{"id":12966,"date":"2014-03-11T13:06:53","date_gmt":"2014-03-11T21:06:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=12966"},"modified":"2019-08-26T06:52:11","modified_gmt":"2019-08-26T14:52:11","slug":"rocky-mountain-high-roller-playing-spoiler-in-boston","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/rocky-mountain-high-roller-playing-spoiler-in-boston\/","title":{"rendered":"Rocky Mountain high roller; Playing spoiler in Boston"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"8-ColoradoCoil42-single-BGv1\"<\/a>“Recreational horse racing to me is more appealing than recreational pot.” So says one of the backers of expanded gambling in Colorado<\/strong>,\u00a0state Rep. Don Coram<\/strong> (R). “We’re opposed because the way the initiative is written it gives the owner of Arapahoe Park<\/strong> a five-year monopoly on Front Range gaming in Colorado,” responds Colorado Gaming Association<\/strong> Executive Director Lois Rice<\/strong>. A ballot initiative would call for a minimum of 2,500 slots per racino. (Colorado’s biggest casino has 1,500.) The state has banked $1.3 billion in gaming taxes over the last 20 years, although Colorado was one of the first states to suffer from saturation.<\/p>\n

\"Twin<\/a>The ballot initiative is a creature of\u00a0Twin River Worldwide Holdings Inc.<\/strong>, owner of the eponymous Rhode Island<\/strong> casino. Under it and another initiative, racino status would eventually be extended to two other tracks yet to be built.\u00a0“Would they be in favor of expansion of gaming at a facility that already has wagering? That’s a question we thought there is value in putting to the Colorado voters,” asks Twin River’s Patti Doyle<\/strong>. In return, the state and locality would receive $35 million in upfront fees and 36% of profits, which Twin River estimates at $100 million a year. A fragmentary track in Grand Junction<\/strong> would have to be finished and nearby\u00a0Mesa Count<\/strong>y would need to “a substantial investment in new construction.” As you can imagine, this is not playing well in Cripple Creek<\/strong> or other current gambling destinations in the state.<\/p>\n

* California<\/strong> tribes are switching sides — and choosing sides<\/a> — as two online-poker bills vie for dominance in the Legislature. In the upper house, state Sen. Lou Correa<\/strong> (D) has legislation that would require $10 million in upfront money be paid to the state per license. Assemblyman Reginald Jones-Sawyer<\/strong> (D) has a bill that would only require half that much licensing lucre. The\u00a0Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians<\/strong> leads the pro-Jones-Sawyer faction while the\u00a0San Manuel Band of Serrano Mission Indians<\/strong> is the most prominent Correa backer. It’s felt that if the California market opens up — especially in tandem with interstate i-poker compacts — it will be the Holy Grail of online gambling.<\/p>\n

\"Walsh\"<\/a>* Boston<\/strong> Mayor Martin J. Walsh<\/strong> (D)\u00a0is still trying to extort, er, exert host-community status<\/a> over both Wynn Boston<\/strong> (in Everett<\/strong>) and Suffolk Downs<\/strong> (in Revere<\/strong>). Whoever appeases him best may have a leg up going into final deliberations by the Massachusetts Gaming Commission<\/strong>. The latter’s chairman, Stephen Crosby<\/strong>, cautions all parties not to find themselves subject to the whims of arbitration.<\/p>\n

* If Ohio<\/strong> Gov. John Kasich<\/strong> (R) is serious about eliminating governmental waste, he might look at gaming regulation in the Buckeye State<\/a>. How about one body to oversee horse racing, VLTs, sweepstakes cafes and casinos, instead of four?<\/p>\n

* Christopher Axelrod<\/strong> pays (literally) a visit to Beacher’s Madhouse<\/a> at MGM Grand<\/strong> and finds it both a ripoff and an affront<\/a> to the bread-and-butter MGM customer.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Recreational horse racing to me is more appealing than recreational pot.” So says one of the backers of expanded gambling in Colorado,\u00a0state Rep. Don Coram (R). “We’re opposed because the way the initiative is written it gives the owner of … 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":[34,27,26,4,37,112,11,71,25,141,20],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12966"}],"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=12966"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12966\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24771,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12966\/revisions\/24771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}