A reader in Oklahoma City points out an obvious reason — one which I somehow managed to completely overlook — why the Kansas Lottery‘s casino-selection panel didn’t go with Mohegan Sun, which I foolishly thought to be a prohibitive favorite. To wit: Most casinos in the central U.S. are tribally owned, so why use the auspices of the state to establish yet another one? The 2007-08 edition of Casino City’s Pocket Gaming Directory lists five tribal casinos in Kansas and, hindsight being 20/20, it now seems obvious that there was no enthusiasm for adding a sixth, at least when your projected revenue is the lowest of any of the proposals on the table. (Mohegan Sun is the only Kansas applicant to have received no votes for its proposal.)
In a rare visit to Planet Earth, the Las Vegas Review-Journal‘s editorial page weighs in on smoking bans in Atlantic City and Illinois, and their deleterious effects on revenue. Judging from the well-researched nature of the piece and its novel (for R-J editorials) employment of actual facts, it must have been written by somebody conversant with the issue, like Howard Stutz.
… at least until the final five paragraphs, where it devolves into stale invective, and even rails against Nevadans’ decision to ban smoking in restaurants and supermarkets. (The effrontery of those voters!) The salient fact that Atlantic City banned casino smoking because the city’s gambling halls did almost nothing to comply with a smoking restriction — basically daring the city to take action — is also conveniently omitted. It’s as though the first 14 paragraphs were written by an adult, whereupon the pen was commandeered by a tantrum-prone infant.
Update: The owners of the El Cortez have declined to comment on the allegations made to S&G by minority owner Lonny Zarowitz. A query to the Nevada Gaming Control Board remains unanswered at this time.
