{"id":12557,"date":"2014-01-27T16:11:21","date_gmt":"2014-01-28T00:11:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=12557"},"modified":"2014-01-27T16:11:21","modified_gmt":"2014-01-28T00:11:21","slug":"no-fun-in-florida-playing-it-safe-in-illinois-big-flush-at-borgata","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/no-fun-in-florida-playing-it-safe-in-illinois-big-flush-at-borgata\/","title":{"rendered":"No fun in Florida; Playing it safe in Illinois; Big flush at Borgata"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"rick-scott\"<\/a>Gov. Rick Scott<\/strong> (R, left<\/em>) doesn’t want any gambling-expansion talk cluttering up his reelection bid, spoiling the fun for the rest of us<\/a>. So no racinos, Naples<\/strong> or Palm Beach<\/strong>, no new gambling offerings, Seminole Tribes<\/strong>, and no destination resorts, Genting Group<\/strong> or Las Vegas Sands<\/strong>. There’s some vague talk about “tightening loopholes.” The legislature is in no mood to play either, except for\u00a0Senate Gaming Committee<\/strong> Chairman Garrett Richter<\/strong> (R). He’s crafting a bill that would have goodies for Naples, Palm Beach and Miami<\/strong> and cut back greyhound racing … but few seem to believe he will succeed. The price of legislative assent would be to put any future changes in gambling law up to a statewide vote, otherwise known as a death sentence.<\/p>\n

An unlikely alliance of the Seminole Tribe and Disney Corp<\/strong>. is opposing any change in the state’s compact with the tribe, some provisions of which expire in April 2015. It’s a $250 million a year gamble, replacing guaranteed Seminole money with the uncertain performance of the private sector. It’s been called “mutually assured destruction.” Scott is playing both sides of the street, accepting a half-million from the Seminoles and $250,000 from Sheldon Adelson<\/strong>. The Seminoles’ hearts are with Scott opponent Charlie Crist<\/strong> (D) and Adelson is famously heartless.<\/p>\n

\"Robert<\/a>At least<\/strong> two Illinois<\/strong> GOP gubernatorial candidates have been weighed in the balance on the casino issue and been found wanting. State Sens. Kirk Dillard<\/strong> and Bill Brady<\/strong>\u00a0(R) “stressed the need to protect the horse racing industry and the agricultural jobs it supports,” which is code for “pro-racino.”<\/a> All of Gov. Pat Quinn<\/strong>‘s Republican electoral opponents have highly equivocal — if not tortured — views of gambling when the question is put to them. Treasurer Dan Rutherford<\/strong> is mildly opposed and entrepreneur Bruce Rauner<\/strong> claims to be flat-out opposed — though he would punt the issue to localities.\u00a0In shilling for wholesale (read: reckless) gambling expansion, state Rep. Bob Rita<\/strong> (D, right) is offering a veritable Christmas tree of goodies: five casinos, racinos, airport slot routes and — in a concession to existing casinos — online gambling. Mighty big of him to throw that last bone to the casino industry he’s trying to squeeze.<\/p>\n

When caught cheating<\/strong>\u00a0in a poker tournament,\u00a0don’t try flushing the fake chips down the toilet<\/a>. It won’t work.\u00a0New Jersey<\/strong>\u00a0authorities believe they’ve nabbed the man responsible for infiltrating and causing the disruption of Event One in the\u00a0Borgata Winter Poker Open<\/strong>. Play remains suspended. Ditto the money wagered to date. Suspect\u00a0Christian Lusardi<\/strong>\u00a0is being kept on ice while authorities continue to investigate.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gov. Rick Scott (R, left) doesn’t want any gambling-expansion talk cluttering up his reelection bid, spoiling the fun for the rest of us. So no racinos, Naples or Palm Beach, no new gambling offerings, Seminole Tribes, and no destination resorts, … 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":[23,26,36,120,165,58,33,111,25,12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12557"}],"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=12557"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12557\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12563,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12557\/revisions\/12563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}