One of the great things about Nevada‘s gambling industry is that it’s a free market. If you’ve got the capitalization and qualify for a license, any number can play. (Actually, some have gotten licensed only to be 
exposed as empty suits, but we won’t belabor the point.) In a bit of dirty pool, three Carson City casinos went to court to try and impede competition. The owners of Carson City Nugget, Gold Dust West and Casino Fandango asked the courts to block the licensure of Michael Pegram to reopen the defunct Horseshoe Club. What gave the plaintiffs conniption fits was that regulators had not revoked the Horseshoe Club’s exemption from needing to have 100 hotel rooms, grandfathering Pegram into this status. Horrors! The plaintiffs had already had their bite of the apple when Pegram was going through the licensing process and deserved the verdict they received. Chalk up a victory for the Carson City economy.
* Calvin Ayre got off really easy. The Internet-gambling mogul saw all felony charges against him dropped by the Justice Department in return for a guilty plea to one misdemeanor. In one of the most lopsided plea bargains ever (emphasis on “bargain”), Ayre got unsupervised probation and will have to peel off $500,000 in cash to Uncle Sam. Despite the one “guilty” plea, we’d say Ayre is the winner in this match with The Man.
* James Packer is evidently trying to buy out rival Star Entertainment, using fund Ellerston Capital as his stalking horse. The latter has been gobbling up Star stock in the aftermath of Genting Group‘s liquidation of its position in Star, which controls multiple 
Australian casino-resorts and has more in train. Packer, meanwhile, is reeling from a series of reversals at debt-plagued Crown Entertainment. It sold its portion of Melco Crown Entertainment, got kicked out of Sri Lanka and gave up on the Las Vegas Strip. Packer has been mum but Ellerston issued a statement, saying, “We see solid growth prospects for Star, driven by its capital investment program and growth strategy.” That sounds like the talk of a predator on the hunt.
* Worried about a massive banishment of its members, the Culinary Union is petitioning the Trump administration to extend Temporary Protected Status to workers from El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Syria, and Yemen, among others. “Approximately 2,800 immigrants with TPS designations call Nevada home and have lived in the United States for nearly 10 years. They pay taxes, raise their children who are U.S. citizens, and contribute to our economy. If TPS were to expire, it would criminalize thousands of current legal workers in major cities and industries overnight,” argued Geogonda Argüello-Kline of the Culinary.
For his part, Culinary member Mauricio Valdez fears a forced return to his homeland. “I fled El Salvador 16 years ago,” he says, “because of 
all the violence –- it wasn’t safe for me there. I’ve lived in the U.S. since 2001, I met and married the love of my life, had a son that I’m so proud of, and I even bought a house with my wife. America is my home and I wouldn’t be able to stay in this country with my family if I didn’t have TPS.” The status is intended for citizens of war-torn countries, and they’ve already been vetted and received security clearance. TPS-nonrenewal would deal a severe blow to the casino industry but, given the xenophobic tenor of Donald Trump and his administration, we should brace ourselves for the worst.
