Terrorism at Trump; Police blotter

Trump International finally made it back into the news, although not in a good way. WSOP player Kenneth Strauss was arrested there on July 27 after allegedly tweeting terroristic threats, among other malfeasances. Strauss’ reign of error began at Red Rock Resort, where he was accused of pedophilia out by the hotel pool. He was 86’d and repaired to the president’s place, where the security director “was monitoring Strauss closely.” Strauss then caromed over to The Venetian, where he was reported as threatening to kill himself or anyone who came near. The police missed Strauss there but caught up with him back at Trump Int’l.

In the meantime, his Twitter account had been busy, with such endearments as “And all Casinos that have me banned will be destroyed effective immediately” and “You will DIE! #FUCKU @POTUS” being spewed into cyberspace. Strauss was busted for making terroristic threats. (The Red Rock matter is still under investigation.) Strauss is no stranger to miscreant acts on the Las Vegas Strip. He got kicked out of Luxor for exposing himself from atop a craps table and similar self-exposure at The Rio led to his being trespassed from the World Series of Poker. He seems extremely troubled and his misdeeds of last July may finally get him the punishment he has merited.

* Busted! China‘s government is getting quite serious about cracking down on Internet gambling. Meanwhile, the Philippines has rebuffed Beijing‘s request for a shutdown of its online-gambling industry.

* Where has Pete Rose been lately? A mystery pro-baseball player is fingered in the federal indictment of bookie Clinton Reider, who allegedly used the ex-baller’s credit card to hide payouts. Reider drew attention to himself with an aggregate $1.5 million buy-in at Horseshoe Cleveland in the 2012-16 period. (Sounds like Reider needs to bone up on the niceties of money laundering.) Reider allegedly knew enough about hiding by using Western Union to transfer money to Latin American betting sites. As if that weren’t enough, Reider is also alleged to have run high-stakes poker games on the side.

In his sports-betting operations, Reider is alleged to have favored cash payouts, although he sometimes employed PayPal. Feds literally pieced together collections and payments from a shredded notebook. Winnings went toward mortgage payments via the Reider parents’ bank accounts. As for Ohio homeboy Rose, Casino.org says there is “no suggestion that he involved in this case in any way whatsoever.” Noted.

* Genting Group made a bad investment when it bought Empire Resorts. That’s not opinion, it’s fact. Fitch Ratings downgraded Genting to “negative” on the strength [sic] of the Empire transaction. “Higher than expected leverage and weaker earnings performance will imply a shift from an intensive focus on capital discipline, and indicate a weaker credit profile,” said Fitch. Added Casino.org, Genting mogul K.T. Lim “believes the only way the casino resort can turn profitable is to cut out lenders and remove interest, which Empire said recently it was close to defaulting on.”

The other gain for Empire will be delisting from NASDAQ, keeping its financial misfortunes further from public scrutiny. Resorts World Catskills, the linchpin of the transaction, is on pace to lost $147 million this year, having lost $139 million last year. With multiple irons in the fire, including a transit line in Miami, this might be a poor time for Genting to be lunging after a casino in Japan, but that’s just what Lim intends to do.

* Sheldon Adelson might be more comfortable investing in Vietnam if the government follows through on its idea to loosen the restrictions on large investments in casinos. He’d still have to commit $2 billion. But he could get the crucial investment registration certificate after investing only the first 50%. The overarching idea is to “help resolve difficulties for investors, and attract investment into casino and infrastructure projects connected to [special administrative economic zones], especially Van Don, a locality deemed to have underdeveloped infrastructure.” What would really bring in investment would be if the government relaxed its two-year licenses, which necessitate an unheard-of 50% ROI.