{"id":19787,"date":"2017-05-31T09:27:26","date_gmt":"2017-05-31T17:27:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=19787"},"modified":"2022-08-15T06:59:32","modified_gmt":"2022-08-15T14:59:32","slug":"hard-rock-ups-atlantic-city-commitment-japan-inspires-casino-designers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/hard-rock-ups-atlantic-city-commitment-japan-inspires-casino-designers\/","title":{"rendered":"Hard Rock ups Atlantic City commitment; Japan inspires casino designers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Compared to Carl Icahn<\/strong>‘s half-a-loaf policies, Hard Rock International<\/strong> CEO Jim Allen is Lady Bountiful<\/strong>, at least as concerns [Trump<\/strong>] Taj Mahal<\/strong>. We put The Donald’s name in brackets because it’s one of the \"\"first things to go, to be followed by all traces of his stylistic influence. “The amount of money we’re going to have to spend to remove all those minarets and all that purple. Jesus! What were we thinking,” Allen\u00a0queried rhetorically. He\u00a0means business, too: He’s just upped his already-generous $350 million reinvestment to a cool half-billion dollars. Glenn Straub<\/strong> talks a good game over at Revel<\/strong> but Allen is putting his money where his mouth is<\/a>. For instance, he’s promised a pact with Unite-Here<\/strong> and the latter must have liked what it heard, as President Robert McDevitt<\/strong> is never shy about expressing displeasure. (Allen can hardly plead Icahn-style poverty when $500 million is going into the Taj.)<\/p>\n

“It does us no good to put some guitars on the wall and new carpets, and say, ‘I can take 5 or 10 percent of the business from Resorts or Harrah’s.” Actually, 10% of Resorts Atlantic City<\/strong> is still chump change. Ten percent of Harrah’s Resort<\/strong> would be a good start, though. And the Hard Rock brand brings something strikingly new to the Atlantic City<\/strong> market. (Revisionist historians can have a field day speculating what would have happened had Trump not walked out of a rebranding of Trump’s Castle<\/strong> as a Hard Rock literally the night before it was to have been announced.) Normally we’d have trepidation about such a big investment but we think Allen is onto something.<\/p>\n

* If you’re an ex-con in Massachusetts<\/strong>, you’ve got one strike against you. And if you want to work at MGM Springfield<\/strong>, you’ve got two strikes against you, maybe three, due to state regulations that forbid hiring reformed criminals. But the casino is charged with creating economic opportunity for the downtrodden, which is why it and Springfield<\/strong> Mayor Domenic Sarno<\/strong> are petitioning the Massachusetts Gaming Commission<\/strong> to loosen the rules so that ex-cons can work<\/a> in non-gaming positions.<\/p>\n

Casino President Michael Mathis<\/strong>\u00a0(below<\/em>) advocated “holding the owners, key executives and individuals involved in the gaming operation to a \"\"different standard than the warehouse manager, kitchen porter and bowling alley clerk,” while Sarno called for a fair and commonsense approach in ensuring that offenders of minor crimes can turn their lives around and develop a renewed sense of self-esteem through gainful, meaningful employment.” And unemployment in Springfield is well above state average. That’s one of the reasons the MGC, in its infinite wisdom, put a megaresort there. The Springfield City Council backed up Sarno’s position but the MGC was noncommittal, taking the issue under advisement.<\/p>\n

* The first proposal for a Japanese megaresort is in and it’s the handiwork not of Steve Wynn<\/strong> or Sheldon Adelson<\/strong> but of UNLV International Gaming Institute<\/strong> student Rebecca Ross<\/strong>, who pitched a 50-story hotel accessorized with Top Golf<\/strong> and a sumo-wrestling arena that seats 4,500. Professor Bo Bernhard<\/strong> said celebrity judges from the major casino companies said his students had come to the same conclusions that they had. Another project that got top marks — except perhaps from those with a fear of heights — was Nguyen Tran<\/strong>‘s proposal for a 180-story hotel with glass-floored elevators. Not for me, thanks. But impressive nonetheless.<\/p>\n