In a retrospective mood, the American Gaming Association has chosen the top eight gaming stories of the past year, ranked here in descending order. They are:
- The Caesars Entertainment takeover by Eldorado Resorts. ‘Nuff said.
- Allegations that Encore Boston Harbor is cheating players.
- Resemblances between aforesaid Caesars takeover with the ill-timed Harrah’s Entertainment LBO. Uh-oh.
- Trip Advisor chooses the 50 best casinos in the U.S. Top five are Wynn Las Vegas, Wynn Encore, Beau Rivage, WinStar World Casino and Harrah’s New Orleans.
- Carl Icahn pushes Caesars onto the market. There is no more influential an investor in gaming.
- Las Vegas‘ latest outrage: ‘service fees’ on cocktails.
- Defunct Lucky Dragon Casino sells for $36 million, will be repurposed as a hotel. The purchaser is not Carl Icahn.
- Cheese-eating surrender monkey calls for end to war on money laundering.
* The Las Vegas Raiders (7-9) eked out a one-point loss to the inferior Denver Broncos yesterday to achieve what might generously be called mediocrity. (Now that they have played their last game in Oakland I think we can make “Las Vegas Raiders” official.) Celebrity coach Jon 
Gruden‘s signature achievement this season was to lose to bad teams, so there’s no telling what’s in store for 2020. One thing’s for certain is that the Raiders’ business model in Las Vegas rests on the shaky premise that 22,000 Cincinnati Bengals fans, let’s say, will fly in to see their team get creamed by the Silver and Black. As for the latter, they had to win yesterday to even have a prayer at a playoff spot, so their loss to Denver speaks volumes about their mettle.
Jottings: Here’s your chance to get in on the Lake Tahoe market. Eldorado Resorts will probably sell one of Caesars Entertainment‘s cluster of lakeside properties when its takeover closes. It probably won’t be Harvey’s Lake Tahoe, considering that Caesars has just invested $41 
million in capex maintenance there … Maryland is belatedly considering sports betting, a bill having pre-filed in the Lege. If passed, the issue would go before voters next November … In an egregious act of federal interference with both tribal sovereignty and the free market, Congress has passed—and Donald Trump has signed—a bill prohibiting new tribal casinos in California‘s Sonoma County. It’s big ‘f@*k you’ to the Lytton Band of Pomo Indians … Japanese legislator Tsukasa Akimoto has been arrested “on suspicion of accepting illicit” payoff, an inauspicious beginning to casinos in Japan. In other news, $58.5 million has been allocated to oversee the Nippon licensing process … In other news, Caesars Windsor is being sued for allowing a disordered gambler to play. Unless self-exclusion rules are involved, it’s really not up to the casino to play Big Brother.
The Raiders are going to have compete against Patrick Mahomes in the AFC West for the next 10 years and that will make it tough for the Raiders, Chargers and Broncos. The Raiders have the 12th pick in the NFL draft and if Alabama Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa is still there it will be hard for Jon Gruden to pass him up.
I think the Raiders will do well in Las Vegas so it will be interesting to see how everything turns out. Since most of the Chargers fans in San Diego are pissed that the Chargers moved 100 miles north to Los Angeles I think their attendance will be lousy in Los Angeles for the foreseeable future.