{"id":10754,"date":"2013-05-06T15:23:06","date_gmt":"2013-05-06T23:23:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=10754"},"modified":"2022-12-27T05:55:47","modified_gmt":"2022-12-27T13:55:47","slug":"happy-days-here-again-diy-vdara-death-ray","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/happy-days-here-again-diy-vdara-death-ray\/","title":{"rendered":"Happy days: Here again?; DIY Vdara Death Ray"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"America<\/strong>‘s casino officially emerged from the doldrums with the release of the American Gaming Association<\/strong>‘s yearly survey, showing a 5% increase in private-sector casino revenue<\/a>, just $200 million shy of 2007’s record amount. Mind you, we have quite a few more casinos now than we did in ’07, so the pie much be sliced more thinly. Twenty-one were added last year alone. Newer markets, from Maine<\/strong> to Kansas<\/strong>, led the surge. No surprise, New Jersey<\/strong> (-8%) was the biggest loser. Delaware<\/strong> and Indiana<\/strong>, much assailed by new, nearby competition, also had rough years. Despite the increased lucre at the tables, employment was down a percentage point, while tax payments rose 8.5%. New York City<\/strong>, where two, VLT-only racinos raked in $1.32 billion, clearly has explosive potential. Yet, despite all of this, lotteries remain Americans’ preferred form of gambling. After all, when it’s a Powerball<\/strong> jackpot vs. a progressive slot, Powerball is going to win every time.<\/p>\n

Unfazed by rejection<\/strong> at the ballot box, Penn National Gaming<\/strong> is going to try, try again<\/a> for a casino in Prince George’s County<\/strong>, in Maryland. Although voters preferred MGM Resorts International<\/strong>‘s pro-casino push (as opposed to Penn’s disingenuous opposition to gambling) and Penn has pissed off much of the local political establishment, language that was approved last November leaves a narrow pathway for Penn’s Rosecroft Raceway <\/strong>to achieve racino status.<\/p>\n

\"\"That clever Steve<\/strong>. While city fathers of Everett <\/strong>were dazzled by the upfront money and yearly payments Wynn Resorts<\/strong> promised the Massachusetts<\/strong> city, they failed to notice one little thing<\/a>. Steve Wynn<\/strong> can increase the size of $1.2 billion resort by a third and not pay the city a penny more. Smooth move, Wynn. Further north, the New Hampshire<\/strong> Lege remains at loggerheads over gambling, seemingly oblivious to the quickly evolving threat from the south. In an attempt to get the state House on board<\/a>, Millennium Gaming<\/strong> CEO William Wortman<\/strong> is promising to increase spending on Rockingham Park by 33% and turn it into a racino<\/a>. It’s difficult to visualize how much better Millennium’s offer could get and yet remain realistic. Wortman’s certainly a patient man, having been pushing for this deal for the past six years.<\/p>\n

Yes, you too can have<\/strong> your own, domestic version of the Vdara Death Ray<\/strong> as this California<\/strong> couple in the city of Santa Rosa<\/strong> learned the hard way<\/a>. Fortunately, no one was harmed — human or canine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

America‘s casino officially emerged from the doldrums with the release of the American Gaming Association‘s yearly survey, showing a 5% increase in private-sector casino revenue, just $200 million shy of 2007’s record amount. Mind you, we have quite a few … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[98,23,73,28,14,26,4,68,45,147,72,112,163,101,69,33,32,31,9,19,143],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10754"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10754"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10754\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32112,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10754\/revisions\/32112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}