Palace coup; India: No Goa

While Station Casinos still hasn’t made up its mind whether to add a new hotel tower to Palace Station (with 606 rooms spread over 27 stories), it’s filed plans with the City of Las Vegas, just in case it decides to move forward. The reinvention of Palace Station could also include an all-important convention center (nightclubs are so 2015), a pool deck, an outdoor restaurant and 42,252 more square feet of casino space. It’s also unclear at this point whether the remodeling would undo the convoluted layout of Palace Station, which has very bad chi in that respect. If the Fertitta Brothers took my advice (and that’ll be the day), I’d say tear out everything except the existing hotel tower and the new bingo room and start anew.

The new hotel would add nicer rooms but wouldn’t substantially increase Palace Station’s inventory, since they would replace the 447 motel-style rooms that are in the process of demolition (including the one in which O.J. Simpson plotted his infamous robbery caper). Since Station has only budgeted only $70 million for renovations this year, don’t expect any movement on the new-hotel front until next year, depending on the outcome of Station’s feasibility studies.

Over at the Palms, Station is aggressively making over the dining options. The newest addition is round-the-clock eatery Lucky Penny, whose offerings run from Nutella pancakes to Chinese entrées (a play for Gold Coast customers?). The lackluster Palms buffet has been closed for reinvention — it was always one of the most disappointing features of the Palms — and the giant, failed Hooters will be replaced with Social Table, “a grill concept with poolside dining and craft beers.” Perhaps it will escape the hex that has fallen on that space ever since pre-Station private equity owners kicked Garduños to the curb.

* New Jersey‘s Legislature isn’t taking any chances when it comes to Attorney General Jeff Sessions‘ aversion to Internet gambling. Both houses passed, by near-unanimous margins, a resolution that urges Donald Trump, his administration and Congress “to oppose any measures and actions that would prohibit states to conduct Internet gaming … A federal prohibition against Internet gaming would directly and negatively impact New Jersey by dismantling the investments that the State and Atlantic City casinos have already made to implement and regulate Internet gaming, taking away the economic and employment opportunities already realized by the State and its residents, and foreclosing the future potential of Internet gaming to generate tens of millions of dollars in tax revenue, create high-tech software jobs, and foster valuable business ventures for Atlantic City casinos in this State.”

Gov. Chris Christie (R) was quick to sign the measure and no wonder: Internet gambling is estimated to have returned $100 million in taxes and generated 3,375 jobs. Nevada and Delaware have been lying low, presumably hoping RAWA will just quietly go away, so it’s encouraging to see New Jersey fighting back and with so much force.

* If you have one of the five riverboat casinos in the Indian city of Goa, better prepare to move onshore, per the decree of Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar. What’s more, the number of casinos will be capped. “The sixth casino will never enter Mandovi,” vowed Parrikar, who considers gambling as much a pox on society as alcohol. Furthermore, Goa residents will be barred from the casinos that remain. If Parrikar is trying to smother the Goa casino industry in its crib he’s off to a good start.