wynn Macau as a backer of the ‘project.’ Wynn Resorts is understandably chagrined at this besmirching of its brand. (The scam netted nearly $8 million.) “We are highly 
concerned by this recently reported incident and we have been liaising with the Macau Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau accordingly,” stated Wynn. “Wynn Macau does not engage in any online investment or gaming sites. We encourage the public to be extremely wary of any sites claiming to have a connection with Wynn.” It should hardly be said that one should be extremely wary of anything promising “fast [and] high” financial return but that didn’t prevent 200 marks from being gulled. Beware: The scammeisters remain at large.
* Barstool Sports is worth $100 million but Penn National Gaming might pay a lot more than that to obtain a sports-betting publisher to 
complement its wagering operations. Penn could easily find itself in a bidding war. Said brash Barstool founder Dave Portnoy, “We continue to speak or have spoken with everybody from DraftKings to FanDuel to Stars to PointsBet to Penn to Willam Hill to MGM to Rush Street, etc.” The irreverent Barstool would provide an Internet-media platform from which Penn could promote its gaming offerings. Sports leagues loathe Barstool, which could strain relations between a potential buyer and sports providers, but Penn evidently has made that calculation and decided to risk it.
Jottings: Wasting no time, Spectacle Entertainment and Hard Rock International have broken ground on their Gary casino. It’s 
expected to cost $300 million … A volcanic eruption closed the airport in Manila but Philippines casinos remained open, health hazards be damned … Maverick Gaming continues to grow. Its latest pickup: Eldorado Resorts‘ eponymous casino in Shreveport for $230 million. Since Eldorado will shortly inherit top-grossing Horseshoe Bossier City, the Maverick-bought casino was expendable … Tennessee‘s state lottery continues to ponder rules for sports betting. So far 580 public comments on the draft rules have been received … Ohio casinos and racinos booked $1.9 billion last year, up 4% from 2018. Kudos to then-Gov. John Kasich (R) for having overcome his scruples and signing this lucrative industry into being … Encore Boston Harbor is talking out of both sides of its mouth. While 
denying that anybody has been laid off, it told Massachusetts regulators “it will be working to place as many impacted workers as possible into other positions.” Sounds like layoffs to us … Japan‘s casino-bribery scandal continues to have legs. A Kyodo News survey found 70.5% of respondents wanting the government to review its megaresort scheme. Opposition legislators are planning to introduce a bill to undo the Integrated Resorts Promotion Act. Meanwhile, add Chiba to the list of Japanese cities opting out of casino competition.
