{"id":17888,"date":"2016-03-09T12:42:21","date_gmt":"2016-03-09T20:42:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=17888"},"modified":"2016-03-09T12:42:21","modified_gmt":"2016-03-09T20:42:21","slug":"galaxy-thinks-big-hoping-against-hope-in-illinois","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/galaxy-thinks-big-hoping-against-hope-in-illinois\/","title":{"rendered":"Galaxy thinks big; Hoping against hope in Illinois"},"content":{"rendered":"

Feeling the pressure to diversify the market appeal of his casino resorts, Galaxy Entertainment<\/strong> CEO Lui Che-Woo<\/strong> is talking vaguely about a theme park, “something special and high-tech,” similar to the movie Avatar<\/em>. Note that James Cameron<\/strong> isn’t<\/p>\n

\"Galaxyexplicitly involved in this (as he was in a rejected Caesars Entertainment<\/strong> proposal for Singapore<\/strong>), so Che-Woo may merely be throwing ideas against the wall to see what sticks. Whatever the case, this cutting-edge amusement park would be part of the $11 billion buildout<\/a> of Galaxy Macau<\/strong>, a two-phase project with an unspecified timeline … which is probably a good thing, considering all the uncertainty surrounding Macao<\/strong>. Galaxy would also build non-gaming attractions, like a water park, on adjacent Hengqin Island<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheme parks are a great idea and Macao is desperate for more non-gaming attractions.\u00a0These investments are in line with government demands so this will further strengthen relations and reduce the risk of the license not being renewed,\u201d CLSA Ltd<\/strong>. analyst Aaron Fischer<\/strong> told Bloomberg News<\/em>, noting that theme parks are a low-ROI proposition and Galaxy should concentrate on pursuing the convention business instead. After all, Che-Woo is a favorite son but Beijing<\/strong> might not look as favorably at seeing so much revenue going overseas, and into the coffers of ‘capitalist running dogs’ Steve Wynn<\/strong> and Sheldon Adelson<\/strong>, might it?<\/p>\n

* Illinois<\/strong> legislators seem to have forgotten about expanding the number of casinos in their state but don’t tell that to Cynde Bunch<\/strong>. In a moment of Panglossian optimism, Bunch said that getting a casino for what’s currently Walker’s Bluff<\/strong> winery is but “such a small portion of the entire project \u2026 it is so minuscule, but it is the key to get the folks to come.\u201d She’s even using the specter of a phantom casino<\/a> in Paducah<\/strong>, Kentucky<\/strong> (which came as news to the local government) to gin up political support. Even if the Paducah casino were something more than hot air, Kentucky legislators are extraordinarily reluctant to approve casino gambling in the Bluegrass State.<\/p>\n

Bunch promises to plow $178 million into converting Walker’s Bluff into a destination resort\u00a0with a “300-room hotel, a multi-purpose convention, conference and entertainment center, four new restaurants, spa facilities, an indoor water park and a casino.” Bunch is getting less-than-overwhelming support from local lawmakers.\u00a0\u201cI don\u2019t think gambling should be the No. 1 issue to balance a budget,\u201d said state Sen. Gary Forby<\/strong> (D) and state Rep. John Bradley<\/strong> (D) reiterated his opposition to expanded gambling, saying that\u00a0\u201cI will continue to do what I can within the parameters of my principles.\u201d In other words, don’t bet on Walker’s Bluff.<\/p>\n

* The Las Vegas Review-Journal<\/em> seems to have had no Plan B for what to do if the overworked Howard Stutz<\/strong> were to leave for greener pastures, as he did last week, taking a position with law firm Greenberg Traurig<\/strong> (former law firm of Jack Abramoff<\/strong>). So now Sheldon Adelson’s newspaper has a gaping hole where coverage of Sin City’s primary industry ought to be.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Feeling the pressure to diversify the market appeal of his casino resorts, Galaxy Entertainment CEO Lui Che-Woo is talking vaguely about a theme park, “something special and high-tech,” similar to the movie Avatar. Note that James Cameron isn’t explicitly involved … 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":[4,201,58,116,62,33,12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17888"}],"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=17888"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17888\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17889,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17888\/revisions\/17889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}