Japan: Another failure; Reading the Trump tea leaves
According to Morgan Stanley analysts, the chances of pro-casino legislation passing in Japan this year are “quite low.” Yes, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has booted the ball yet 
again. His big push [sic] to bring casinos to the Land of the Rising Sun didn’t start until the Diet had but one month left in which to pass legislation — hardly propitious timing for so controversial an issue. Abe’s only hope, having frittered away a majority in both Houses of Parliament, is for gridlock to move the adjournment date from Nov. 30 to mid-December. Morgan Stanley blames Abe’s weak hand on the expenditure of political capital on the Trans-Pacific Partnership and uncertainly following the presidential election over here. Heck, Abe doesn’t even have a consensus within his own party: Morgan Stanley estimates that 80% of the ruling Liberal Democrats are behind him on the casino issue and he can’t look to help from frequent coalition partner, the Komeito Party: It’s against gambling.
We’ve lost track of the number of times casino legalization was just around a Japanese corner. Major gaming companies thought this was finally it. Las Vegas Sands committed to
oppose Sheldon Adelson‘s anti-Internet gaming legislation if only the R-J would endorse him. It was, if true, a poor bargain. The R-J is a piddling newspaper in the grand scheme of things and its political endorsements (anyone remember anti-casino scold Sharron Angle? Or its threefold endorsement of Marco Rubio?) are widely ignored: The Silver State went “blue” at the presidential, senatorial and congressional levels this year, so Trump could have kept his Faustian pact in his back pocket. Perhaps he made his promise knowing that Adelson’s RAWA has bombed in Congress this year and was likely to do so again without any intervention from him. The congressional makeup has not changed enough to affect the political calculus.
had him as a one-in-five underdog or worse. Their wallets are fatter today, while bookies are softly cursing the polling industry for its “Dewey Defeats Truman” misfire. And, as a side bet, who would have expected the popular vote and the Electoral College to go separate ways for the second time in 16 years? (That, at least, was the situation as of 10:50 p.m., when major newspapers seem to have stopped tracking the raw vote count.) As for What It Means, that is above my pay grade. I will leave it to a far wiser head, that of the star of Mark Twain Answers All Your Questions, which played Las Vegas last summer. Asked “What is Brexit?”, “Twain” replied, “Wait four months. You’ll understand.” (In fact, the Trump forces used the same social media tools the pro-Brexit campaign did.)
promised us) election roundup. By this shortcoming, the AGA flunked one of its mandates, which is to keep voters appraised of gaming-related ballot issues in their area. Fortunately, Global Gaming Business 
However, MGM believes that the Land of the Rising Sun is one of the world’s few markets where you can hit pay dirt that justifies that level of investment. Certainly not South Korea, where the restrictions on gambling by the citizenry are also a deterrent to a heavy capital commitment. At minimum, MGM is promising just under $5 billion toward a Japanese casino, numbers clearly meant to dazzle the Diet and bolster Prime Minister Shinzo Abe‘s latest pro-casino push. (Abe never really seems to “push” the issue, merely nudge it gently.) MGM CEO Jim Murren‘s pitch is contingent on the megaresort said being in Tokyo, Osaka and Yokohama but if the company funds the project through its REIT — so says Reuters — “multiple blue-chip companies” could get in on the deal.
analyst Carlo Santarelli took the numbers with a couple of grains of salt, noting that it was a holiday month and a possible, second VIP-player “retrenchment” might be on the horizon. That being said, both Parisian and Wynn Palace seem to be driving improved results, as was hoped of them. At this time last year the enclave was in free fall, with gaming revenues down 22%. Last month’s numbers were the strongest in 21 months, to give you an idea of the depth of the trench in which operators found themselves. Not even a visit from China‘s premier measurably dampened the October results, though. Neither did Typhoon Haima or the detention of The Crown 18, although the latter could chill VIP play going forward.
through the door at the last minute and irreconcilable with the Senate’s flat-fee solution. Said senatorial lawyer Drew Compton, “We did what we did on gaming — and I think that’s all we plan on doing for the rest of the year.” Efforts were being made in Delaware County (home of Harrah’s Philadelphia) and Pittsburgh (host to Rivers Casino) to sidestep the Lege and reach independent fee arrangements. State Rep. Tommy Tomlinson (R) signaled that an accord was near between Parx Casino and Bucks County, along with the city of Bensalem. Delaware County City Council Chairman Mario Civera cut to crux of the matter, telling the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “The city can’t afford to lose even a penny there.”
point rescue plan through a heavily divided city council. In addition to the sale — already announced — of Bader Field, there will be additional privatizations (payroll, emergency dispatch, garbage, recycling, etc.), cuts in city services, reduction in the city’s workforce and restructuring of benefits packages … But no tax increases. That could be a deal-breaker for Trenton, which wants Atlantic citizens, already hard-hit by taxation, to pay more.
the acreage. However, Psi Key’s redevelopment plans 
Diego. Combine in-progress road construction with a new casino and you had an opening-prescription for gridlock. However, by Tuesday traffic 
prospect that the Taj could reopen with a new name and a non-union workforce. “What I don’t want to see him do is shut it down and then reopen it up and fire all the union workers. It’s called union-busting,“ said state Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D), perceived frontrunner to be the next governor of New Jersey. And, after all, Icahn has yet to surrender the Taj’s casino license to the Division of Gaming Enforcement and is under no time constraint to do so. Casino workers willing to cross a picket line would have a crack at as many as 2,500 jobs in the mammoth casino, if it is reopened. Icahn’s promised $100 million reinvestment would probably be spent on diversifying the property’s appeal beyond gaming, pundits say.
a question of reconciling the casinos with their host communities, and finding a solution that both deem fair, the process also pits big casinos like Sands Bethlehem (which had supported the tax) against small ones like Mount Airy, the David who slew the tax goliath. Already the affected cities are crying foul. The mayor of Bensalem, Joseph DiGirolamo, staring a $15 million a year shortfall in the face, has already raised the specter of police layoff and/or tax increases if revenue-sharing from Parx Casino comes to a halt. On the opposite side of the coin, state Sen. Tommy Tomlinson (R) 
team in return for $650 million in stadium financing. Davis wasn’t having any of that. And NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, who might be less than thrilled to have a casino mogul among the league’s owners, pointedly reminded everyone that Davis needed 24 votes out of 32 in order to move the team. Pressure to keep the Raiders in Oakland is ramping up, as former team CEO Amy Trask is making the rounds with a scheme that would keep a new stadium from being a budget-busting proposition. Among 
impasse wasn’t trouble enough. The commonwealth has been given three months, tops, by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to fix the host-fee regime under which Keystone State casino disburse funds to their surrounding communities. The court found that the current law — which Mount Airy Casino and Rivers Casino have loudly decried — 
Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton (R), who has thrown a legislative Hail Mary, attempting to reverse the Obama administration’s interpretation of the Wire Act. At least that seems to be Cotton’s intent, which could be as broad as to ban Internet gambling altogether. Trouble is, the bill has a number but 
New Jersey, expansion PAC Our Turn NJ is closing up shop. That means that well-heeled potential casino developers Jeff Gural and Paul Fireman (the two frontrunners) are out of the fight.