So much news …

… so little time. East Coast casinos are stepping up their Asian-American marketing … and people are complaining? Don’t do it and you’re culturally insensitive. Do it and you’re predatory. This is one of those perception battles casinos will never win.

Just this weekend, after reading and viewing reports of the greater-than-expected debauchery — to say nothing of the mind-boggling spending; $3,500 for a cabaña? — that accompanied the opening of Encore Beach Club, I told my Dad, “It’s like the last days of the Roman Empire out here.”

The joke was on me. Today, Caesars Palace tweeted the known universe that it has instituted “Caligula Mondays,” starting next week. (Does this mean it will feature incest, infanticide and Malcolm McDowell?) Yesterday’s hyperbole is tomorrow’s marketing strategy.

Penn continues flirtation. Still playing the blushing maiden vis-a-vis the Las Vegas market, Penn National Gaming got itself a Nevada license, while sending its usual flurry of hopelessly mixed signals about what it means to do … if anything. CEO Peter Carlino allowed as he might deign to bid on that 11-casino chunk of Station Casinos (whose greatest value may lie in whatever [unreported] real estate is attached). However, he says he’s looking for something along the Strip.

Well, good luck, sir. After lowballing MGM Mirage* on both The Mirage and (allegedly) Bellagio, Carlino made a quixotic tilt at that money pit known as Fontainebleau. Since he’s ruled out the Riviera and whiffed on a chance to buy the Tropicana for cheap, Carlino’s options are fast dwindling. The Rio may still be in the wind and, if CityCenter doesn’t turn around, MGM might want to shop some or all of its “Mandalay Mile.” Or Carlino could try to buy the Echelon site from Boyd Gaming and attempt to finish the damn thing. He’s too mercurial to predict.

(* — in fairness to Penn, MGM CEO Jim Murren is rather selective about the 12X cash flow price tag he hangs on his properties. Seven times EBITDA was good enough when Phil Ruffin came calling, but that Christmas spirit has not been extended to Penn. But, as I said, market pressures may soon force MGM’s hand.)

Ameristar is spending. OK, $4 million in capex isn’t a cue to break out the bubbly but when so conservative a company is starting to spend again, it’s a beacon of hope. (Ameristar St. Charles, in Missouri, is also getting a beauty treatment.) Also, when your property revenues are down 24%, you’ve got to do something.