What if they gave a casino and nobody came? That’s literally what took place in Pennsylvania where the fifth mini-casino license received no bids. Nada. Nix. Bupkes. From this point forward, Valley Forge Casino 
and Lady Luck Nemacolin will be allowed to bid but ownership of the first is in transition and the second makes so little scratch that it’s hard to see it ponying up the $7.5 million minimum bid. So what happened? Sands Bethlehem was busy selling to the Poarch Band of Creek Indians but what’s your excuse Neil Bluhm, Watouchke “Bob” Manoukian and Caesars Entertainment? Perhaps they are deterred by what is likely to be an investment in excess of $300 million. Penn National Gaming would only say it is “evaluating” whether or not to add a second mini-casino to its fold. Mind you, at some point the process will be opened to out-of-state operators and then it’s anybody’s ballgame. The one sure winner in this is the commonwealth’s treasury, which has banked more than the $100 million the license auctions were expected to bring.
* One group that’s not easily deterred is the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska, which intends to build a casino in Iowa, on the outskirts of Council Bluffs. The project received the blessing of the National Indian Gaming 
Commission last November but the city fathers of Council Bluffs are recalcitrant. City Attorney Richard Wade argues that the casino site doesn’t qualify as “restored lands.” Worse still (if you’re Council Bluffs), a tribal casino threatens the $11 million in taxes and non-profit contributions it gets from Iowa-licensed casinos.
Tribal Chairman Larry Wright Jr. faults Council Bluffs for going nuclear without trying to negotiate with the tribe. The Ponca casino won’t be small-caliber, either: 2,000 slots and 50 table games. The tribe waited out a decade’s worth of ups and downs in the court system before finally prevailing. They’re not letting Wade’s latest lawsuit slow them any further.
* “People don’t like gaming, but they sure like the revenue that comes from it,” says Louisiana state Sen. Danny Martiny (R), winning our award for hitting the nail on the head. Martiny is among the solons pushing for 
additional expansion of gambling in Louisiana. We’ve discussed some of the proposals in this space before. Others include upgrading racinos from slots-only facilities to full-blown casinos (how long will it be before “decoupling” is floated by the likes of Churchill Downs?) and legalization of DFS. With Bobby Jindal out of the governor’s mansion (and good riddance), the path looks a little smoother. The main argument against more gambling would seem to be academic research that pegs the disordered-gambling rate in the Bayou State at 3%, half again as high as the national average. (Treatment of problem gamblers is an extremely low-priority issue in Louisiana.)
Gaming expansion is likely to fare better in the upper house, where gaming friendly state Sen. Gary Smith Jr. (D) chairs the relevant committee. His opposite number in the House, state Rep. Sherman Mack (R) will have no truck with the idea, saying, “I’m not in favor of the expansion of gambling.” We’ll see 
whether ‘expansion’ extends to Caesars’ request for a 36-year extension of its contract at Harrah’s New Orleans. The incentive? Higher payments to the state for the privilege. (Ironically, Caesars has twice pursued lower levies for the casino.) Caesars already has the speaker of the House in its corner and Gov. John Bel Edwards is thought to be sympathetic. Boyd Gaming wants more slots at its two tracks and DFS-friendly supporter Rep. Kirk Talbot (R) favors legalized fantasy sports, saying, “Let’s get it regulated so their winnings can be taxed and have it be above aboard [sic].”
“We like birds and squirrels, not 18-wheelers. This would totally disrupt our lives,” said one rural resident, complaining about the proposal move of a riverboat casino to the Tangipahoa River, so shallow it’s not even navigable. That surrealistic proposal and many others will be hitting the Lege right about now. Let’s see if Louisiana lawmakers have it more together than their Florida counterparts.
