{"id":19208,"date":"2016-12-09T12:06:15","date_gmt":"2016-12-09T20:06:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=19208"},"modified":"2019-07-17T09:21:16","modified_gmt":"2019-07-17T17:21:16","slug":"what-the-lucky-dragon-means-national-harbor-lifts-all-boats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/what-the-lucky-dragon-means-national-harbor-lifts-all-boats\/","title":{"rendered":"What the Lucky Dragon means; National Harbor lifts all boats"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The good Dr. <b>David G. Schwartz<\/b> ponders the significance of <b>Lucky Dragon Casino<\/b> and begins with one salient milestone: &#8220;Lucky Dragon is the first genuinely new property to open in the <img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-18211\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Lucky-Dragon-Night-Market-300x225.png\" alt=\"Lucky Dragon Night Market\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Lucky-Dragon-Night-Market-300x225.png 300w, https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Lucky-Dragon-Night-Market-150x112.png 150w, https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Lucky-Dragon-Night-Market-768x575.png 768w, https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Lucky-Dragon-Night-Market.png 975w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>tourist corridor since <b>The Cosmopolitan<\/b> six years ago.&#8221; That&#8217;s quite a hiatus, all other &#8220;openings&#8221; being reboots of existing properties, like the attempt to masquerade <b>Imperial Palace<\/b> as <b>The Linq<\/b>. (I&#8217;ve stayed in <b>Red Roof Inns<\/b> that were nicer.) &#8220;Somebody thought they could make money building a new casino in <b>Las Vegas<\/b> and convinced enough people to make funding a reality.&#8221; Historically, its design &#8212; particularly of the gaming floor &#8212; is reminiscent of the golden era of the Strip, Schwartz says. But the Lucky Dragon&#8217;s significance may extend well beyond its newness and into the different kind of casino marketing it embodies, flouting much conventional wisdom in the process. It&#8217;s the first Strip casino conceived exclusively for Pacific Rim customers, both overseas and domestic.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Unlike most [if not all] of the Strip, the Lucky Dragon is going out of its way not to be all things to all people,&#8221; Schwartz writes. He chronicles several previous <!--more-->&#8220;mistakes&#8221; that turned out to be precursors of the next wave in Strip development. He even makes the heretical argument that the &#8220;big-tent&#8221; megaresort is pass\u00e9 in today&#8217;s economy: not good news for <b>Resorts World Las Vegas<\/b> and some of the other vaporware out there. Success in Las Vegas especially breeds imitators and we&#8217;ll all be looking forward, I suspect, to what the next narrow-cast casino property will be.<\/p>\n<p>* <b>MGM National Harbor<\/b> has only been open one day but it&#8217;s having a tremendous <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/local\/trafficandcommuting\/mgm-gets-final-state-clearance-to-open-casino-resort-in-prince-georges\/2016\/12\/07\/c79ec384-b6fd-11e6-959c-172c82123976_story.html?utm_term=.9b645be12e81&amp;wpisrc=nl_sb_smartbrief\" class=\"broken_link\">spillover<\/a> effect in <b>Maryland<\/b>. (It also sparked some opening-night fisticuffs.) For instance, <b>Tobar Construction<\/b>, one of the subcontractors, <img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-13411\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/MGM-National-Harbor-300x137.jpg\" alt=\"MGM National Harbor\" width=\"300\" height=\"137\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/MGM-National-Harbor-300x137.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/MGM-National-Harbor-150x68.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/MGM-National-Harbor.jpg 606w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>had to increase its workforce by nearly 100%. Benchmarks for minority contracting were well-exceeded (164 firms hired) and the company has also reached out to the developmentally disabled workforce of <b>Melwood<\/b>, which services the conservatory. Factor in National Harbor&#8217;s 4,000-strong staff and have you an inspiring tale of a casino development growing the community around it. The casino didn&#8217;t get its operational license until the very last minute, after regulators <a href=\"http:\/\/wtop.com\/money\/2016\/12\/mgm-national-harbor-gets-final-casino-ok-with-license-signing\/\">tested<\/a> its 3,321 slots and 165 table games. Let the action flow.