Fourth of July a damp squib?

Speaking of safety protocols, the Culinary Union wants you to wear a mask, whether you’re an employee or a tourist. The Unite-Here local estimates that only 10%-20% of customers are wearing masks. (We don’t leave home without ours.) While the Culinary supports the Nevada Gaming Control Board‘s edict that players wear masks at table games without plexiglas shields, the union isn’t stopping there. It wants mask-wearing made mandatory for all customers. Ditto employees. Said Secretary-Treasurer Geoconda Argüello-Kline, “We need more protection. I don’t ask for this protection for only the hospitality workers that we represent. We are asking for all the casinos in Nevada.”

She was seconded by Flamingo housekeeper Diana Thomas, who added, “We’re frontline workers coming back to work. We don’t know who we’re dealing with. We have to all be safe so we can continue work.” Gov. Steve Sisolak (D) is hemming and hawing over “enhanced” face-mask policies but the Culinary wants a Gov. Gavin Newsom-style regimen whereby masks are not only mandatory indoors but in al fresco situations where you can’t socially distance yourself (like a Fourth of July celebration?).

Meanwhile, The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas is reopening two nightclubs, reportedly in “more serene” style. BoomBox at Marquee and The Barbershop Cuts & Cocktails are returning. The latter will operate at reduced capacity, supply disposable and digital menus, and take employees’ temperature before every shift. Admission will be on a reservation-only basis. BoomBox will still be offering live DJs and poolside partying, so it sounds about as “serene” as a box of TNT.

Is it legitimate news that offshore betting sites like Bovada were so desperate for action they were offering bets on the weather (and Bernie Sanders)? We believe it is. American Gaming Association President Bill Miller, meanwhile, thinks the media should bury its head in the sand and Global Gaming Business just handed him a megaphone. (At least it’s a step up from Miller’s previous forum, LinkedIn.) Per Miller’s reasoning, because sites like Bovada are illegal in the U.S., they should not be reported upon. That’s like saying because murder is against the law, we should keep it out of the papers. Miller’s rickety argument is that reiterating, say, William Hill‘s U.S. election wagers is tantamount to “legitimizing” them in the United States. Malarkey. Hogwash. A pig in a poke.

“Unfortunately, many consumers are still unable to distinguish between safe, legal U.S. sportsbooks and unregulated offshore operators,” complains Miller. “This becomes especially difficult when mainstream publications continue to legitimize the dangerous illegal market, blurring the lines between legal, regulated sports betting and the predatory, unregulated offshore market.” To hear him tell it, when we write about Costa Rican bookies, we’re complicit by association with human trafficking, drug smuggling and money laundering. (You can’t make this shyte up.) Fumed Miller to GGB, “These are not just offshore operators. They are illegal, and the public should stay away from them.”

That’s right. The AGA can’t get its own message across so it wants to kill the messenger. The news media, he says, is nefariously “really looking for eyeballs.” As for the offshore sites, “they don’t contribute to tax revenues in the state, they don’t produce any jobs in the country and there is no guarantee you’ll get paid.” We have to call B.S. on the association’s claim that “Any time we see an outlet that references some offshore site, we reach out with some educational material, saying this is not regulated in the U.S., and here are the dangers associated with promoting them.” S&G reports regularly on overseas action and never has been contacted by the AGA thereupon … and they know how to reach us when they want to, believe you me.

One of Miller’s signature accomplishments was helping get rid of the Bradley Act. Dangerously, he wants to let the federal government back into the regulatory tent again. He says darkly “my hope is that the Department of Justice also will be more vigilant in helping us grow the nascent U.S. market and destroy the illegal market. [How can it ‘destroy’ something outside U.S. waters?] I talk all the time with regulators, who understand and share that view.” Does he? Color us skeptical.