“Sharp dressed, smooth talker” Uri Clinton met with Bridgeport residents in an effort to convince them that MGM Resorts International has their best interests at heart in its 
pursuit of Bridgeport as a casino site. Perhaps naively, Clinton hopes that Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods Resort Casino will set aside their duopoly to pave the way for a $675 million MGM casino — one that would interdict gamblers’ traffic from the New York City area. Skeptics believe the casino palaver is a fake-out, designed to draw the Bureau of Indian Affairs into denying the tribes’ joint-venture satellite casino in East Windsor. But Clinton says MGM is on the up-and-up.
“MGM, a Fortune 300 company, knows Bridgeport is not invisible,” said Clinton. “I’m not trying to convince you gaming is the answer. But Bridgeport’s not invisible and it deserves this type of investment.” We’ll see how visible it remains if MGM gets its wish and the East Windsor casino goes away. MGM is talking about some pretty serious investment that could all be for naught once central Gotham becomes eligible for casinos.
The timing of MGM’s push could be better: The two Connecticut tribal casinos joined for “$828.6 million in taxes and gaming-related payments to all levels of government in 2014,” per an American Gaming Association report. That’s money Gov. Dannel P. Malloy (D) is not going to risk just because a Vegas casino company is saying some nice things about downtrodden Bridgeport. As of three years ago, tribal casinos represented 44% of all gambling revenue, a figure that has surely grown in the last three years.
“Together, commercial and tribal gaming drive $240 billion in economic activity, approximately $70 billion in gross gaming 
revenue, nearly $40 billion in taxes and direct payments to governments and 1.7 million American jobs. When embraced as a potent economic force, our industry is best positioned to advance our shared interests at the local and federal level,” said AGA President Geoff Freeman. That’s a long march from the $121 million generated by tribes when IGRA was passed in 1988.
* Remember the mystery private equity that was rumored to be buying Revel but whom Glenn Straub claimed never to have met? It’s revealed to be Keating & Associates, which is now kicking the tires of Sands Bethlehem. However, in light of A) Las Vegas Sands‘ renewed commitment to the property 
following failed talks with MGM, B) recent capex investments there and C) a sales price which would be $1 billion or more — far more than Revel — don’t expect this wannabe deal to bear fruit. Keating is expected to issue of a “letter of intent to buy” the resort, but that doesn’t mean Sheldon Adelson has any intent to sell.
Straub, meanwhile, is fending off an offer from Denver-based investor and Downtown Grand co-founder Bruce Defik. He also is filing letters of intent but Straub is unimpressed, pithily quipping, “I can file that I’m the king of Arabia at the clerk’s office.” While Straub seems to have no apparent strategy for Revel, if he’s already turned down $225 million from Keating, he must have something big in mind. However, if he’s compelled to obtain a casino license, his inclinations could change in a hurry. That $225 million might start to look really good.
* Don’t show Sheldon Adelson this story. No fewer than 450 United Kingdom online gambling sites have been ordered to “amend or remove” advertising and promotions that might appeal to children. Seems that firms like Paddy Power and Casinoland have been living dangerously with games like Pirate Princess and Jack and the Beanstalk. Regulators found an epidemic of underage gambling, with 450,000 kiddies participating every week. Of course, if anti-Internet trolls like Adelson were serious about “slots for tots” they’d remove all kiddie-nostalgia-themed games from their casino floors. It’s just by the grace of God (and then-commissioner Art Marshall) that we don’t have a Three Little Pigs slot in Nevada gambling halls.
