Caesars Entertainment gained some breathing room after U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin ruled that “material disputes” involving its 
removal of guarantees to bondholders required resolution by trial, not summary judgment. Caesars feared the latter, contending that it would contend that it would cause the parent company to join subsidiary Caesars Entertainment Operating Co. in bankruptcy. Judge Scheindlin’s ruling compounds the frustration of creditors MeehanCombs Global Credit Opportunities Funds and Frederick Barton Danner, who claim that Caesars violated the Trust Indenture Act. Caesars wants any court proceeding in the case to held off until two months after court-appointed examiner Richard Davis concludes his investigation of the Chapter 11. One of the matters that Davis is probing is Caesars’ game of keep-away with its best assets, which remain out of the reach of creditors. Had Judge Scheindlin ruled in favor of the bondholders, they’d have Caesars’ plum properties ripe for the plucking.
* Boyd Gaming is branching out into tribal-casino management. It has teamed up with the Wilton Rancheria to attempt to build a casino in Galt, California, southeast of Sacramento. The desired site would sit astride Highway 99. Neither Boyd nor the Wilton band is anywhere near putting a shovel in the ground yet. First, the tribe needs the land taken into trust (public comments are currently being taken), then negotiate a compact with Gov. Jerry Brown (D) or his successor … not to mention numerous memoranda of understanding with Galt and other interested parties. But Boyd has managed to keep this project really low on the radar, possibly so as not to get investors’ hopes up prematurely.
* Sheldon Adelson may be right that Macao has bottomed out. Christmas tourist visitation was up 10% over last year. Maybe the increase in non-gaming attractions like Studio City is having a salubrious effect on the Macanese economy.
* Adelson will be less pleased to learn that the Iowa Tribe of Perkins, Oklahoma, has been given permission to launch an Internet casino. Slugged pokertribe.com, the site will cater primarily to overseas punters — but also to players in Nevada, New Jersey and Delaware. And where the Iowa Tribe has succeeded, other Oklahoma bands soon could follow. The ruling of a state-appointed arbitrator that “use of the Internet is merely using technology to play covered games as a way to increase tribal revenues. It does not extend or restrict the scope of the games and does not amend the compact in any way,” awaits the blessing of a U.S. District Court but it’s potentially a dramatic breakthrough in U.S. online gambling nonetheless.
