We’ve come a long way from the days of Reefer Madness. Latest case in point: Atlantic City, where Assemblyman Reed Gusciora (D) is pushing recreational “tea” as a cure to the city’s penurious condition. Weed would be legalized on the Boardwalk and taxed 20%. 
Half of that amount would go to alleviating Atlantic City’s fiscal problems, another 30% would be dedicated to transportation infrastructure, and the remainder would be split between anti-drug enforcement and women’s health. Gusciora’s introduced legislation called “Promoting Opportunities for Tomorrow” (POT, geddit?), arguing that prosecuting marijuana offenses “is archaic and has had a disparate, harmful impact on minority communities … A well-designed and heavily regulated marijuana industry would move Atlantic City’s economy into the 21st century and provide extreme economic benefits to a new generation of Atlantic City residents and business interests, including existing hotels and casinos.” (You can see the casinos installing enclosed, pot-smoking lounges even as we speak, can’t you?)
Gusciora’s idea doesn’t appeal to all his fellow Democrats. “Though we appreciate the Assemblyman’s efforts to Continue reading
“I don’t like playing slots. Just hitting a button over and over again to see what pops up is boring. Makes me feel like a test rat that gets addicted to hitting a trigger because it results in cheese, unpredictably and randomly.” — Raving Consulting Marketing Manager Gency Warren (age 29), 
traditional hockey markets, the committee passed over a similar bid from Quebec City. If approved by the NHL’s 30 owners, the Las Vegas team would start play in the 2017-18 season. Although not involved with the ownership of the team, this is also a win for MGM Resorts International, which will be able to fill at least 50 nights at T-Mobile Arena (200 more if the team makes the playoffs — I jest). Already, 13,200 seats are spoken for at T-Mobile, which holds 17,500 puck fans in its hockey configuration.
Overall, Penn says its springtime revenues have been tracking with its expectations. Greff writes that “overall trends for its consumers remain relatively positive with stable housing prices, modest wage inflation, and job growth in its major markets.” The sanguine outlook of casino executives, whose job is to look at the bottom line, continues to contrast starkly with the free-floating rage encountered in the body politic.
tap-dance around
the Indiana casino industry, which is celebrating 20 years. Some of the initial players, like Don Barden (R.I.P.) and Donald Trump are long gone from the scene but the riverboat casinos are still there are and still important donors to the tax base. A study by the Chicago Tribune finds that unemployment is still high in Gary and Hammond, and casino workforces are two-thirds what they were before the Great Recession. However, the Tribune also chronicles a comeback in casino employment and excellent chances for advancement within the riverboats themselves (102 Majestic Star employees have been on the job since Day One, 114 at Horseshoe Hammond).
play the penny slot machines,” you are not entirely witnessing the handiwork of Donald Trump. After all, while he remained on a fat retainer as a pitchman for Trump Entertainment Resorts, he also beefed loudly about the spare-every-expense mentality of lead owner Marc Lasry and his bungling, hand-picked CEO, Bob Griffin, dredged up from the ranks of MTR Gaming, another company that is gone with the wind. (To be fair, Trump was making money from canny side deals with Lasry, including a $390,000 helicopter lease and the $197,000 layout for a year’s worth of Trump Ice Water. “The flavor of bombast,” perhaps?)
“They know how to play bingo and the reason they get so excited when they yell, ‘Bingo,’ is because they’re surprised. What they’re here for is to have a good time. This is their entertainment, their recreation. They’re here for the excitement and to have fun.” — Steve Wynn, 
metric — but foot traffic was off nearly 12%. However, even less playing time couldn’t keep customers away from hardy Tropicana Evansville, up 6% to $11 million. Indiana Downs also had a good month at the wickets, up 4% ($23 million), while French Lick Resort enjoyed a 2.5% uptick, grossing $7 million. The big operators didn’t have such a good time of it. Pinnacle Entertainment took it in the chops, plunging 14% at Ameristar East Chicago ($18 million) and off 6% ($10 million) at Belterra. The Chicagoland market was particularly afflicted, with Horseshoe Hammond falling 11% ($38 million) and the two Majestic Star boats off 6% and 9.5% million respectively, for an aggregate gross of nearly $13 million.
and New York-New York. Today, parking fees hit the low-rollers at Circus Circus, Excalibur and Luxor, tomorrow they go into effect at MGM Grand and Bellagio, while the blow doesn’t fall on Mandalay Bay and The Mirage until June 13 — a most inauspicious 13th. Other casino companies continue to play the wait-and-see game, holding off emulation of MGM until they can measure just how much backlash it gets. The Las Vegas Review-Journal‘s Buck Wargo inspected the new system and found at least two customers already hopping mad about it. (Rolling out the change on the hottest weekend of the year can’t have helped.)
nightlife generation, “we’re doing well with them. We put the little darlings in the nightclubs. It’s probably the only part of the business where I have cognitive dissonance. I walk into the clubs and I say to myself, either we have attracted every moron in the world, or there’s something about the sound that allows normal people to check their human sensibilities at the door.” Or maybe it’s all that Axe body spray.
machines for Gretna Racing, a joint venture of two Tallahassee lobbyists and the Poarch Bank of Creek Indians. A favorable ruling by the Florida Supreme Court would be a windfall for Gretna, an overwhelmingly African-American community dogged by high unemployment and low wages. It would also open up a jailbreak for as many as seven other counties that are itching to convert their jai alai frontons and race tracks into racinos.
year. On an individual basis, casinos tended to perform worse than the state average would indicate. There wasn’t any good news for Penn National Gaming, which was down 18% at Argosy Belle ($4 million), 14% off at Hollywood Aurora ($10 million) and 6% down at Empress Joliet ($11 million). Boyd Gaming has been particularly vocal about the harm inflicted by slot routes and indeed Par-A-Dice ($7 million) fell 16%. Grand Victoria, co-owned by MGM Resorts International, had a relatively mild May, off 5%, for a $14 million gross.