{"id":19543,"date":"2017-03-29T09:48:11","date_gmt":"2017-03-29T17:48:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=19543"},"modified":"2020-02-28T08:30:03","modified_gmt":"2020-02-28T16:30:03","slug":"raiders-prompt-magical-thinking-next-stop-yankton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/raiders-prompt-magical-thinking-next-stop-yankton\/","title":{"rendered":"Raiders prompt magical thinking; Next stop: Yankton?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Boxing promoter Bob Arum<\/strong> has drunk deeply of the NFL<\/strong>-in-Vegas Kool-Aid, telling the Wall Street Journal<\/em>, “Say \u00a0[the Raiders<\/strong>] play the Giants<\/strong>. It\u2019s going to bring 20,000 people coming from New York<\/strong> to watch the game, clutching fistfuls of money \u2026 it\u2019s going to \"\"be like eight New Year\u2019s Eves in town.\u201d Yeah, right. And holding the NBA All-Star Game<\/strong> in Las Vegas<\/strong> was a good idea. (That’s a mistake unlikely to be repeated<\/a>.) Las Vegan Brent Musberger<\/strong> seems to have a firmer grasp on reality<\/a>, saying, “In the long haul, you have to be able to market this team within the community,” something owner Mark Davis<\/strong> has done a poor job of. In Musberger’s view, the NFL’s concerns about gambling are exaggerated and the league benefits from sports betting: \u201cThe NFL would not be as big as it is today without people taking a chance on their games.\u201d<\/p>\n

Commissioner Roger Goodell<\/strong> continues to wrap himself in the mantle of sanctimony, proclaiming, \u201cWe\u2019re not changing our position as it relates to legalized sports gambling.\u00a0We still don\u2019t think it\u2019s a positive thing.\u201d Yeah, that must be why Goodell is so eager to establish footholds in Great Britain<\/strong> and other countries where sports betting is not only legal but rampant. We know who’s fooling who here. Not Westgate Las Vegas<\/strong> Sportsbook Director Jay Kornegay<\/strong>, who anticipates a betting bonanza<\/a>, saying,\u00a0\u201cWe did see Raider Nation in full force this past year. They were so good. We do expect that extra spike with the Raiders now that they\u2019re our team. A lot of people around here are very excited.\u201d<\/p>\n

* Frank Fantini<\/strong> has some interesting prognostications<\/a> about the steeplechase to get a casino concession in Japan<\/strong>. Not least of these are that Las Vegas Sands<\/strong> may be a long shot and that Boyd Gaming<\/strong> could be a dark-horse\u00a0contender. Also, smaller cities, tired of them that has gets (and badly in need of economic stimulus), might make a big noise to be considered ahead of Osaka<\/strong> and Yokohama<\/strong>, the presumed front-runner sites.<\/p>\n

* When the gambling bug bites you in South Dakota<\/strong>, your options may soon extend beyond Deadwood<\/strong>. Politicians in Yankton<\/strong> want to create\u00a0a casino<\/a> that would tie the downtown area in with the waterfront. \"\"Boosters are looking beyond Deadwood, though, as their competition. \u201cI think the challenge is we need to compete with Omaha<\/strong>, Lincoln<\/strong> and Minneapolis<\/strong>,\u201d said state Sen. Bernie Hunhoff<\/strong>. Casino companies need not apply for the $35 million-$50 million Gurney Building<\/strong> concession. The larger scheme is to place the “entertainment center” in the hands of a nonprofit, whose gaming proceeds would be rolled into quality-of-life improvements for Yankton. That’s a nice plan but it has to be approved by South Dakota voters first, so Yankton is still a ways from counting the money.<\/p>\n

* Leapfrogging the Pacific Ocean<\/strong>, skill-based-slots developer GameCo<\/strong> is opening an office in Macao<\/strong>. Given the relative immaturity of the Macanese market, it’s slightly surprising that it already needs a SBS rejuvenation. Casino operators over there have expressed interest in the product<\/a>, though none have publicly committed as yet. You have to hand it to GameCo CEO Blaine Graboyes<\/strong>: He doesn’t let any grass grow under his feet.<\/p>\n

* The tortured relationship between the Seminole Tribe<\/strong> and Florida<\/strong>‘s government took another twist this week, although the tribe and the Lege seem to be on the same page: against the judiciary branch. A Leon County<\/strong> judge ruled that gray-market machines that resemble slots were permissible<\/a>. Judge John Cooper<\/strong> held that because of a preview feature on the machines that showed the game outcome beforehand, the machines weren’t slots as \u201cskill is not utilized in the game because there is nothing a player can do to change the outcome.\u201d<\/p>\n

Florida’s Department of Business &\u00a0Professional Regulation<\/strong> has been trying to crack down on the machines, made by Blue Sky Version 67<\/strong> and distributed by Gator Coin II<\/strong>. Thanks to Cooper’s ruling, say the Seminoles, \u201cthousands of additional games are likely \"\"to be added in the near future.\u201d While the two houses of the Legislature grapple with wildly varying version of gaming reform, the Seminoles want them to explicitly outlaw the devices. They\u00a0may not need to do much persuasion. Tribal liaison and state Rep. Jose Felix Diaz<\/strong>\u00a0(R) said, “This is definitely a game-changer. It puts us now in a position where we have to fix it or we\u2019ll be left with a whole lot less money in our budget.\u201d Indeed. If the Seminole compact is abrogated, Florida has to find $250 million right quick.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Boxing promoter Bob Arum has drunk deeply of the NFL-in-Vegas Kool-Aid, telling the Wall Street Journal, “Say \u00a0[the Raiders] play the Giants. It\u2019s going to bring 20,000 people coming from New York to watch the game, clutching fistfuls of money … 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":[60,36,171,189,62,200,12,182,74,8,19,184],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19543"}],"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=19543"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19543\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26222,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19543\/revisions\/26222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}