MGM: Magnanimity, not culpability

The Associated Press has an hour-by-hour account of the MGM Resorts International settlement for the Mandalay Bay Massacre, the third-largest such outlay in U.S. history. Victims are generally happy with the outcome but the real bottom line is given by widow Heather Melton, who says no
amount of money can make up for the loss of her husband. Nothing has been said about MGM’s preemptive lawsuit against potential litigants but here’s hoping that bad idea has been dropped amid the general outpouring of magnanimity.

Although MGM admitted no culpability in the settlement, plaintiffs’ attorney Robert Eglet took the high road, telling CNN that “MGM Resorts is a valued member of the Las Vegas community and this settlement represents good corporate citizenship on their part. We believe that the terms of this settlement represent the best outcome for our clients and will provide the greatest good for those impacted by these events.” The settlement will almost tap out the $751 million insurance that MGM set aside for this eventuality. While the company achieves immediate closure, the road to recovery for shooting victims is much longer.

* We don’t normally whistle in the antitrust boys but the merger of Paddy Power Betfair (already enormous) and heavily leveraged (7X cash flow) The Stars Group ought to cause a measure of concern. For one thing, it would enable bad actor PokerStars to penetrate U.S. markets hiding behind the skirts of Flutter Entertainment, as the new megalith is to be called. Had the merger taken place a year earlier, 2018 revenues would have been $4.7 billion.

Complicating the polyandrous relationship, Flutter is already in bed with FanDuel and the latter has a deal with Fox Sports whereby the latter holds an option on 18.5% of FanDuel. Throw in Stars Group’s $4.7 billion purchase of Sky Betting & Gaming and you have a monstrous afterbirth that’s too big to fail.

* Is it too late to bring back Don Guardian? Last week, Atlantic City Mayor Kevin Gilliam resigned, having been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. In the kleptocratic tradition of Boardwalk politicos, Gilliam embezzled $87,000 from a kids’ sporting league so he could live in high style. Gilliam, who will be sentenced in January, could spend as much as 20 years in the big house. That sounds fair.

* Speaking of Atlantic City, Mark Giannantonio is one of its true survivors. He first made his mark as a hatchet man for Columbia Sussex and has grown into CEO of Resorts Atlantic City. Global Gaming Business got him on tape, talking about the challenges of gaming’s most volatile market.

* Makers of skill-based slots are trying to rebrand them as “skill-influenced” (probably too cumbersome to catch on) and stress their likeness to video poker. One hindrance is probably the variable-return software that allows a greater-than-usual house edge, unless you’re a skillful player. Says one manufacturer, Georg Washington, “We’re not going after the millennial market per se. We think you’ve got to be able to hit some of the contemporary baby boomers, and one of the demographics that seems to have been forgotten in all this is Generation X, which is my generation. We have some disposable income, and we do frequent casinos.”

If Washington has an edge on the market it’s that his company, Synergy Blue, comes at designing games from a casino-experienced basis rather than a a video-game one. However, the company’s studies—which show video-game-like slots increasing customers’ willingness to patronize a casino—don’t jibe with the hard sell that skill-based slots have been.

* Silver State Equality just selected Las Vegas Strip headliner Paula Abdul for its Equality Award, to be given Nov. 6 at Jimmy Kimmel’s Comedy Club. The honor salutes Abdul’s outreach to the LBGT community. Said Abdul, “Since the time I began my career—the LGBTQ community has been invaluable to my success, and with that I vow to continue my support and advocacy for equal rights.” S&G salutes Abdul’s ongoing work, which includes removing the stigma suffered by HIV victims.