We hate to say this but tribal casinos are being renegades in Arizona, continuing to operate while gyms and movie theaters are dark, and much restaurant inventory is cordoned off. “As long as our percent positive cases are as high as they are, I don’t think any of these places should be open, from a public health safety view, until we get those numbers down,” said Dr. Shad Marvasti, director of public health at the University of Arizona College of Medicine Phoenix. The casinos say they’re acting responsibly and some customers concur, and what Gov. Doug Ducey (R) thinks is a moot point, given that the casinos are on sovereign land. Harrah’s Ak-Chin Casino, Gila Rivers Hotels & Casinos and Fort McDowell Casino were among those who cashed in on Ducey’s May 15 reopening order, a decision made by the guv in haste, to be repented at leisure.
Lacking online gambling and with few other sources of income, the tribes are stuck between a variety of rocks and hard places. “The two months that we closed the casino were economically devastating to the community, our employees and vendors just as it was to so many Arizona businesses closed during that time,” said President Bernadine Burnette of the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation. “Unfortunately, we are going to be dealing with this disease for a long time. There is no magic bullet that will end this short [of a] cure or vaccine, and nobody knows when either will be available. Meanwhile, we have all had to adjust our lives to this new reality. “It’s up to each tribe to set its own health standards, although Desert Diamond Casino (pictured) in Glendale says its protocols “meet or exceed” those of the state. But some have abandoned nightly deep cleanings and tribes with multiple casinos are shuttling employees from one to the other, potentially abetting the spread of Coronavirus. One thing many tribal casinos are doing right is ending or severely restricting smoking on the premises. Still, the tribes need to put their differences aside, we submit, and form a unified approach against a common enemy.
In Nebraska, a consortium of tribes and horsemen has qualified three gaming initiatives for the November ballot. All three need to pass as a package, as one governs taxation, another regulation and the primary one authorizes casino gambling (but not sports betting) at the state’s horse tracks. Why not sports betting? Keep The Money In Nebraska thinks that would be too heavy a lift, especially with having to get two-thirds majority support from the electorate. Casinos in Iowa—particularly in Council Bluffs—are opposed, but aren’t above playing both sides of the fence. If passed, the racinos would be taxed at a reasonable 20%. Three-fourths would go to the state and the rest to localities. “Horseracing is struggling as an industry. A lot of people remember the tracks as a big deal. We can revive an agricultural rural industry,” said Ho-Chunk Inc. CEO Lance Morgan. He added, “We’ve done polling that show that sixty-four percent of the people support expanded gaming. Every state that touches Nebraska has gaming. The only thing that will change is that players will save on gas money.” Let’s hope he can add a couple of percentage points to that 64%.
Rep. Dina Titus (D) like to know where $9 million in federal excise taxes from Nevada sports books went. So would we. Titus says the trail ends at “a black hole” in the guvmint’s general fund, adding of the tax, “Sports are back. Unfortunately, the penalty on making legal sports bets never left. The handle tax makes it more difficult for legal gaming establishments to compete with illegal operators. Repealing it will push more consumers out of the black market and into a well-regulated market.” We heartily agree.
Jottings: Why, oh why, did Caesars Entertainment reopen Bally’s Las Vegas? Video taken yesterday and posted to Twitter shows a near-deserted slot floor … William Hill favors our old home team, the Minnesota Twins, to win the AL Central. Nobody, it seems, is betting against the New York Yankees in the East … Free play is coming to Internet slots in New Jersey. Think of it as a ‘signing bonus’ … North Carolina‘s Catawba Nation has begun site work on a $300 million casino near Kings Mountain. They can thank South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham (R), who backed their land-into-trust application, possibly as a means of keeping casinos safely across the border.
