What manner of fool spends $5 million to disseminate a film that he’s never seen and whose content he claims not to endorse? Sheldon Adelson, that’s who. After his latest political favorite got clobbered in the New Hampshire primary, Adelson is having a sudden onset of buyer’s remorse. The Las Vegas Sands CEO dispatched a minion to the Las Vegas Sun‘s Anjeanette Damon to try and spin Adelson’s busted play as an old man’s sentimental gesture “to help a friend who needed it.” “What happens from the time when that contribution lands with that PAC to now, he’s not involved with. He’s not been involved in the strategies and the tactics,” wailed Adelson’s underling.
And if you believe that — hoo boy! Station Casinos has some empty, ex-Castaways land that will make you an instant millionaire. Adelson’s seven-figure largesse, had it come a couple of weeks earlier, might have actually had an effect in Iowa and the Granite State. Instead, it’s like the cavalry riding in after the settlers have been massacred. Adelson’s guy is on the ropes and these disingenuous disavowals are a cover-your-ass move to preserve whatever influence Sheldon still might yield with the eventual nominee.
But let’s say Adelson’s pseudo-quasi-demi-denial is on the level. Sands shareholders better hope to God that the CEO isn’t as careless with their money as he is with his own. In the meantime, if he’d care to sign this blank check, made out to “Cash” …
While Adelson dithers, at least with regards to gaming in Massachusetts, his rivals at MGM Resorts International have no such qualms. Having gone from bearish to bullish on U.S. regional markets, CEO Jim Murren has nabbed 150 acres in tiny Brimfield, which he hopes to develop into $600 million “Rolling Hills Resort.” It’s just down the road from Palmer, which means two things: A) MGM is going for the much-sought-after western region of the state and B) Mohegan Sun‘s Palmer-centric proposal is in big trouble, especially with no development partner on the horizon. A casino might siphon away money from Brimfield’s thrice-a-year antique shows, but that’s a concern for local voters to weigh. The Mohegans were already looking like toast, what with Ameristar Casinos, Penn National Gaming and Hard Rock International (aka the Seminole Tribe) all foraging through rural Massachusetts and now this 800-pound lion shows up.
Of course, MGM is also vulnerable to ‘carpetbagger’ charges, due to its franchise agreement with Foxwoods Resort Casino. Regulators could also take a dim view of its business dealings with Pansy Ho. (Unlike Atlantic City, they can afford to be picky.) Foxwoods says it’s “not objecting” to MGM’s move, which is mighty big of them, Foxwoods being insolvent and all that. Evidently CEO Scott Butera has decided a probable loss of business isn’t worth pissing off MGM. Besides, Butera’s too busy stranding his Norwich– and North Stonington-based employees by discontinuing shuttle service. Foxwoods’ promised, 2.5% wage increase is nothing compared to the price of gas nowadays. The UAW, which represents 2,500 dealers, has indicated it will attempt to extract a compensatory pound of flesh from Foxwoods when the current labor agreement expires on March 31.
I’ll admit to being foxed by repeated press characterizations of Caesars Entertainment and Wynn Resorts as direct rivals for the Boston license. Caesars’ venture has ‘slot parlor’ written all over it, especially since the company is in bed with Suffolk Downs and doesn’t have the scratch to meet the $500 million threshold for one of the three resort casinos. The company has explicitly said it’ll need a joint-venture partner to carry it in Florida and the same logic holds in the Bay State (and Maryland, for that matter). As you’ll recall from his farcical attempt to buy Trump Marina, Suffolk Downs Managing Partner Richard Fields (left) isn’t Mr. Deep Pockets, either. They’re making a lot of noise but you just know they’ll take the low-cost racino route in the end.
I wouldn’t trade a casino near Biloxi for a riverboat in Shreveport, not for a lifetime pass to the Polo Grounds. Not if you serve me Cleopatra on a plate! (To borrow a couple of choice morsels from Sweet Smell of Success.) But that’s what Silver Slipper CEO Paul Alanis, former sidekick of Jack Binion and late of Pinnacle Entertainment, is willing to do in order to raise the $170 million to build a Margaritaville-branded casino in the Bossier City market, aboard a castoff Isle of Capri Casinos riverboat. (With reasoning like that, I’m beginning to understand the downward trajectory of Alanis’ career.)
Silver Slipper’s GM says there are “four legitimate gaming companies” sniffing around his property. And why wouldn’t they? It’s the first land-based casino in Mississippi, would cost far less to buy than build and represents a cheap point of entry to the Gulf Coast market. Firms for whom it would be a strategic fit include Ameristar, Pinnacle (which could get back into a region it vacated when Dan Lee snookered Gary Loveman out of his Lake Charles sites) and Cordish Gaming, as well as entrepreneurs like Neil Bluhm and Alex Yemenidjian. May the best CEO win.
When it comes to nerve, you’ve got to hand it to the owners of Valley Forge Casino Resort. They’re still at least two months from opening and already they’re trying to amend the terms of their deal with the State of Pennsylvania in order to permit Valley Forge as many as 65 table games. The project has had its license in hand for three years and table games are no longer a novelty in the Keystone State.
So why did CEO Sal Scheri (right) and his cohorts wait until well after the design phase to have this brainstorm? How can they be interviewing and hiring dealers when they have no idea if they’ll be needed? The Philadelphia Inquirer explaineth not but Valley Forge has a couple of very strong arguments in its favor. Since only resort guests and convention attendees can gamble (or so the law says, albeit with numerous caveats), it will be operating a competitive disadvantage. So why compound that by restricting it to a second-tier repertory of games? Scheri will get what he seeks but sandbagging the regulatory process like this won’t win him any style points.
