Guess who's kvetching about his property tax bill? Why it's our old buddy, Columbia Sussex CEO William J. Yung III — or at least his surrogates at Horizon Vicksburg. It's been the better part of a year since Yung announced the sale of this riverboat to Nevada Gold, yet the deal still hasn't closed. (Too bad, because the promise of that $35 million was being used to palliate angry debtholders last winter.)
Even though Olympia Gaming and Las Vegas Sands have bailed out of their respective pursuits of casino ownership in Kansas' Wyandotte County, two Vegas-based companies are still in the running. Pinnacle Entertainment has a lot of irons in the fire already and its wait-and-see attitude toward Atlantic City development may not be what the Kansas Lottery Gaming Facilities Review Board (now there's a mouthful!) wants to hear. Golden Gaming's experience, a brief stint at the Vegas Hard Rock Hotel & Casino aside, is of the small-scale variety, which may also provoke skepticism.
While tribal powerhouse Mohegan Sun is hurting on the Uncasville homefront lately, it's coming off a solid performance in Pennsylvania. I like its chances. Cordish Cos., whose pursuit of the Atlantic City Tropicana was recently rebuffed (for no good reason), is obviously itching to get into the casino industry in a big way. Perhaps its proven track record as a developer will outweigh its inexperience in the casinosphere.
