Uncle Sam is $47 million richer today after collecting an eight-figure settlement from Las Vegas Sands. Seems the latter had been operating on the outer fringes of legality when handling large sums of moolah from Zhenli Ye Gon. The latter, presently under indictment in Mexico for drug smuggling, had $45 million transferred into his Sands account and Sheldon Adelson‘s minions didn’t report it, evidently. They apparently got dollar signs where their eyes should have been, never having seen so large a cash transaction before. So Sands forfeits the money, plus interest, and avoids further punishment — unless you count the $36.5 million in bad debt it had to eat. Considering the alternatives, I’d say they took the least-unpalatable option. Is it any surprise that Sands is seeking limited criminal immunity in Spain, in its preliminary negotiations there? The fine points of the U.S. deal also explain why Sands recently hired Jerry Markling, late of the Nevada Gaming Control Board to investigate itself.
Speaking of prostitution … You know times are tough when Nevada brothels report a calamitous decline in revenue, as the state continues to bring up the rear in national economic indicators. Besides, why drive out to Pahrump when you can get a long-distance version of the world’s old profession via your high-speed Internet connection. “I offer a lot more specials and discounts and incentives,” says terrestrial sex worker Brooke Taylor, conjuring up visions of brothel customers clipping coupons.
Dissonance in Boston: Beantown Mayor Thomas Menino and Caesars Entertainment CEO Gary Loveman need to coordinate their rhetoric. When touting the virtues of his new host-community agreement with Boston, Loveman huffed, “I think the difference is that our project is in Boston where you have the greatest capacity to deliver. The other is in Everett.” Ah, but Menino says Steve Wynn‘s rival project is (oh, so very slightly) in Boston, enabling him to block it. (He says.) These two need to get their story straight as they now proceed to woo the electorate.
