{"id":15333,"date":"2015-01-14T12:08:16","date_gmt":"2015-01-14T20:08:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=15333"},"modified":"2015-01-14T12:08:16","modified_gmt":"2015-01-14T20:08:16","slug":"new-day-at-the-aga-illinois-casinos-feel-the-slot-route-squeeze","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/new-day-at-the-aga-illinois-casinos-feel-the-slot-route-squeeze\/","title":{"rendered":"New day at the AGA; Illinois casinos feel the slot-route squeeze"},"content":{"rendered":"

For the first time, a Native American gaming enterprise has become part of the American Gaming Association<\/strong>, as Seminole Hard Rock Gaming<\/strong> has cracked what had been the \"Freeman\"<\/a>lobbyist equivalent of a whites-only country club. It’s part of an image makeover that includes a spiffy new headquarters<\/a> in Washington, D.C.<\/strong> that displays casino games, boasts a sports ticker and will soon install a poker table. As AGA President Geoff Freeman<\/strong> put it,\u00a0\u201cThe organization needs to be more transparent, more inclusive and more contemporary.\u201d (A bit of a poke at predecessor Frank J. Fahrenkopf<\/strong>‘s governing style.) Looking back on his days in the health-insurance industry, Freeman characterized his new gig as\u00a0\u201cvibrant, appealing and fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

Freeman is not only engaging in talks with other Native American tribes, his goal is for the AGA to eventually encompass all gaming interests in the United States<\/strong>.\u00a0He\u00a0tells the Las Vegas Review-Journal<\/em>\u00a0that while tribal gaming and the private sector were separate lobbying fiefdoms when so many of the issues they faced were the same. Having taken proactive stances on promulgating gambling’s economic benefits and the dangers of money laundering, next up for the AGA is the hotly contentious issue of sports betting. Freeman’s new recruits include some surprising absentees, including the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority<\/strong> and Greenwood Racing<\/strong>, owner of powerhouse Parx Casino<\/strong>. Now it remains to be seen if Native American casinos at large think their clout would strengthened or diluted by joining forces with Freeman.<\/p>\n

* Slot routes continue to feed on\u00a0Illinois<\/strong> casinos like vampires. Casino in point: East St. Louis<\/strong>‘ Casino Queen<\/strong>, which just let 20 employees go. That may not seem like much but the casino’s workforce has shrunk by 50% over the last seven years<\/a>. It’s also cut back on \"Illinois\"<\/a>hours of operation and may go further with that. Slot receipts were down 13% last year. It’s not just Casino Queen. Argosy Casino Alton<\/strong> saw slot revenue fall 8% and table revenue plummet 13%.\u00a0\u201cThey have put a video gaming machine in every bar and restaurant and VFW<\/strong> hall with a liquor license, and the dilution rate is showing,\u201dcomplained Casino Queen President Jeff Watson<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

As one slot route patron put it,\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s just handier.\u00a0You can just come in and sit down and play. I just think the convenience is the big thing.\u201d Not having to cope with East St. Louis traffic was also cited as an attraction. According to\u00a0Illinois Casino Gaming Association<\/strong> Executive Director Tom Swoik<\/strong>, slot routes are compounding the 15% hit that Illinois casino revenues took when the state’s smoking ban went into effect.\u00a0Illinois Gaming Machine Operators Association<\/strong> President Michael Gelatka tried to paint a smiley face on the phenomenon, saying,\u00a0\u201cI think that there are additional players that you\u2019re getting who would have otherwise gone to casinos in Missouri<\/strong> who have begin to play back in Illinois.\u201d<\/p>\n

Good captain Watson may complain that\u00a0\u201cWe are by far the most saturated gaming area in the country.\u00a0Adding more gaming spots in here keeps cutting a pie that already has been cut into many pieces and fewer slices.” However, it’s unlikely his pleas will be heard in Springfield<\/strong>, where legislators continue to lust for more casinos and for racinos, imaging the Land of Lincoln’s gaming market is a well that will never run dry.<\/p>\n

* Alabama<\/strong> Attorney General Luther Strange<\/strong> continues his jihad<\/em> against the\u00a0Poarch Band of Creek Indians<\/strong>. He’s taken it to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals<\/strong>, in Atlanta<\/strong>. Strange claims the gaming devices on the Poarch Band’s reservations are slot machines, while the tribe says they are Class II devices (putting them out of the state’s regulatory reach<\/a>). Strange has already lost at the district-court level and, if prevailing interpretations of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act<\/strong> continue to stand, he’s likely to lose again. Electronic bingo is wildly popular with Alabamans, but the state government thinks it knows what’s best for the electorate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For the first time, a Native American gaming enterprise has become part of the American Gaming Association, as Seminole Hard Rock Gaming has cracked what had been the lobbyist equivalent of a whites-only country club. It’s part of an image … 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":[135,14,174,172,165,58,75,39,69,92,20],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15333"}],"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=15333"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15333\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15334,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15333\/revisions\/15334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}