Council Bluffs, Iowa, isn’t reacting so well to the revival of a 2007 casino plan by the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska to open in nearby Carter Lake. First off, the proposed site was ostensibly intended for an as-yet-unbuilt 
tribal medical facility. Secondly, Council Bluffs is already home to one Ameristar-branded Pinnacle Entertainment casino and two Caesars Entertainment properties. City Attorney Dick Wade is hunkering down for another court fight. “We don’t think the action of the [National] Indian Gaming Commission is consistent with their rules and the way the land was originally put into trust,” he told the press.
The 4,100-member Ponca Tribe, if it prevails, would build a 2,000-slot, 50-table game-casino. It would also be exempt from Iowa’s 26% casino tax, a sore point with Council Bluffs. Wade, who evidently hasn’t heard about how tight tribal slots tend to be, remarked, “They could easily have their machines set to pay out 5 to 10 percent more than the machines in an Iowa-regulated facility would have and still make more of a profit, which would draw gamblers away from Iowa casinos. It’s not like it would be anywhere near an even playing field,” he whined.
* MGM Resorts International isn’t waiting for the Supreme Court to rule on the constitutionality of sports betting. It’s already committed $7 million to build a Borgata sports book.
* They’re going to dissect Stephen Paddock‘s brain to try and find out why he snapped and killed 58 people at Mandalay Bay. Seriously. The events of Oct. 1 remain a mystery for the ages, so why not try everything science has at its disposal?
* The government of Japan is taking input from U.S. universities on how to implement casino gambling in the Land of the Rising Sun. Not surprisingly, the UNLV-authored study recommends Nevada’s regulatory model as the one Nippon should follow. Tepid though its government may be, Tokyo is still very much in the running for an integrated resort.
