How much sin in Sin City is too much?; Woe and Ho

Wearing a strap-on dildo seems to be the outer limit of decency in Las Vegas. Any casino that hosts a nightclub is playing with fire to some extent but Las Vegas Sands well and truly burned its fingers with The Act. (And what “act” might that be, one asks?) So clueless was Sands that the Nevada Gaming Control Board and Las Vegas Metro had to ‘drop dime’ on the fleshpot.

“The undercover agents reported that performers would fling condoms into the crowd and simulate bestiality, urination and defecation on other performers… There was also simulated masturbation resulting in simulated ejaculation,” according to Sands’ ineffective head of security. Club lawyer Pat Lundvall is preparing a performance-art defense, arguing that “simulated” is the magic word and, since no actual sexytime was made onstage, nothing lewd occurred. (Lundvall has a pretty broad interpretation of “lewd,” I must say.) The Act’s activities do seem mild compared to the “liquor law violations, allowing topless and lewd activity, ignoring prostitution and physically and sexually assaulting patrons” that took place at long-gone Prive, at Planet Hollywood. The Act’s get-of-jail card may be knowledge by Sands of The Act’s intentions and familiarity with producer Simon Hammerstein‘s other clubs, called — ahem! — The Box.

Putting the “woe” in Ohio. High turnover is plaguing Penn National Gaming‘s casinos in the Buckeye State. Though rival Caesars Entertainment is notorious for poor relations with its dealers in Las Vegas, it’s actually posting fairly low attrition rates in its Ohio workforce, so good on them. However, there’s a mass exodus from Penn National’s properties. Hollywood Casino Columbus (right) has lost 30% of its workforce. It’s even worse at Hollywood Casino Toledo, where 35% have jumped ship. One former Caesars blackjack dealer “said the casino abruptly changed shifts on him and other workers. He also accused the Horseshoe of failing to back employees under fire from sore losers and reneging on a promise to grant scheduling requests on a first-come, first-served basis.” Industry apologist Roger Gros is trotted out to paint a smiley face on the situation but Penn clearly has some dysfunction in its management-employee relationship and therapy is strongly recommended. The doctor will see you now.

Ho in decline. He’s fallen upon evil days. Stanley Ho‘s money-losing (10 years and counting) OTB parlors will shortly be fewer in number. The action seems to be taken not in response to Jockey Club‘s ruinous financial condition but governmental pressure to shoo slot parlors away from residential parts of Macao. It’s probably the thin end of a wedge to drive more and more gambling activity toward the Cotai Strip, and away from the older parts of town.

Its economy booming, Vietnam has done a 180 on letting its citizens gamble — sorta. They’ll only be able to do it at one casino way up near the Chinese border in what we used to call North Vietnam. No Ho Tram Strip (left) for them! Restrictions placed on developers may also be rethought: Currently, you have to promise $4 billion in investment to do a Vietnamese casino-resort … big money unless your name is Sheldon Adelson. (He’d probably lobby to keep the high threshold in place, to deter competition.) Meanwhile, the Vietnamese continue to spend in Macao and Singapore. You’d think the guvmint would want to do something about that.