{"id":17057,"date":"2015-10-23T13:48:20","date_gmt":"2015-10-23T21:48:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=17057"},"modified":"2021-06-14T05:23:59","modified_gmt":"2021-06-14T13:23:59","slug":"texas-lottery-gives-guv-grief-the-incredible-shrinking-casino","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/texas-lottery-gives-guv-grief-the-incredible-shrinking-casino\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas lottery gives guv Grief; The Incredible Shrinking Casino"},"content":{"rendered":"

Those cowpokes who run the Texas Lottery Commission<\/strong> have gotten a bit off the ranch. Of a\u00a0proverbial fact-finding mission<\/a> to the Delaware<\/strong> lottery, Executive Director Gary Grief<\/strong> said, \u201cWe were \"Abbott\"<\/a>particularly interested to learn about your sports betting, Internet<\/strong> wagering and casino games … that I know will be very helpful as our state begins to consider other forms of lottery games in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Such consideration came as fresh and unpleasant news to Gov. Greg Abbott<\/strong>\u00a0(right<\/em>) and to Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick<\/strong>, who said,\u00a0\u201cI expect the Lottery Commission to leave it to the\u00a0Legislature before expanding.\u201d The commission, backpedaling a bit, issued a statement that it was “always considering new games,” specifically of the draw and scratch variety. However, that doesn’t seem to have mollified Abbott, whose spokesman said the guv\u00a0\u201csupports current state law and does not support the expansion of gambling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Undoubtedly to the chagrin of companies like Penn National Gaming<\/strong> (which owns tracks in Texas), the Lone Star State has obdurately resisted anything that smacks remotely of casino gambling. The unilateral approval of ‘historical racing’ at Texas tracks precipitated a crisis<\/a> and that’s the soft underbelly of gambling resistance in any state. As juicy a prize as it represents, Texas is as off-limits to casinos as ever, especially with groups like the\u00a0Christian Life Commission<\/strong> on the alert.<\/p>\n

* Add the Massachusetts Gaming Commission<\/strong> to the steadily growing number of regulatory bodies and attorneys general that are investigating daily fantasy sports. The MGC’s weighing of DFS runs parallel with the consumer-protection inquiry launched by Attorney General Maura Healey<\/strong>, who called Nevada<\/strong> Attorney General Adam Laxalt<\/strong>‘s mandate that DFS sites get state gaming licenses “a reasonable suggestion and approach,” hinting that something similar might happen in the Bay State.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere in Massachusetts, MGM Springfield<\/strong> has become The Incredible Shrinking Casino. MGM wants to shave another 122,000 \"Michael<\/a>square feet off the project, much to the surprise and consternation of local officials. Even normally supportive Mayor Domenic Sarno<\/strong> called the move “incomprehensible.” Sarno and MGM Springfield President Michael Mathis<\/strong>\u00a0(left<\/em>) held dueling press conferences, with Mathis responding that 90% of the cutbacks would happen in back-of-house areas. (The bowling alley and movie theaters would also be downsized.) I’m not sure that will allay Sarno’s concern about the loss of job associated with the project.<\/p>\n

Minimizing the changes as “the tweaks that come with the design process,” Mathis said the casino was still “the largest \"MGM<\/a>private\u00a0economic development project in this region, a billion dollars of payments over four years to the city of Springfield<\/strong>, 3,000 jobs, 2,000 construction jobs and a world-class resort. That’s all still on the table.” Yes, except that MGM has over-promised and under-delivered up to this point, with two rounds of project cutbacks (including 387 fewer parking spaces), plus suddenly haring off in pursuit of a casino in Bridgeport<\/strong>, Connecticut<\/strong>. Springfield officials could be forgiven for feeling like so many brides left at the altar.<\/p>\n

* While U.S. lawmakers like Sen. Lindsey Graham<\/strong> (R) try to wish Internet gambling out of existence, Switzerland<\/strong> is pondering a more progressive approach. A multifaceted bill before the Swiss parliament would permit the country’s 21 casinos to set up online wagering sites. The Swiss Federation of Casinos<\/strong> is grumbling a bit, however, since the bill would take effect in 2019, “far too late.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Those cowpokes who run the Texas Lottery Commission have gotten a bit off the ranch. Of a\u00a0proverbial fact-finding mission to the Delaware lottery, Executive Director Gary Grief said, \u201cWe were particularly interested to learn about your sports betting, Internet wagering … 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":[164,67,22,37,112,11,69,111,25,114],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17057"}],"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=17057"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17057\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29701,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17057\/revisions\/29701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}