MGM Resorts International‘s National Harbor project literally hasn’t gotten off the drawing board and yet it’s already stirring controversy. The beef mainly involves five oversized LED screens, the largest of which would be 60 by 100 feet. MGM has similar signage at CityCenter and they’re like weapons of mass messaging, not at all subtle. (It is Las Vegas, after all.)
In this case: “The county prohibits outdoor advertising such as the electronic billboards, and the amount of signage planned at the casino is 10 times what’s typically allowed under the county’s zoning regulations, planners said.” Queried Prince George’s County Planning Commission member John P. Shoaff, “I am not certain that five are necessary.” “It’s like beauty: It’s in the eye of the beholder,” countered fellow commissioner Dorothy Bailey. MGM surrogate Arthur Horne held the winning card, arguing that “it’s part of the overall design … and it’s something they believe is important to the aesthetics and the operation of the building.”
Local laws give MGM little choice beyond going big or going home. “Because the proposed video boards would advertise services and activities offered at MGM National Harbor, they are not considered outdoor advertising signs or billboards,” exempting them from Prince George’s County bans on both. Despite complaints by residents of visual pollution and potentially degraded views of the area, the county planning board — big fans of the project — gave MGM nearly everything it requested, pending a health-impact review of the signage. The latter will, in a break with casino tradition, be brighter by day than at night.
What’s more, the approval process is being fast-tracked in order to get casino construction underway ASAP. MGM will pay to improve the visual buffering of historic Oxon Hill Manor, one of the affected areas. A Luxor-style light beam was also scrapped. (Good call.)
* After having his leashed yanked hard by MGM’s Jim Murren, the American Gaming Association‘s president, Geoff Freeman, is backpedaling hard and fast from his 
organization’s intervention in the Sheldon Adelson anti-Internet jihad. Now he’s characterizing as a state’s rights vs. federal authority issue, and replacing his contentious verbiage with happy talk.
This volte-face came at the end of the Southern Gaming Summit, where games with intriguing new, interactive features were debuted. One, Sinbad, allows gamblers to play against each other at adjoining terminals. Slot gambling used to be a fairly solitary pursuit, but millennials are changing all that and games like Sinbad are a logical response.
* Caesars Entertainment‘s money problems are its own business in most states but Ohio wants to take a closer look. After all, debt restructuring and the closing of two (non-Ohio) 
casinos aren’t everyday news in the gaming industry. Ohio Casino Control Commission Executive Director Matt Schuler said, “We have an obligation under Ohio law to always consider the financial integrity of all of our licensees,” but that the OCCC wasn’t worried. Still, a discussion of Caesars’ current financial estate is now on the docket for the OCCC’s May 22 conclave.
Growth pains for Caesars’ Ohio properties are evident when one reads, “Horseshoe Casino Cincinnati is also looking to cut costs by asking table games employees to ‘bid’ for new schedules in a process that will force some employees into part-time positions with no health benefits.” Like Penn National Gaming, Caesars misread the Ohio market (and cut a bad deal with Gov. John Kasich to boot) and I’m sure that’s not an isolated memorandum.
Not-so-fun fact: “The Nevada Gaming Commission and Gaming Control Board employ a combined 417 workers on a budget that last fiscal year totaled about $43 million. The agency is responsible for about 350 licensed and active casinos, plus 2,011 restricted gambling locations.” It’s difficult to be “the gold standard of regulation” when your personnel are stretched absurdly thin.
Icon…they seem to be going all out at National Harbor. It looks great!