Tramway to Encore; Pennsylvania pony pennies pinched

A gondola ride from Everett City Hall to Encore Boston Harbor? It could happen. Everett Mayor Carlo DeMaria has applied for a $200,000 study grant so that the city can look into the feasibility. He’s picking up the ball from Wynn Resorts, which has mulled a gondola line from the casino to the MBTA station across the Mystic River. Wynn had previously considered a footbridge connection but abandoned that idea. Permitting for the bridge continues to be sought but the smart money’s now on the prospect of Wynn switching its loyalty to the tram, at least if it’s required to subsidize something. Reports the Boston Globe, “Everett officials have long looked across the Mystic with envy at Somerville, where a vibrant community of shops, restaurants, apartments and offices sprouted up at Assembly Row, spurred in part by the T station’s opening in 2014. Commuter rail trains roll through Everett, meanwhile, but do not stop there.”

For DeMaria, the gondola would be a cost-effective way to connect his constituents with train service (such as it is in Boston), while Wynn sees it as a means to the end of eliminating its shuttle buses and thereby saving money—and perhaps some ozone too. (The company acknowledges this.) While Wynn has not been so bold, DeMaria already has his tin cup outstretched at the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, in hopes of an MGC subsidy. The two planned Everett gondola stops could become four, as the process evolves, whilst DeMaria has to placate those who wanted a footbridge, as a means of connecting with a bike path in Somerville. We’ll see.

* Pennsylvania casinos have to pay $250 million a year to subsidize the Keystone State’s horse racing industry. This is preposterous (only less preposterous than the casino industry’s willingness to be shaken down) and an acknowledgment that the sport of kings can’t stand on its own four legs. Ninety percent of purses comes from the subsidy. That being said, Gov. Tom Wolf (D) has no business raiding the horse-racing slush fund to finance college scholarships, something the state should support financially—or not—on its own merit. Wolf is siphoning off 80% of the subsidy fund for his college brainchild. Playing the elitism card, Wolf sneered, “Let’s bet on our kids instead of bankrolling racehorse owners and ensure the viability of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education.”

Horsemen were predictably indignant. “If approved by the legislature, this raid would result in the end of horse racing in Pennsylvania by eviscerating the primary funding source for the purses and breeder incentives that serve as the lifeblood of the industry,” huffed Pennsylvania Equine Coalition Executive Director Pete Peterson. Admitting that your industry is already on life support may not be the best way to save it but Peterson is probably a desperate man. His only hope is that the GOP controls both houses of the Lege, so Wolf’s radical move could be short-lived. It’s unclear where the casino industry stands on this, as it controls all three racinos in Pennsylvania: Presque Isle Downs (owned by Churchill Downs), Penn National (guess who) and Parx (Greenwood Gaming). As long as the subsidy stands, they’re effectively paying themselves to play the ponies.

* Speaking of taxes, the Clark County Education Association has been hit with a lawsuit from the Nevada Resort Association seeking to block the progress of a ballot initiative that would raise the privilege tax on gaming a whopping 44%, from 6.75% to 9.75%, depriving Nevada of its lowest-in-the-nation status (which would devolve upon New Jersey). Our opposition to this is on record. Finding the devil in the details, the NRA is seizing upon a petition inaccuracy in when the proposed amendment would take effect and disingenuous language that makes it seem the money would be earmarked for education, when actually it would go into the state’s general fund. Wrote NRA attorney Matt Griffin, “The Legislature would be free to spend it on state employee salaries, construction of state buildings, or anything else.” And they probably would, if history is any guide. Good luck to the NRA.

* What takes precedence? Eldorado Resorts‘ 51/49 split of its sports books with William Hill? Or Caesars Entertainment‘s self-branded books? That’s one of the issues Iowa regulators were grappling with, as the Eldorado/Caesars takeover continues its road show. Said Eldorado CEO Tom Reeg, “If we were to just close under the current terms of the agreement, William Hill steps into the Caesars sportsbooks on the same split as we got with them now.” That means nine William Hill-branded books trump 29 Caesars ones. “There’s a lot of discussion to be had … there’s a lot of value that’s within Caesars, that’s within us, that’s within William Hill,” allowed Reeg. “Could we do something that’s more ambitious than just William Hill is running Caesars’ books? We’re examining that, and this is a logical time to try to figure it out.”

Reeg’s logic must have been persuasive, as Iowa regulators unanimously approved the merger, giving the combined companies 25% of the Hawkeye State’s casino industry (more than that, when revenues are counted).

* Last call for Oscar odds: According to DraftKings, meretricious 1917 will take home six statuettes, Parasite only three, and Joker and erstwhile favorite Once Upon a Time in … Hollywood two apiece. Indiana and New Jersey, get those bets in.