Sheldon Adelson being too busy trying to dictate American foreign policy, it was left to his Number Two Man, COO Michael Leven (left) to go to Toronto and make the case for a Las Vegas Sands megaresort. Leven soft-pedaled the gambling stuff and talked up conventions instead. Leven’s unconcern about having only 2,000 parking spaces (for a $3 billion, three-years-in-the-making casino-hotel) indicates he’s working off the same 1:1 ratio of cars to hotel rooms used at The Venetian, but locals don’t seem to be buying into his math. Sands would be “open” to assisting Ontario if infrastructure improvement is required, he added, seeming to promise something while actually committing to nothing. You’ve also got to wonder if Adelson’s planning to import his jihad against labor unions to Canada, a move that would cement his image as the prototypical Ugly American. Even so, if the casino is to be at Metro Convention Centre, Sands makes a far more logical choice than Dan Gilbert and Gary Loveman‘s Rock Caesars Gaming, an entity not known for its exhibition experience. Adelson’s people would also be better equipped to deal with new gambling-regulation methods, a technologically more advanced version of what they currently must abide by in Singapore. However, Leven’s lowballing of traffic figures, while refreshingly unusual in the casino industry, has probably, unwittingly added some appeal to MGM Resorts International‘s competing, more-expensive bid for Exhibition Place, further from the centre … er, center of the city.
Sandy beaches and sunny weather notwithstanding, casino industry leaders are unlikely to shed tears now that voters in the Bahamas have nixed legalization of the country’s gray-market “web shops.” It’s a low-end, grind-joint sort of business. The fact that it was projected to generate only $20 million in annual tax revenues — a twelfth of what the Seminole Tribe pays the State of Florida — tells you how low-yield the Bahamanian market would be. There’s some money so small it’s not worth the industry stooping to pick it up off the floor.
Hold the phone, would-be applicants for Massachusetts‘ southeastern casino license: The Mashpee Wampanoags say they have found evidence that would prove they have ancestral ties to their proposed casino site in Taunton. That’s all well and good but the Mashpee Wamps still have to draw up a compact that the Bureau of Indian Affairs doesn’t find usurious and get around the small problem of having been federally recognized too late to be protected under the Carcieri v. Salazar ruling.
Start the Revolution without me. So businessman and philanthropist Dr. Walter Lomax will be putting as much as $40 million toward south Philadelphia project (subject to regulatory approval) Casino Revolution. Big whoop. If there’s a non-starter among the six casinos being pitched for urban Philly, this is it. Lomax Cos. “has its hands in a variety of industries,” none of which is gaming. And if you’re looking for casino expertise behind the façade that is PHL Local Gaming, you’ll find a bunch of tomato growers instead. Steve Wynn or the Procacci Brothers? Geez, that’s gonna be a tough one …
Off track but will this mean a Twinkie on the pillow in my hotel room soon?
NEW YORK — Hostess has picked a lead bidder for its famous Twinkies.
The bankrupt company said late Wednesday that it has selected a joint offer from two investment firms – C. Dean Metropoulos & Co. and Apollo Global Management LLC – as the lead bid for its Twinkies and other snack cakes.
Only at s Caesars property, man, only at Caesars. But it’s a helluva image, isn’t it?