Las Vegas Sands is on its way out of Pennsylvania but not before receiving two swift kicks in the posterior from Keystone State regulators. The casino was fined $120,000 for allowing underage gaming and $110,000 for offenses related to the awarding of free slot play. Oversight of underage gaming must be really lax at Sands Bethlehem. Rival operator The Meadows Racetrack & Casino was only fined $12,500 for the same miscreance.
Pennsylvania casinos hit an all-time record with $309 million and change last month. It marks a 3% improvement on March 2018. Table games hit their high-water mark of $82.5 million, while slots grossed $226.5 million. All of this will make the commonwealth of Pennsylvania very happy as it banks $131 million in tax revenue. Parx Casino was up 4% to $57 million, Rivers Casino leapt 7% to $36 
million, Sands Bethlehem vaulted 9% to $51 million and Hollywood Casino at Penn National was up 1.5% to $24 million. The Meadows slipped 2% to $23 million, Harrah’s Philadelphia grew 7% to $20.5 million, Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs slipped 5.5% to $21.5 million, SugarHouse grossed $27.5 million, a 4% slippage, and Mount Airy Casino Resort bounced 5.5% to $16 million. Presque Isle Downs was up 4% to $11 million, Valley Forge Casino Resort stormed 14% upward to $13 million and woebegone Lady Luck Nemacolin plunged 15% to $3 million.
Speaking of Penn National Gaming, it has cut a deal with Interblock to supply 20 of its (Penn’s) casinos with Interblock table games. “Everything from stadiums to standalone units will be utilized to address the demands within each region,” said Interblock CEO John Connelly. The first casinos targeted for installation are Hollywood Toledo, Hollywood Lawrenceburg and Ameristar East Chicago. More power to them.
* There’s a well-publicized new look to the Palms and the casino’s longtime local fanbase may not like it. As General Manager Jon Gray 
puts it, “We’ve gone from having the world’s largest Hooters and very low table minimums to a property for a very different kind of guest.” For “very different” read “more affluent and younger.” Gray even discloses that the casino came within an ace of having its name changed. Considering that owner Station Casinos is trying to jettison a lot of the historical associations of the property, that is understandable but there’s so much brand equity inherent in the Palms moniker that I’m not surprised the Fertitta Brothers eventually thought better of the idea.
In other hotel news, at City Center it’s out with Mandarin Oriental (a great shame, I must say) and in with Waldorf-Astoria. When Virgin Hotels finally gets going on the Hard Rock Hotel in early 2020, it will 
be reflagged as a Hilton Curio curiosity. The coming redesign will aim for a more Mediterranean look, as well as deriving inspiration from Sir Richard Branson‘s Necker Island. “It should feel more like an island than a hotel in the middle of the desert. Think about the day club Skorpios in Mykonos. They throw some of the best parties in the world, but it’s very zen, relaxed and a wonderful place to eat, too,” says Virgin Hotels CEO Raul Leal, who hints that the revamped hotel might be the first in Las Vegas to eschew resort fees (which would a powerful marketing hook.) Says Leal, “We are very focused on no surcharges.” Let’s hope it stays that way. It’s a refreshing change from Morgans Hotel Group, whose first priority during its failed interregnum as HRH owner was to raise room rates. Good riddance to that.
* Leaders of the St. Croix Chippewa are in trouble with the feds, who say the individuals in question took trips to Las Vegas and Hawaii on the tribal dime without keeping proper records, and raided the tribal kitty to their own benefit. “The dollar amounts are staggering. I certainly haven’t seen [a Notice of Violation] as large as this,” said attorney Eric Dahlstrom, referring to the 527-count 
indictment. If it proves out, tribal leaders could be on the hook for $27 million or more in fines, mostly for violating the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. The St. Croix own St. Croix Turtle Lake Casino and one other.
“Many of the payments—worth hundreds of thousands of dollars — were issued to the same small group of people, often with the only supporting document being a request for disbursement form with the words ‘travel’ or ‘consulting fees’ scrawled into the comments section. Upon further questioning by NIGC investigators, the tribe was unable to produce documentation to support treating the payments as expenses of the gaming operation,” wrote National Indian Gaming Commission Chairman Jonodev O. Chaudhuri. Due to the gravity of the charges, “coupled with the fact that many of the individuals identified in the Notice of Violation are still in a position to direct casino and net gaming revenues,” the NIGC bypassed its usual ‘letter of concern’ phase and went straight to the heavy artillery. Could the tribe’s casinos be closed? Yes. And the IRS, FBI and Wisconsin taxmen could be teeing off on the St. Croix tribe soon, too.
The outlook for the tribe is bleak: “There is no way to correct these violations, but [Chaudhuri] will consider the tribe’s efforts taken to mitigate damages when determining an appropriate civil fine.” Even criminal charges could follow. However you slice it, prospects for the St. Croix leadership don’t look good.
* Missouri continues barreling toward economic catastrophe as lawmakers embrace a bill that would unleash slot routes all over the Show-Me State. While boosters claim the routes will generate $100 million or more, how much of that is likely to be ‘new’ gambling revenue? And how much cannibalization of the current casino dollar will take place? Quite a lot, we think. Missouri clearly isn’t learning from Illinois‘ example.
* “We will create a healthy society by implementing thoroughly measures based on the basic plan in order to prevent people from 
finding themselves in difficult situations,” said a Japanese cabinet member as he unveiled a Big Brotherly set of regulations that includes a ban on ATMs on the floors of Japan casinos-to-be. Pachinko parlors and horse tracks will also have to remove their cash machines. The size of bets that can placed on races will be capped and all casino advertising will have to contain verbiage about the dangers of compulsive gambling and citizens will be charged a $55 entry fee every time they visit a casino. An extensive system of treatment centers will extend over Japan’s 47 prefectures and 20 major cities.
As it attempts to regulate human behavior, the Japanese government faces another problem in that there may be very little competition to host the three integrated resorts mandated by law. Only three cities have expressed interest. That may ease the selection process but it’s 
another reminder that casino gambling remains unpopular with the Nipponese man in the street. Osaka, Wakayama and Nagasaki are all in favor of casino development but many more prefectures and cities are not. Nagoya is on the fence and Tokyo, Hokkaido, Yokohama and two other regions are still studying the issue. 40 local governments have already opted out. Since the Shinzo Abe government is trying to use casinos to boost tourism, that may work against cities like Hokkaido that are already tourist magnets. It’s looking it will be easier to winnow out host cities than prospective operators.
* As the casino industry goes greener, here are some best practices it could profitably adopt, though gets might bridle at the compulsory seven-minute shower.
