{"id":13363,"date":"2014-04-22T11:23:50","date_gmt":"2014-04-22T19:23:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=13363"},"modified":"2014-04-22T12:14:40","modified_gmt":"2014-04-22T20:14:40","slug":"smurf-this","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/smurf-this\/","title":{"rendered":"Smurf this!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Smurf\"<\/a>Casinos in Ohio<\/strong> are already becoming a veritable laundromat of money laundering. The practice, called “smurfing,” calls for one person — or a group of conspirators — to buy casino chips, then redeem them, “washing” their cash by those means. Ohio lawmakers are trying to crack down on the practice<\/a>, at the behest of regulators. They’d be the first to do so. But the process is hung up on a difference of philosophy. The state Senate has already passed the law but its House equivalent is hamstrung by a well-meant amendment introduced in the upper house by state Sen. Larry Obhof<\/strong> (R). It would further shrink the loopholes whereby Internet<\/strong> cafes function as de facto<\/em> casinos, limiting their revenue from sweepstakes games to 5% or less. The House GOP, however, favors a clean bill, so the future of smurfing hinges on their ability to get one.<\/p>\n

MGM Resorts International<\/strong> has solved the problem of what to do with its north-Strip acre on the corner of Sahara Avenue<\/strong>. The land will become the site of a 33-acre concert venue that can host 80,000. It will be the North American home of biennial Rock in Rio<\/strong>, a festival that draws the top names in pop<\/a>. In order to host it, MGM will have to build a “City of Rock” which, despite encompassing five stages<\/a>, will cost only $40 million. Some parts will be permanent, others will be erected and torn down before and after each festival. Cirque du Soleil<\/strong> (matchmaker in the deal) has also bought into the project as a provider of infrastructure, a step toward MGM’s vision of having a facility that’s in use more often than once every 24 months. MGM’s already talking about boxing matchings and Major League Soccer<\/strong>. Although the first local Rock in Rio won’t be until next year, tickets are already on sale<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to help Circus Circus<\/strong>, it\u2019s going to help that whole end of the Strip, because it\u2019s had a couple of tough years as we all know,\u201d said MGM President Bill Hornbuckle<\/strong>, showing a genius for understatement. As for those of us who undersold the likelihood and effect of SLS Las Vegas<\/strong>, we may have some crow to eat. First, Resorts World Las Vegas<\/strong> … and now this. It does seem that by committing to redevelop on the north end of the Strip, Sam Nazarian<\/strong> gave courage for other, bigger companies to follow suit.<\/p>\n

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Although it’s \u00a0officially<\/strong> supposed to close on July 1, Argosy Sioux City<\/strong> is likely to enjoy a stay of execution<\/a>. The revocation of its license (explained by Iowa Racing & Gaming Commission<\/strong> Chairman Jeff Lamberti<\/strong>, above) is subject to judicial review, starting Sept. 26. Legal experts consider it pretty much a fait accompli that Argosy will be reprieved at least until the issue has been litigated. I. Nelson Rose<\/strong>, who knows a thing or two about this, calls the probability “overwhelming.\u00a0Imagine what would happen if the trial results show they shouldn’t have taken the license? What happens to all those people who have been thrown out of work for six months?”<\/p>\n

Gaming-law expert Robert Jarvis<\/strong> also notes that the market benefits from keeping Argosy in operation because to close it would potentially deprive Sioux City<\/strong> citizens of any gambling in their town, depending on how quickly the Hard Rock Casino<\/strong> comes along. “Jarvis said he thinks Penn will ultimately lose its appeal because it did not have a licensed nonprofit, known officially as a qualified sponsoring organization, or QSO.” However, he thinks the courts will want the case to play out, rather than sending Argosy permanently downriver, as it were.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Casinos in Ohio are already becoming a veritable laundromat of money laundering. The practice, called “smurfing,” calls for one person — or a group of conspirators — to buy casino chips, then redeem them, “washing” their cash by those means. … 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":[80,4,37,86,11,71,69,25,162,74,9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13363"}],"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=13363"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13363\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13369,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13363\/revisions\/13369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}