{"id":10876,"date":"2013-05-22T13:01:21","date_gmt":"2013-05-22T21:01:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=10876"},"modified":"2013-05-22T20:51:33","modified_gmt":"2013-05-23T04:51:33","slug":"weidner-returns-casinos-win-tax-fight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/weidner-returns-casinos-win-tax-fight\/","title":{"rendered":"Weidner returns; Casinos win tax fight"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Y’all remember Baha Mar<\/strong>, that multi-billion-dollar project in the Bahamas<\/strong> that then-Harrah’s Entertainment<\/strong> exited during its IPO? At the time, Harrah’s insisted that there was no connection, but Baha Mar was one of several initiatives — including Margaritaville<\/strong> in Biloxi<\/strong> and a resort in Spain<\/strong> — that were ceased and never heard from again. $3.5 billion later. Baha Mar is slated for an end-of-2014 opening and it will be run by Global Gaming Asset Management<\/strong>, which is a four-word way of saying<\/a> William Weidner<\/strong>, the former #2 man of Sheldon Adelson<\/strong>, though they haven’t been BFFs for the past three years.<\/p>\n

Although Weidner supposedly sought a casino posting in Macao<\/strong> and \"\"couldn’t get one, he’s making a big comeback. Global Gaming is also managing $1.2 billion Solaire Manila<\/strong>, in a market where angels fear to tread. Weidner’s top lieutenants are fellow exiles from Las Vegas Sands<\/strong>, President Brad Stone<\/strong> and executive veep Garry Saunders<\/strong>. At 150 tables and 10 times as many slots, Baha Mar is small by Las Vegas Strip<\/strong> standards. But the project itself (30 restaurants, three hotels) is of Sands-like ambition. And the Weidner-Stone-Saunders troika has plenty of experience opening overseas markets. If they succeed at Baha Mar, it’s difficult to decide who will be more galled … Caesars Entertainment<\/strong> CEO Gary Loveman<\/strong> … or Adelson.<\/p>\n

\"\"Whenever some Nevada governor<\/strong> promises “no new taxes,” what he really means is that he’s going to make the casino industry bend over and grab its ankles while all other industries get off scot-free. Well, when then-Gov. Jim Gibbons<\/strong> (R) made a grab for the sales-tax value of comped meals, the industry fought back. Gov. Brian Sandoval<\/strong> (R) carried on Gibbons’ crusade for about a legislature today before waving the surrender flag today<\/a>. Kudos to John Ascuaga’s Nugget<\/strong> (above<\/em>) for being the little-ish casino that said, “no more.” (Caesars and Boyd Gaming<\/strong> were other litigants.)<\/p>\n

The negative consequences of the tax increase were obvious: “Promotional \"\"allowances” (comps) would cost casinos more, creating a disincentive to reward customers as generously. Either the bottom line or employees’ standard of living would have taken a hit if casinos, respectively, ate the higher cost of workers’ dining rooms or passed it along to the workforce<\/a>. Everybody lost. As it now stands, the only thing Big Gaming will eat is $200 million, perhaps more<\/a>, already paid to the state. Sandoval (right<\/em>) and the Lege could still double-cross the industry by writing a tax-the-comps law, but it would have to return at least some of that $200 million, too.<\/p>\n

For those who may have wondered<\/strong> or worried, S&G<\/em> contributor Jeff_in_OKC<\/strong> came through the recent tornado bombardment unscathed. His business was about five miles from the epicenter of destruction and he witnessed “the heaviest lightning I had ever seen” at close proximity but, except for a brief loss of power, had no complaints. Dunno about you, but I’m breathing a sigh of relief.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Y’all remember Baha Mar, that multi-billion-dollar project in the Bahamas that then-Harrah’s Entertainment exited during its IPO? At the time, Harrah’s insisted that there was no connection, but Baha Mar was one of several initiatives — including Margaritaville in Biloxi … 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":[60,117,7,22,62,35,115,33,79,12,31],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10876"}],"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=10876"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10876\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10889,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10876\/revisions\/10889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}