{"id":13625,"date":"2014-05-20T11:22:55","date_gmt":"2014-05-20T19:22:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=13625"},"modified":"2019-05-28T09:15:41","modified_gmt":"2019-05-28T17:15:41","slug":"after-adelson-what-then-hope-in-springfield","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/after-adelson-what-then-hope-in-springfield\/","title":{"rendered":"After Adelson … what then?; Hope in Springfield"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Sheldon<\/a>One of the issues that has buzzed around Las Vegas Sands<\/strong> like a shoo-fly is the lack of a line of succession. President\/COO Michael Leven<\/strong> was superannuated when he took the job at, at age 76, isn’t getting younger. According to the Wall Street Journal<\/em>, CEO Sheldon Adelson<\/strong> is contemplating a magnanimous gesture: To attract a quality replacement for Leven, he might cede his own CEO title<\/a>. That would still leave him chairmanship of the board … hardly out of the picture, especially since he controls most of the company’s stock. (A post-Adelson Sands is difficult to envision.) Sands spokesman Ron Reese<\/strong>, however, was quick to shoot the WSJ<\/em> report down. But\u00a0it’s an intriguing scenario to contemplate. Leven, however, was plucked from relative obscurity, running an aquarium, so a high-profile successor might be anathema to Adelson, whose worldview is decidedly Sheldon-centric.<\/p>\n

“An urban tumbleweed”<\/strong> in the form of stray bubble wrap is emblematic of the plight of downtown Springfield<\/strong>, Massachusetts<\/strong>. Locals avoid the area
\nlike the plague after nightfall and the city is counting on MGM Springfield<\/strong> to change that, effecting a massive urban transformation. Warns\u00a0Paul DeBole<\/strong>, assistant professor of political science at Lasell College<\/strong>,\u00a0\u201cThere are just not a lot of examples out there of this working.\u00a0I couldn\u2019t find one to save my life.\u201d For instance, in Detroit<\/strong> there is no “trickle-down” effect to be seen. When I was there, the casinos were strongholds unto themselves. Says Ohio University<\/strong>‘s Alan Silver<\/strong>,\u00a0\u201cPeople who go there don\u2019t want to stay downtown. They go to a casino, they gamble, and they leave. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s been an adrenaline shot to that area.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"MGM<\/a>MGM’s counter-plan is to turn its casino inside out, with the restaurants and other amenities opening onto the streets. (Much as is being done with New York-New York<\/strong> and Monte Carlo<\/strong> on the Strip.) Casino opponents to the contrary, what MGM will build has to be counted an improvement on parking lots and tornado-damaged buildings, the current occupants of the area. Gambling aside, what’s not to like about “a hotel, cinema, skating rink, bowling alley, spa, parking garage, and 54 market-rate downtown apartments.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Mayor Dominic Sarno<\/strong> credits MGM with raising Springfield’s profile to the point where it is courting manufacturers like\u00a0Changchun Railway Vehicles Co<\/strong>. In other words, Springfield is more than just a town on The Simpsons<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Throwing a bone<\/strong> to New Jersey<\/strong>‘s racetracks, state Sen. Raymond Lesniak<\/strong> (D, below<\/em>) is proposing legalized sports betting for them and for the state’s casinos. He’s bearding the Supreme Court<\/strong> in its den, betting it will either overturn the federal sports-wagering ban or return it to the appeals court. So far the state is 0-for-2 in the federal court system.<\/p>\n

\"senlesniak\"<\/a>\u201cRight now, book your hotel room [in Atlantic City<\/strong>] for the Super Bowl next year and the NCAA Final Four, because you won\u2019t be able to get one,\u201d says a cocky-sounding Lesniak. “I have legislation being drafted, and that will be introduced, to allow casinos and racetracks to have sports betting on our premises. We just won\u2019t be able to regulate it. We pushed the envelope with internet gaming, and we will push the envelope on sports betting. And we are not going to be deterred.\u201d (His colleagues, meanwhile, continue to pine for a Meadowlands<\/strong> casino, taxed at usurious rates<\/a>.)<\/span><\/p>\n

Borgata<\/strong> President Tom Ballance<\/strong>, meanwhile, had some choice words for the slow ramp-up of Internet<\/strong> gambling in the Garden State, saying it was\u00a0\u201clike trying to paint an airplane while it\u2019s flying.\u201d After all, American Express<\/strong> and Discover<\/strong> won’t take your action<\/a>, Visa<\/strong> approves 44% of online-gambling transactions, while MasterCard<\/strong> is relatively “george,” processing 73%.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the issues that has buzzed around Las Vegas Sands like a shoo-fly is the lack of a line of succession. President\/COO Michael Leven was superannuated when he took the job at, at age 76, isn’t getting younger. According … 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":[65,23,44,37,112,12,74,9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13625"}],"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=13625"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13625\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24228,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13625\/revisions\/24228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}