{"id":12550,"date":"2014-01-27T14:43:59","date_gmt":"2014-01-27T22:43:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=12550"},"modified":"2014-01-27T15:58:40","modified_gmt":"2014-01-27T23:58:40","slug":"12550","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/12550\/","title":{"rendered":"D-Day in Philly; Al Sharpton’s casino-boss buddy; Angst in Maine"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s death-grapple time <\/a>in Philadelphia<\/strong>, where five competing proposals will be aired for the final time before the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board<\/strong>. Even a supporter of casino expansion in the city, like Jeffries LLC<\/strong>‘s John Maxwell<\/strong>, concedes there will be dilution of the market. “Obviously the existing guys will not be as profitable as they are now, but we still think they will be quite profitable<\/em>.” With support like that, who needs opposition?<\/p>\n

Centrally located and currently nothing more than a parking lot, Ken Goldenberg<\/strong>‘s $500 million Market8<\/strong> has emerged as the favorite. Unfortunate \"Blatstein\"<\/a>proximity to schools and houses of worship appears to have made Bart Blatstein<\/strong>‘s (left<\/em>) $700 million The Provence<\/strong> almost as much an outside contender as Joseph “Tomato King” Procacci<\/strong>‘s $428 million Casino Revolution<\/strong>. Well outside of downtown — and possibly way out of contention for that reason — are the Hollywood Philadelphia<\/strong> casino being pushed by Penn National Gaming<\/strong> and the Philadelphia Live!<\/strong> one backed both by Penn nemesis Cordish Cos<\/strong>. and Greenwood Racing<\/strong>. If the contest were decided on who makes the best copy, the colorful Tomato King would surely win. However, inexperience and a far-from-central location could squash his chances like an overripe tomato.<\/p>\n

\"Cosmopolitan<\/a>“A grand social experiment” is what The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas<\/strong> is calling Rose. Rabbit. Lie<\/em>, making it sound like something that just came off Capitol Hill<\/strong>. Since I still haven’t seen it, all I can say is that it’s very outside the box<\/a> and has a strong ‘design your own experience’ vibe. As Mike Weatherford<\/strong> says<\/a>, “You’re paying for the atmosphere.” His passing remark, “The good news-bad news is that The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas has created something different, to the point that it doesn\u2019t seem to have it all sorted out yet<\/em>” would serve as a metaphor for the still-evolving Cosmo itself.<\/p>\n

A bidder for a Catskills<\/strong> casino has emerged from left field<\/a> — or Alabama<\/strong> as it’s otherwise known. A forcibly shuttered e-bingo parlor, Greenetrack<\/strong>, wants in on some New York State<\/strong> action. President Luther “Nat” Winn Jr<\/strong>. has ties to the old Castkills resort industry, to the civil rights movement of the Sixties — and to Rev. Al Sharpton<\/strong>. One of the latter’s cronies has been tapped to lobby for Greenetrack. “For his part, Sharpton claimed he was not playing holy roller for a casino,” writes the New York Post<\/em>, quoting Sharpton as professing ignorance<\/a> of the project.<\/p>\n

Having let the casino<\/strong> cat out of the bag, Penn National Gaming<\/strong> and Churchill Downs<\/strong> find that everyone wants a piece of the action in Maine<\/strong>: the Passamoquoddy Tribe<\/strong>, a wannabe racino and would-be slot route operators. Who can blame them, seeing the success of gambling in Maine<\/a>? Unfortunately, a commission meant to sort out the alternatives closed up shop without taking any action, dumping the whole problem in the Legislature’s lap.<\/p>\n

\"Scarborough<\/a>The process was not without its moments of irony: “John Osborne<\/strong>, general manager of Hollywood Casino<\/strong>, told the Veterans & Legal Affairs Committee<\/strong> that new slot machines throughout Maine would ‘cannibalize’ his business and argued that adding casinos must be based on sound economic data<\/em>.” Like Penn has ever worried about cannibalization or “sound economic data when pitching a new casino of its own somewhere or other. At the moment, only slot routes have legislative momentum, although Scarborough Downs<\/strong>\u00a0(above<\/em>) is making a last-ditch appeal for racino status.<\/p>\n

Best bets<\/strong>: Some of the strongest action can be found in unsurprisingly obscure casinos. USA Today<\/em>, with help from our Anthony Curtis<\/strong>, breaks it down<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s death-grapple time in Philadelphia, where five competing proposals will be aired for the final time before the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board. Even a supporter of casino expansion in the city, like Jeffries LLC‘s John Maxwell, concedes there will be … 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":[135,176,70,66,4,172,147,101,69,95,9,168,19,20],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12550"}],"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=12550"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12550\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12559,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12550\/revisions\/12559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}