Kasich screws casinos; Adelson screws the pooch

Our next-to-worst fears for Ohio have come to pass: Caesars Rock Ohio has temporarily pulled the plug on both its Cincinnati (above) and Cleveland casinos. It’s the latest escalation in a war between developers and state government, which wants to tax casinos on money wagered, not won. That’s not all. Gov. Jon Kasich (R) is still trying to shake down both Caesars Entertainment (and partner Dan Gilbert) and Penn National Gaming for as much as $100 million in extra upfront money, even though neither enterprise is legally obligated to pay one penny more. I’m sorry, but since when did Red China encompass the banks of the Cuyahoga River?

Penn isn’t taking this quietly, saying it will downsize its building plans — and investment — and may sue the state. The threat might carry more weight if Penn’s Columbus (right) and Toledo projects weren’t continuing to inch forward, including snapping up some executive talent Station Casinos let get away. For its part, Caesars argues that it’s hard to approach banks for financing when you’re faced with potentially higher costs and greatly diminished ROI. Since neither company is required to spend one penny more than $250 million per casino, few would blame them now if they built a few Eastside Cannery-type facilities and called it a day. As for King Kasich’s “comprehensive policy” covering all forms of Buckeye State gambling, that’s just a lot of hooey meant to halt casino development in its tracks.

And guess what? It’s succeeded. So congratulations, John, you’ve stalled development, crimped investment and cost Ohioans jobs. But you sure taught those Vegas slickers a lesson didn’t you, hot shot?

Speaking of screwups, add the braintrust at Las Vegas Sands to the list. After gloating openly about stopping and in some cases reneging on comps, CEO Sheldon Adelson got kicked in the pants by customers, with casino revenue way, waaaaay down last quarter. Sands execs blamed it on those damn players, who won too much. (The nerve of them!) And Bill Lerner was quick to say that 47% less casino revenue was nothing to worry about in the long run. Forty-seven percent. Less. Gambling dollars. On the Las Vegas Strip. Nah, no problem there.

The silver lining for Sands was that, even with fewer occupants at higher room rates, more beds were filled with paying customers than previously. In keeping with its lodging-centric new philosophy, Adelson has entrusted oversight of Venelazzo to former Gaylord Hotels COO John Caparella. Somewhere in the wayback, Caparella was an exec with ITT Sheraton, which used to own Caesars Palace and the Desert Inn … but Caparella was billeted to the East Coast and his brief didn’t include casinos. (He is, presumably, an authority on Hee Haw, though.) So Sands has effectively siloed its gaming operations, the province of Rob Goldstein, from its hotel ones. We’ll have to wait and see how that works.

Sheldon’s boy, formerly known as Sen. John Ensign and now a private citizen, better hope his patron has a job waiting for him on the Cotai Strip™, so that he can skeddadle across the border to China if the feds come looking for him. Or maybe Steve Wynn, who also bankrolled Ensign’s lawyers, can sneak “Johnny Casino” out of the country. Adelson and Wynn merely made bad investments in a douchebag’s defense fund. Once (and future?) casino owner Mike Ensign, however, is smack at the center of the Senate Ethics Committee report, which finds the former Mandalay Resort Group honcho somewhat honesty-challenged, let’s say, with regard to 96 dimes he funneled to his son’s kept woman. At this moment, Jon Ralston is Tweeting the official report in real time and it just gets grislier: death by 140 characters.

While Ohio sputters, little operator that could Butler National keeps getting it done in Dodge City, Kansas. Two other Kansas casinos haven’t even gotten into the starting blocks yet and already Butler’s venue is doing so well that it’s adding a hotel. They took on the skeptics and proved us wrong. Good work, gentlemen.