Cosmo does it again; Georgia ponders casinos

It happened again. Smoke billowed over the Las Vegas Strip from an electrical fire at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas last night. No one was injured, thank God, and the damage appears to be minor. But it’s the second fire at the Cosmo, something which is always concerning.

Speaking of the Cosmo, it suffered a PR blow when Hard Rock International CEO Jim Allen said he wasn’t interested in buying it. Snap! However, he did express his interest in Bally’s and Planet Hollywood. It’s unclear whether Allen realizes that if you buy Bally’s you have to take Paris-Las Vegas along with it. Both properties share the same physical plant, which is why Arthur Goldberg was able to build it for a relative bargain back in 1998, when everybody else was passing the billion-dollar mark (pocket change now). Vici Properties has right of first refusal on any two property sales, so Eldorado Resorts may find it more difficult to reduce its Strip exposure than it thought.

As for Allen and that collapsed New Orleans hotel, he said he was “hopeful” that it would go forward pending an investigation but added, “First thing, our prayers go out to the families and those that were injured and also the supporting businesses around the site. That is really where our focus is right now.”

* “I have never seen so much energy and so much enthusiasm about this issue. I think there is a momentum to ‘let’s go ahead and let the voters decide.’” So said Georgia state Sen. Brandon Beach (R, pictured), bucking glum Gov. Brian Kemp (R) and gleefully backing casino legalization. It would need a two-thirds majority in the Lege in order to make it onto the 2020 ballot. When voters were surveyed two years ago there was 56% support for gaming and there’s little reason to believe those numbers have receded. The Georgia Lottery (and the schools that benefit from it) will fight this tooth and nail, as will the churchy set. Already ordained minister Rep. Wes Cantrell (R, below) is rending his garments: “While there would likely be some revenue increases due to gambling, this revenue would be more than offset by the increased costs to our state due to gambling addiction, sex trafficking, loss of jobs, less spending by those who gamble, small businesses closing, increased crime, and bankruptcies.” In other words, the same song and dance we get every time gaming is on the ballot.

Forcing the issue is Atlanta Motor Speedway, which wants to build a $1 billion casino megaresort and has already been picking the brains of Foxwoods Casino Resort (a potential operator?). According to Casino.org, the speedway’s master plan calls for “a 700-room hotel, accompanied by an 85,000-square-foot casino. The development also calls for 75,000 square feet of convention space, an 11,000-seat concert venue, 10 restaurants, 300,000-square-foot mall, a movie theater, a 400-unit timeshare, and a 330,000-square-foot theme park.” That’s ambitious but not unrealistic: MGM Resorts International President Bill Hornbuckle has already tipped Atlanta as the last great, untapped gambling market in America. (If you could get the Speedway and MGM to invest in Atlanta, wouldn’t that be great?)

Indicative of the momentum is the fact that Speaker of the House David Ralston (R) has already initiated a study of the issue. While Ralston’s not giving away where he stands on the issue, he favors an informed discussion. So do we.
* How good is the sports-betting market in New Jersey? So good that Greenwood Racing (owner of Parx Casino) is mulling a reopening of its Atlantic City Race Course, closed in 2015 because the horse racing industry can’t stand on its own fetlocks without casino gambling. Greenwood is working with Hamilton Township to foment a redevelopment plan for what state Sen. Chris Brown (R) calls an “unused eyesore.” Brown enthusiastically supports this latest turn of events. He’ll probably like it even more if Greenwood is serious about building a hotel on the site.

* Taxicabs in Las Vegas may tighten their belts to better compete with Uber and Lyft. The taxi authority is considering flat-fee service from McCarran International Airport, the fare to be determined by a system of zones. That means cabbies could longhaul to their hearts’ content and be none the richer for it.

* Congratulations to Scientific Games and IGT, which joined forces to win the lucrative Brazil lottery contract. They’ll pay the Brazilian government $200 million in return for a 15-year deal, with receipts taxed at 17%.

* Casino.org has a good story on how Illinois horsemen want Churchill Downs penalized for not opening a racino at Arlington Park. It’s too complicated for summary, so best to read the original.

* Houston mattress king Joe McIngvale‘s $3.5 million Scarlet Pearl Casino wager on the Houston Astros to win the World Series is looking like a sucker bet. The Astros trail the Washington Nationals 0-2.