As Alon fades into the sunset, Resorts World Las Vegas plans to ramp up in serious fashion. Resorts World President Edward Farrell 
has announced that construction cranes will be up by August at the latest and work will begin in earnest in autumn. By 2018, a thousand construction workers should be hard at it. Once RWLV is open, Genting Group intends to operate it as a union-friendly property. This amicable overture to the Culinary Union was as newsworthy as anything else Farrell had to say. Farrell was at some pains to dispel the idea that Getting had been stalling, telling the Las Vegas Review-Journal, “We’ve done a lot of construction that nobody has seen over the last two or three years — not exciting stuff, like utility lines, working out easements and building a garage with some office space.” It’s also worth remembering that Getting is busy on the Catskills front, where ex-Montreign is skedded to open next year.
“The name Resorts World Catskills melds the allure of the Catskills region with the prestige of the Resorts World family. This recognized worldwide gaming and hospitality brand will provide us greater power to market our resort casino, which is designed to meet five-star and five-diamond standards, and provide regional, national and international exposure for the Catskills region,” Empire Resorts Chairman Emanuel Pearlman told the media. It will also be bucking a surprising tide in upstate New York, where casino expansion has been less than the bonanza that was expected.
Genting, however, is backing off from the kitschy chinoiserie originally designed by Paul Steelman. The operative word is now “Shanghai.” We’re still two years away from seeing what form that takes — and 
farther still from an opening — but Resorts World “definitely has an Asian feel and theme, but it’s more of an Asia today theme.” This still begs the question of whether Pacific Rim tourists want to come to Las Vegas to experience what they can get at home, although (much smaller) Lucky Dragon Casino appears to be answering that question in the affirmative.
Like Lucky Dragon, Genting is planning a casino floor where baccarat is king. It also developing some of its own slot machines. It’s been over a decade since the Stardust was imploded to make room for Boyd Gaming‘s abortive Echelon and just over two years since Genting “broke ground” [sic] on the site. Unavailability of construction cranes — hey, Carl Icahn could have leased them one for cheap — is among the reasons cited for Resorts World’s vestigial progress. However, the time for baby steps is over and it seems Genting wants all the world to know.
* Do casinos and pot go togethers? Well, they do in a sense in Springfield, Illinois, where loco weed distributor Chris Stone wants to develop a casino just blocks away from the state capitol. First he’ll have to convince the Legislature, which has repeatedly left Springfield out of its gaming-expansion plans. “We need to start thinking outside the box, and we need to start really, really fast,” said Stone, without explaining his urgency, especially since casino revenue in Illinois continues to shrink. He stresses the 800 jobs he says his casino would create and the $175 million in annual revenue he projects.
To put that number in context, Boyd’s Par-A-Dice in Peoria made $82.5 million in gaming receipts last year, so Stone’s revenue projections are aggressive to say the least. Tax revenues would ostensibly go toward repairing civic infrastructure and to revamping the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum.
State Sen. Terry Link (D) doesn’t have much appetite for a “trailer bill” appending a Springfield to a gambling-expansion law much as one attaches a tin can to a car’s rear fender. “We would rather have a clean bill for the governor’s desk … Everybody and their cousin has got an amendment for something,” said Link in a classic explanation of how the legislative process tries to work. He also fears that if Springfield is included at this late date “everybody and their cousin” will want a casino, too. Make that a lot of tin cans. Even Stone appears to be bowing to the near-inevitable, saying, “At least we introduced the subject in order to have it be included in a November discussion or spring 2018 discussion.”
Casino backers want it to be part of a downtown cultural block that will include a children’s museum and a bowling alley. “I don’t see this casino as being big bright lights and neon signs; this is going to be more of a subdued, classy casino,” said Stone, who thinks it would be an international-tourist draw. Hey, you’ve got a viable idea there, don’t get carried away.
* From the No Shit Sherlock File we have a study by WalletHub that pegs Nevada as America’s most gambling-addicted state, followed by (surprise) South Dakota and Montana. However, if you’ve got some millions burning a hole in your pocket to build a casino, avoid Utah (they’ll be selling Haagen-Dazs in Hell before casinos open there), Nebraska and last-place finisher Alabama. We’d have expected the Cotton State to finish higher, considering the runaway popularity of electronic bingo. On the other hand, Nebraskans’ lack of appetite for gambling explains why efforts to expand the industry in the Cornhusker State haven’t gotten anywhere lately.
* Fernley, Nevada, would hardly seem to rate an S&G mention, let alone one celebrating the 12th anniversary of the Pioneer Crossing Casino. However, the latter is proximate to the Tahoe Reno Industrial Center, for which great things are planned. So Pioneer Crossing is getting a facelift that includes 25% more slots and a new sports bar. Happy anniversary, guys.
