Less than enamored of the carpetbaggers from Vegas is favorite son Monarch Casinos & Resorts, whose highly successful (and attractive) Atlantis Casino Resort Spa would find itself with an unwelcome next-door neighbor. Of course, Station CEO Frank Fertitta III would be lucky to be able to lay his hands upon $500 million—which may explain those Palms sale rumors—and has four Las Vegas Valley casinos in mothballs, so this week’s news may be more molehill than mountain.
There’s a lawsuit brewing at Harrah’s Southern California, centering on an executive who claims to have been ousted for refusing to state that the casino was Coronavirus-free. He blames both the Rincon Band of Luiseño Indians and Caesars Entertainment itself and is suing the latter. Ex-general manager Darrell Pilant alleges that when he wouldn’t sign off on reopening plans he was shown the door, an ironic fate for the tribe’s 2019 “Role Model” award winner. Rather than go at the Rincon Band through tribal court (a stacked deck), Pilant decided to target Caesars Enterprise Services LLC. According to a copy of the complaint obtained by Global Gaming Business, Pilant says he opposed the May 22 resumption because he “reasonably believed, and government officials including California Governor Gavin Newsom as well as medical and scientific experts also believed, that doing so would endanger the health and safety of employees and the public, in light of the widespread and dangerous Covid-19 pandemic.”
Claiming wrongful termination, the lawsuit declares, “Rather than carry out the illegal and dangerous directive of his employer, Mr. Pilant had no alternative but to resign his longtime employment with Caesars.” He’s also blaming Harrah’s for being in violation of California labor codes. Backing him, a Rincon source said, “They’re making a lot of employees resign if they don’t feel comfortable coming to work. They tell them, if they can’t come in, ‘You have to resign, and you could be rehired within six months.’ When people would get sick, HR would tell them, ‘Don’t tell anyone.’” Caesars is clamming up but CEO Tom Reeg can always foist this one off on predecessor Anthony Rodio and say he would have done things differently.
On a related note, “The gambling industry has a huge responsibility to prioritise the health, safety and job security of its employees, particularly during these difficult times.” So says BestCasinoSites.net Chief Editor Alden Howe, whose firm estimates that 409,400 Nevada casino employees are presently at risk from Coronavirus, followed at a great distance by New Jersey with 39,000 and so on. A German study places in the industry in a ‘damned if you do, damned if you don’t,’ saying Big Gaming would lose $123 million a day in another Great Shutdown, while European casinos would shed $27 million per day. Howe’s study provides one study that explains why casino developers were fixated upon Japan to the point of insanity. Pachinko is a $200 billion/year industry. If they could capture a tenth of that …
The Moulin Rouge officially passes into the history books on Sept. 16, when the Neon Museum lights up its old marquee in the Neon Boneyard (one of the top two must-visit sites in Las Vegas). According to the museum, “The monumental Moulin Rouge letters—one of The Neon Museum’s most historically significant Neon Boneyard sign exhibits—have been rearranged and re-electrified to accurately portray how the sign was originally displayed in 1955.” Restoration was effected by Hartlauer Signs, using 832 feet of neon tubing, in phosphorous-blue glass. The “M” alone weighs 1,200 pounds. Check it out, whether in person on through the museum’s virtual tours.
