{"id":12042,"date":"2013-11-11T12:55:07","date_gmt":"2013-11-11T20:55:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=12042"},"modified":"2013-11-11T13:07:17","modified_gmt":"2013-11-11T21:07:17","slug":"n-y-claims-first-casualty-steve-wynn-walkers-waiting-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/n-y-claims-first-casualty-steve-wynn-walkers-waiting-game\/","title":{"rendered":"N.Y. claims first casualty: Steve Wynn; Walker’s waiting game"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Wynns\"<\/a>For the second time, Steve Wynn<\/strong> is pulling out of contention for the one remaining Philadelphia<\/strong> casino license. In a prepared statement, Wynn Resorts<\/strong> said its board had recently met, conducted a feasibility study and “decided that the best course for the company is to pursue business opportunities elsewhere.\u00a0The board took a host of factors into consideration, including the Philadelphia\u00a0market performance over the past year and the competition which will result from the recent approval of gaming in the\u00a0State of New York<\/strong><\/em>.” (You’ll notice that Wynn is still in the hunt for the Boston<\/strong> market, at least for now.)<\/p>\n

As unexpected as it might be<\/strong>, it’s a very sensible decision, although Wynn Philadelphia<\/strong> had been one of the leading contenders<\/a>. There’s already rampant cannibalization among Philadelphia’s casinos, so much that you wonder how a billion-dollar-plus facility could flourish in that shark frenzy. Given the number of casinos a New Yorker would have to drive past to get to Philly, I can see why the possible loss of that market is articulated only as a secondary concern, not a primary one. This is good news for Bart Blatstein<\/strong>, whose Isle of Capri Casinos<\/strong>-affiliated proposal now becomes unquestionably the biggest dog in the fight. Heck, everybody moves up a step in the food chain, including our fave, Joseph “Tomato King” Procacci<\/strong>, who can now brag that he outlasted Steve Wynn. Penn National Gaming<\/strong> may hurt its chances, though, with its REIT split. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer<\/em>, operator “Penn National itself will collect management and licensing fees of $278 million over the first 15 years, towering over the $115 million for the nonprofit benefiting the schools and city pension<\/em>,” as promised by Penn, pre-REIT.<\/p>\n

Massachusetts miracle?<\/strong> Despite long odds, KG Urban Enterprises<\/strong> plugs steadily onward with its quest<\/a> to turn a former electronic-power plant into a casino. KG is citing its previous experience in transforming what used to be Bethlehem Steel<\/strong> into Sands Bethlehem<\/strong>. The former had aesthetic appeal. The New Bedford<\/strong> plant is … well, it’s just there: not especially appealing but visually unavoidable, sitting in the center of town. Despite a lack of support from Mayor John Mitchell<\/strong>, one hopes that KG gets a chance to work some transformative miracle on the property.<\/p>\n

Wisconsin<\/strong> Gov. Scott Walker<\/strong> (R)\u00a0continues to send mixed signals<\/a> in the Dairyland Greyhound Park<\/strong> dispute. If his goal was to keep everyone guessing<\/a>, he’ succeeding brilliantly. Or he could take advantage of a generous Bureau of Indian Affairs<\/strong> timeline for a decision and simply dump the whole shebang in the lap of his successor<\/a>, come February 15. With his constant switchbacks, Walker is doing a brilliant job of keeping us pundits off the trail of what he really intends to do.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For the second time, Steve Wynn is pulling out of contention for the one remaining Philadelphia casino license. In a prepared statement, Wynn Resorts said its board had recently met, conducted a feasibility study and “decided that the best course … 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":[65,24,28,85,112,101,69,95,32,168,20,170],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12042"}],"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=12042"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12042\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12045,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12042\/revisions\/12045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}