Update: The “does not accept money from casinos and unions” verbiage was reinstated late today. (It’s way, way, waaaaaaaaaaaaaay down at the bottom of the page. So why is “perception, by voters [of] undue pressure” by casinos a problem? Nevada‘s other leading industry, mining, goes unmentioned. Is “undue pressure” by mining companies preferable to that of casino companies? Alternatively, if hundreds of casino executives write individual donations, does that make gaming money suddenly hunky-dory?
Many Nevadans hate the casino industry with every fiber of their being (sometimes to irrational lengths), so this will probably play in Pioche. Still, it’s unclear why of all industries it’s the one singled out for opprobrium when it is a primary employer in Nevada (177,397 jobs last year) and the only industry to pay a gross-receipts tax, making it indispensable to the state’s ability to function. Big Gaming has had a tough enough struggle to achieve respectability without Ms. Angle using it as a bogeyman, thank you very much.
Sheldon Adelson and labor unions finally have something in common. Nevada senatorial candidate Sharron Angle won’t take money from either of them. Continue reading →
Last week, I departed for Michigan on a mission so secret its nature was known only to me. Last December, Where Las Vegas Editor Jennifer Prosser and I won a two-night stay at the 
Wouldn’t it be just as effective to just add more airline flights? SoCal has more than a dozen airports located from Santa Barbara in the north to San Diego in the south (including LAX, John Wayne [Orange County], Burbank, Palm Springs, etc.), thus eliminating a very major issue with BOTH train proposals (single-point terminuses at either Victorville or Anaheim).
My apologies to S&G readers for the prolonged silence whilst I was on vacation. It seems that wi-fi availability in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan is even spottier than I feared (although it makes a good excuse to head down to Culver’s for a “butter burger” and the best frozen custard this side of Las Vegas). Of course it’s nonexistent out in the woods, where we were bivouacked most of the time.
“This is the first time anything vaguely like this has ever happened.” — Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, pooh-pooh-ing Deepwater Horizon in the June 19 New York Times and displaying the benefits of a short-term memory. Barbour, who’s normally a sharp customer, has clearly forgotten the catastrophic Santa Barbara Channel 
Forty days and nights of Deepwater Horizon put a stop to what looked like an incipient recovery in the Louisiana market. After being down 15% in January, revenue declines shallowed during the following three months (-6%, -5%, -1%). Then came May and a 9% dropoff. Gross revenues — $204 million — are steady with Feb.-April, but whatever seasonal bounce might have been expected with the arrival of May has been blunted.
A foolish band of MGM Mirage shareholders did its best imitation of a herd of sheep and voted through management’s absolutely dreadful idea of renaming the company MGM Resorts International. So June 15 marks the date that the Mirage Resorts name, legacy and brand equity were expunged from MGM and flushed right into the nearest toilet in favor of the moniker of a Colony Capital subsidiary 
If you notice an attenuation of S&G activity between now and June 25, it will be due to a family vacation on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, including a couple of days on scenic, low-tech Makinac Island. I’ll be checking in from time to time, but it’s a rare chance at sightseeing and I’m not a great fan of working off laptops anyway. (My fingers miss the old-school raised keyboard.) In the meantime, don’t stay at any place that charges a “resort fee.”
One of Stanley Ho‘s lieutenants has scanned the 2010 horizon and 
“Our demographic is sick of being told the economy sucks.” — Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Chief Marketing Officer Phil Shalala.
As you probably saw on Twitter or LVA yesterday, Wynncore has quietly introduced a $20 “resort fee,” joining the parade of dishonor that includes practically everyone not named Harrah’s Entertainment or — believe it or not — Tamares Group. (Keeping up with Palace Station are we, Steve?)
I lost one of the five dollars I invested. Lisa kept winning while trying to lose. She was apologetic about being up eight dollars on a five-dollar input. Joe [the attendant] said “Don’t apologize. That’s what I’m here for.” She got it down to four dollars profit when we had to leave for the airport. Funny thing, Joe was kinda unsure about our true motive for being there. He said we were the first paying customers he had ever seen in several times in the barrel. We think he may have thought 
Here’s PR blurb that just fell across the cyber-transom: Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas has signed a multi-product and systems agreement featuring sbX(TM), IGT‘s premier server based gaming solution; the majority floor share of games; plus an entire suite of IGT Advantage® system products. After a competitive bidding process, IGT has been selected to provide its integrated games and systems solution at The Cosmopolitan, making the new resort a full “IGT house.”