<\/p>\n<p>* It&#8217;s 10 states&#8217; attorneys general against <a href=\"http:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/tech\/2016\/12\/07\/nevada-congresswoman-urges-trump-to-oppose-call-for-online-gambling-ban.html\">one<\/a>: Peppery <b>Nevada<\/b> congresswoman <b>Dina Titus<\/b> (D) has waded into the debate over <b>Sheldon Adelson<\/b>&#8216;s pet project, <b>Restoring America&#8217;s <img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-14419\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/Titus.jpg\" alt=\"Titus\" width=\"194\" height=\"259\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/Titus.jpg 194w, https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/Titus-112x150.jpg 112w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 194px) 100vw, 194px\" \/>Wire Act<\/b>. The various and sundry AGs supported Adelson, citing problem gambling and that reliable bogeyman, terrorist money-laundering, as justifications. In a letter to veep-to-be <b>Mike Pence<\/b> (R), Titus accused the AGs of being guilty of &#8220;several inaccuracies and unfair allegations.&#8221; While some pundits give RAWA little chance, to paraphrase a great man, preemptive action in defense of liberty is no vice. As Titus wrote to <b>Donald Trump<\/b>, &#8220;I encourage you to carefully study this issue before making any decision that would infringe on states&#8217; rights or eliminate jobs in the gaming industry.&#8221; Meanwhile the <b>American Gaming Association<\/b> is all hot and heavy for the legalization of sports betting nationwide. However, a spokesman for <b>New Jersey<\/b>&#8216;s Rep. <b>Frank LoBiondo<\/b> (R) tells sports betting enthusiasts to chill out, saying that the incoming Trump administration&#8217;s &#8220;aggressive&#8221; legislative agenda makes sports betting a low-priority issue.<\/p>\n<p>* Now that gambling legalization has moved into a committee of the upper house of <b>Japan<\/b>&#8216;s parliament, that&#8217;s good news, right? Maybe not. The committee is chaired by a <img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-13708\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Shinzo-Abe.jpg\" alt=\"Shinzo Abe\" width=\"201\" height=\"251\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Shinzo-Abe.jpg 201w, https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Shinzo-Abe-120x150.jpg 120w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 201px) 100vw, 201px\" \/>member of the opposition Democratic Party, so some horse trading is <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ggrasia.com\/casino-bill-faces-higher-hurdles-in-upper-house-analysts\/\">predicted<\/a>, especially if the chairman in question is to be persuaded to do Prime Minister <b>Shinzo Abe<\/b> a solid. The good news is that Abe&#8217;s Liberal Democratic Party holds 11 of 20 committee seats plus a majority in the upper chamber. One&#8217;s rapture is modified by an investor note from <b>Morgan Stanley<\/b> which, while projecting the Japanese gaming market at $20 billion, opines, &#8220;returns for the operators may not be very high if they spend high capex (up to $US10 billion, according to MGM Resorts and <b>Las Vegas Sands<\/b>) and if Japan levies high revenue tax.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>* As it expands internationally, daily fantasy sports are projected to be a $5.3 billion industry by 2021. With that kind of money on the line, as it were, the casino industry needs to find a way in and soon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The good Dr. David G. Schwartz ponders the significance of Lucky Dragon Casino and begins with one salient milestone: &#8220;Lucky Dragon is the first genuinely new property to open in the tourist corridor since The Cosmopolitan six years ago.&#8221; That&#8217;s &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/what-the-lucky-dragon-means-national-harbor-lifts-all-boats\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11616,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[65,66,42,120,7,140,37,171,206,53,72,11,207,33,90,25,12,31,9,19,38],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19208"}],"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=19208"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19208\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24549,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19208\/revisions\/24549"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}