{"id":12762,"date":"2014-02-17T12:34:01","date_gmt":"2014-02-17T20:34:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=12762"},"modified":"2014-02-17T13:56:12","modified_gmt":"2014-02-17T21:56:12","slug":"hard-rock-okd-tribal-casinos-power-plays-caesars-astute-move","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/hard-rock-okd-tribal-casinos-power-plays-caesars-astute-move\/","title":{"rendered":"Hard Rock OK’d; Tribal casinos’ power plays; Caesars’ astute move"},"content":{"rendered":"

Instead of being left to rot, Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Sioux City<\/strong> will be permitted to resume construction<\/a>, with a view toward a late-summer opening. That good news was handed down from the Polk County District Court<\/strong> bench. If Penn National Gaming<\/strong>‘s Argosy \"Hard<\/a>Sioux City had its way, the HRH Sioux City would be in limbo until a lawsuit had been thoroughly adjudicated. Deeming HRH an “indispensable party,” the presiding judge opined that “The effect on SCE’s gaming license from a temporary stay is significant, if not drastic.\u00a0It would very likely lose its financing. It would lose millions of dollars already spent. The project would likely come to a halt<\/em>.”\u00a0It would also default on a Credit Suisse<\/strong> loan, contended HRH prexy Bill Warner<\/strong>, while Penn argued that Warner knew the risks when construction began. Besides, its argument ran, an up-and-running Hard Rock casino would have a prejudicial effect on the outcome of Penn’s litigation with the Iowa Racing & Gaming Commission<\/strong>. Judge Eliza Ovrom ruled that Penn “not likely to succeed on the merits,” given the IRGC’s wide discretionary powers. The IRGC’s is, however, using a procedure known as “operation of law” to keep Argosy Sioux City<\/strong> open and its workforce employed until the case is resolved.<\/p>\n

\"rick-scott\"<\/a>Is Florida<\/strong>‘s governor, Rick Scott<\/strong> (R) negotiating a new compact with the Seminole Tribe<\/strong>? A billion dollars in Seminole revenue sharing runs out in 2015. Ergo, great stock is being placed in a hyper-vague statement issued by Scott’s office<\/a>. “Governor Scott is focused on renewing the state’s compact with the Seminoles to get the best deal for Floridians … the governor’s immediate focus is the future of the Seminole compact<\/em>.” That could mean Scott is engaged in intense negotiations or that he’s merely thinking positive thoughts. (“Gary Bitner<\/strong>, the tribe’s spokesman, said he is unaware of any negotiations<\/em>.”)\u00a0However, it firmly places him on the sidelines of legislative jousting over whether to expand private-sector gambling in Florida. Said state Sen. Bill Galvano<\/strong>, “we have to give deference to the governor, and that could create a time issue for us going forward on other aspects of gaming<\/em>.”<\/p>\n

House Speaker Will Weatherford<\/strong> (R) has made any casino expansion “contingent” upon amending the constitution to make further such expansions subject to statewide vote. Between that and the delicate nature of Scott’s negotiations, would-be casino developers may be checkmated for the remainder of this legislative session. Scott is resistant to state Sen. Garrett Richter<\/strong>‘s push for an independent gambling-regulation body, removing a power that currently resides with the governor’s office.<\/p>\n

\"MGM<\/a>Cannibalism as a form<\/strong> of survival is central to both Foxwoods Resorts Casino<\/strong> and Mohegan Sun<\/strong>‘s respective pushes into Massachusetts<\/strong>. Bay State residents spent $554 million at the two tribal casinos in 2012 and if the Connecticut<\/strong> casinos have to be sacrificed to recover that revenue closer to the source<\/a>, so be it. The motherships are hurting<\/a>, Foxwoods having lost 34% of its peak revenue since 2005 and Mohegan Sun suffering a similar fate (down 31%) since 2007. “I wouldn\u2019t say we have to be in Massachusetts.\u00a0We want to be in Massachusetts<\/em>,” said Foxwood CEO Scott “Woody” Butera<\/strong> a bit disingenuously.<\/p>\n

The tribal pair is already besieged from east (Twin Rivers Casino<\/strong>) and west (Resorts World New York<\/strong>), prompting Moody’s Investor Service<\/strong> analyst Keith Foley<\/strong> to observe, “Having something compete with yourself is sometimes better than competing with others<\/em>.”<\/p>\n

Debt-laden<\/strong> though it is, Caesars Interactive<\/strong>, is busy agglomerating social-gaming applications. The latest, Pacific Interactive<\/strong>, could be worth as much as $30 million to Caesars<\/a>. It’s the latest in a string of mid-priced and astute purchases the company has made in the social-gambling sphere. $148 million in recent acquisitions translated into $290 million in revenue last year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Instead of being left to rot, Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Sioux City will be permitted to resume construction, with a view toward a late-summer opening. That good news was handed down from the Polk County District Court bench. If … 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":[36,166,120,7,37,86,112,167,69,25,141,20,38,146],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12762"}],"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=12762"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12762\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12766,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12762\/revisions\/12766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}