{"id":13697,"date":"2014-06-02T10:49:40","date_gmt":"2014-06-02T18:49:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=13697"},"modified":"2014-06-02T10:53:05","modified_gmt":"2014-06-02T18:53:05","slug":"casinos-battle-an-ebb-tibe-loveman-rebuffed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/casinos-battle-an-ebb-tibe-loveman-rebuffed\/","title":{"rendered":"Casinos battle an ebb tide; Loveman rebuffed"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"HarrahsTunicaExterior\"<\/a>Today marks the date that the casino industry officially became too large for the country to support<\/a>, symbolized by the closing of Harrah’s Tunica<\/strong>.\u00a0\u201cThere\u2019s gambling everywhere.\u00a0If you just want to gamble, you don\u2019t have to go very far to do it.\u201d So said Mississippi Gaming Commission<\/strong> Executive Director Allen Godfrey<\/strong>, perhaps with a touch of rue. In five years, April revenues in Tunica<\/strong> have fallen 29%.<\/p>\n

At least Caesars Entertainment<\/strong> has been able to cushion the immediate blow by placing 350 employees at other properties, although that still leaves 900 at loose ends. For instance, 66-year-old worker Jimmy Adams<\/strong> offered this heartbreaking plaint:\u00a0\u201cI don\u2019t have anywhere else to go.\u00a0Nobody\u2019s going to hire me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Little did we know that Harrah’s Tunica had been for sale for four years and no takers could be found. As for the surviving casinos, tax relief has been mooted. But, cowed by the Religious Right, Gov. Phil Bryant<\/strong> (R), is turning a deaf ear to gambling’s struggles. As for Caesars, it has chosen a heckuva time to pursue a big national expansion (in keeping with CEO Gary Loveman<\/strong>‘s vision of a casino on every corner). It’s pushing against an adverse economy and the economy is pushing right back.<\/p>\n

* Speaking of crazy overexpansion, Illinois<\/strong> state Rep. Robert Rita<\/strong>‘s gambling-expansion bill had too many moving parts<\/a> to succeed in generating a consensus. Neither of the two key players — Gov. Pat Quinn<\/strong> (D) or Chicago<\/strong> Mayor Rahm Emanuel<\/strong> (D) were on board with the legislation, nor were several smaller but equally vexatious interest groups<\/a>. Look for Rita to attempt an autumn comeback.<\/p>\n

* Caesars Entertainment’s preposterous lawsuit against Massachusetts Gaming Commission<\/strong> Chairman Stephen Crosby<\/strong> got smacked down in federal court<\/a>. Caesars, of course, intends to appeal. We’re still not convinced that Crosby can even tie his shoes but the lawsuit\u00a0was an outburst of Lovemanesque pique.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Were Crosby actually\u00a0conniving against Caesars and in favor of Wynn Resorts<\/strong>,\u00a0\u201cSuch actions would shock the conscience as truly outrageous and \"Crosby\"<\/a>thus constitute a violation of substantive due process<\/em>,\u201d wrote\u00a0District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton<\/strong>.\u00a0\u201cCaesars can only reach that negative conclusion, however, by assuming a series of improbable inferences, themselves resting on the shaky foundation of a number of naked assertions.\u00a0Stripped of its sensational accusations of Crosby\u2019s nefarious motive, assertions the court does not assume to be true at this juncture, plaintiff has simply alleged a violation of procedural due process that the court considers a close call. Courts must accept well-pled facts as true but need not indulge in improbable conspiracy theories<\/em>.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
The judicial affront drew a personal response from Loveman, who wrote,\u00a0\u201cCaesars and the citizens of the Commonwealth deserve to know the truth about the conduct of the leader of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, whose subsequent recusal from the selection process has further impeded implementation of the 2011 Expanded Gaming Act<\/strong><\/em>,\u201d sounding like a 9\/11 ‘truther’ in full cry<\/a>.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\"Loveman<\/a>In a separate statement, Caesars gave a strong indication of the tack it will take in the appeals process:\u00a0\u201cThroughout his ruling, Judge Gorton acknowledges the merits of the claims made by Caesars in its lawsuit.\u00a0The opinion states that the court is \u2018disturbed by Crosby\u2019s failure to avoid the appearance of impropriety and convinced that public trust in the casino licensing process has suffered as a result.\u2019\u00a0The ruling further acknowledges Crosby\u2019s \u2018ethical lapses.\u2019 The company emphatically disagrees with the court\u2019s assertion that it is not empowered to rule on these \u2018lapses.\u2019<\/em> \u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Bottom line<\/strong>: Loveman was dealt a public humiliation in front of the home-town crowd. He’s not going to let go of this until he’s gone to the highest court in the land.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today marks the date that the casino industry officially became too large for the country to support, symbolized by the closing of Harrah’s Tunica.\u00a0\u201cThere\u2019s gambling everywhere.\u00a0If you just want to gamble, you don\u2019t have to go very far to do … 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":[14,7,58,112,35,33,25],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13697"}],"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=13697"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13697\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13699,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13697\/revisions\/13699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}