{"id":11839,"date":"2013-10-17T12:13:01","date_gmt":"2013-10-17T20:13:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=11839"},"modified":"2023-02-05T08:12:00","modified_gmt":"2023-02-05T16:12:00","slug":"the-bill-that-wouldnt-die-taking-a-wrecking-ball-to-jubilee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/the-bill-that-wouldnt-die-taking-a-wrecking-ball-to-jubilee\/","title":{"rendered":"The bill that wouldn’t die; Taking a wrecking ball to “Jubilee!”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Illinois\"<\/a>Illinois<\/strong> legislators continue to butt their heads against Gov. Pat Quinn<\/strong>‘s opposition to casino expansion (and a terrible gambling economy). Impervious to reality, state Rep. Robert Rita<\/strong> (D) is introducing yet another bill for five casinos and airport slot routes. Democrats in the Lege won’t be satisfied until existing casinos are driven out of business — and maybe not even then. “I want to make sure this thing is done in the right way,” bloviates Rita<\/a>, when the right thing would be not to do it at all. It’s surreal to see Rita and his colleagues arguing over how they’ll divide theoretical casino revenue at a time when actual<\/em> gambling winnings continue to decline. Chicago<\/strong> Mayor Rahm Emanuel<\/strong>‘s determination to have his city own a casino outright also continues to put the cat amongst the pigeons.<\/p>\n

If it ain’t broke …<\/strong> Some uncredited ‘genius’ at Caesars Entertainment<\/strong> has had the notion of taking Jubilee!<\/em><\/a> and “ushering the show into the contemporary age … putting a modern spin on it” (read<\/em>: going urban). Choreographer Frank Gatson Jr<\/strong>. has been charged with improving upon Donn Arden<\/strong>‘s original. We are assured that “the best of the \"ballys-jubilee\"<\/a>show\u2019s main elements will be preserved as a nod to the past.” This entirely misses the point of Jubliee!<\/em>, which is that it is of<\/em> the past and its charm lies in its anachronistic — and sometimes campy — content. Contemporizing parts of it risks winding up with something that is neither fish nor fowl, merely foul. Says Caesars Vice President of Entertainment Kurt Melien<\/strong>, Jubilee!<\/em>,\u00a0“has been a must-see show for more than 32 years,” which makes you wonder at the sudden urge to tinker. Considering Gatson’s 15-year association with Beyonce<\/strong>, it looks like we’re going to get a Destiny’s Child<\/strong>\u00a0knockoff sitting uneasily cheek-by-jowl with old-Broadway-style routines. This has all the makings of a train wreck. Is there nothing on the Strip that Gary Loveman<\/strong> can’t fuck up?<\/p>\n

The State of Ohio<\/strong>\u00a0nearly got taken by a massive cheating ring that hit all four of the state’s casinos<\/a>. (Since roulette was the targeted game, VLT-only \"Cincinnati_Casino_Rendering\"<\/a>Scioto Downs<\/strong> was spared.) Thirteen alleged perpetrators were arrested out of an alleged 70, and nine of them are on the lam. The ring operated out of the New York City<\/strong> area and worked by surreptitiously switching out low-value chips for high-value ones. In most cases, the casino copped to what was happening before serious damage could be done. Only July 21 caper at Horseshoe Casino Cincinnati<\/strong>\u00a0went undetected until after the fact. Penn National Gaming<\/strong> and Rock Caesars Gaming<\/strong> were predominantly successful in thwarting the cheaters but it wouldn’t surprise me if surveillance hasn’t been upped since. (It’s a heckuva story to break on the day when Penn was announcing quarterly earnings.)<\/p>\n

\"Greek-Mythology\"<\/a>Simultaneously<\/strong>, another cheating story broke in the Far East, at one of Stanley Ho<\/strong>‘s sublicensed casinos, Greek Mythology<\/strong>. VIP room operator Chen Mai Huan<\/strong> allegedly bilked investors of $40 million and was caught trying to flee Macao<\/strong> by helicopter. It’s a story almost too entertaining to be true. Now we’ll see how Macanese authorities dole out justice to accused cheaters.<\/p>\n

A proposed, tenth<\/strong> casino in Biloxi<\/strong> is stirring up some controversy, especially as historically casino-free land was rezoned<\/a> to make room for Biloxi Boardwalk Casino Hotel<\/strong>. Given some of the toes that may get stepped upon here (i.e., nearby residents), this story will merit continued watching.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Illinois legislators continue to butt their heads against Gov. Pat Quinn‘s opposition to casino expansion (and a terrible gambling economy). Impervious to reality, state Rep. Robert Rita (D) is introducing yet another bill for five casinos and airport slot routes. … 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":[28,14,4,7,58,62,35,71,69,33,61,87,9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11839"}],"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=11839"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11839\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32302,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11839\/revisions\/32302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}