{"id":20366,"date":"2017-10-18T05:32:09","date_gmt":"2017-10-18T13:32:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=20366"},"modified":"2019-11-21T07:20:11","modified_gmt":"2019-11-21T15:20:11","slug":"freeman-goes-native-mgm-hits-a-three-pointer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/freeman-goes-native-mgm-hits-a-three-pointer\/","title":{"rendered":"Freeman goes native; MGM hits a three-pointer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>American Gaming Association<\/strong> President <strong>Geoff Freeman<\/strong> was in <strong>Oklahoma City<\/strong> yesterday to talk up <a href=\"https:\/\/www.americangaming.org\/sites\/default\/files\/The%20Economic%20Impact%20of%20Tribal%20Gaming.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" class=\"broken_link\">the economic benefits<\/a> of Native American gaming. While one might be <img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-14320\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/Freeman.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"160\" height=\"240\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/Freeman.jpg 160w, https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/Freeman-100x150.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 160px) 100vw, 160px\" \/>tempted to say they speak for themselves, the AGA rolled out some pretty powerful numbers. For instance, tribal casinos generate over $33 billion in wagers and $96.5 billion in economic impact. The leading states in terms of tribally derived revenue (taxes and other subsidies) were <strong>California<\/strong> ($3 billion), <strong>Oklahoma<\/strong> ($2 billion), dark-horse contender\u00a0<strong>Washington State<\/strong> ($1.2 billion), <strong>Florida<\/strong> ($1 billion) and <strong>Connecticut<\/strong> ($828 million) &#8212; so you can see why the latter is so hellbent on protecting <strong>Foxwoods Resort Casino<\/strong> and <strong>Mohegan Sun<\/strong> from <strong>MGM Springfield<\/strong>. Last place went to <strong>Alaska<\/strong>, with a puny tax haul of $442,310. We&#8217;d suggest to the government up there that it ought to get down with this tribal-gaming thing.<\/p>\n<p>Concluded the report,\u00a0\u201cSince the passage of the <strong>Indian Gaming Regulatory Act<\/strong> (IGRA) in 1988, tribal gaming has grown <!--more-->300-fold from a $121 million segment of the U.S. gaming industry, consisting of small bingo halls and gaming facilities, to a $30 billion plus segment in 28 states.\u201d Well done, ladies and gentlemen.<\/p>\n<p>* When your city has become synonymous with domestic terrorism, it&#8217;s no longer time for &#8220;What Happens Here, Stays Here,&#8221; which takes on a macabre ring in the wake of <strong>Stephen Paddock<\/strong>&#8216;s shooting spree. Expect to see a lot of <strong>#VegasStrong<\/strong> instead. Already a heavy merchandising campaign has sprung up around the new slogan. (If the proceeds aren&#8217;t going to charity something is very wrong.)<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/W6kF4edoRGU\" width=\"450\" height=\"253\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>As the <em>New York Post<\/em> observes, #VegasStrong has effectively kicked <strong>MGM Resorts International<\/strong>&#8216;s\u00a0\u201cWe are not in the hotel business. We are in .\u2009.\u2009. the holy s\u2009-\u2009-\u2009t business\u201d to the curb. I&#8217;ll bet there were a lot of people around <strong>Mandalay Bay<\/strong> saying &#8220;Holy shit!&#8221; but not in the way MGM intended. The <strong>Las Vegas Convention &amp; Visitors Authority<\/strong> <a href=\"http:\/\/nypost.com\/2017\/10\/17\/las-vegas-tourism-ads-shift-tone-in-wake-of-tragedy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">is using every imaginable platform of social media<\/a> to amplify the message, which is playing to what the <em>Post<\/em> calls &#8220;mostly positive notice&#8221; among consumers. &#8220;What happens here &#8230;&#8221; had become such a clich\u00e9 that is was overdue for retirement anyway &#8212; although we wouldn&#8217;t put it past the LVCVA to dust it off at some future point.<\/p>\n<p>* While we&#8217;re on the subject of MGM, it <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reviewjournal.com\/sports\/basketball\/mgm-resorts-revealed-as-buyer-of-wnba-franchise-for-las-vegas\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">took a big step forward<\/a> in amplifying the tourist appeal of Sin City by abducting, er, purchasing the <strong>WNBA<\/strong>&#8216;s <strong>San Antonio Stars<\/strong> and relocating them to <strong>Mandalay Bay Event Center<\/strong>. While not as much of a coup as snatching the <strong>Oakland Raiders<\/strong> it gives the <strong>Las Vegas Strip<\/strong> a third major-league sport. \u201cThere is tremendous synergy between who we are and what the Las Vegas market <img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-20367\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/WNBA.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/WNBA.jpeg 225w, https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/WNBA-150x150.jpeg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/>offers, particularly in the hands of the MGM team. This is a match made in heaven between the MGM and the WNBA,\u201d said league President <strong>Lisa Borders<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Congratulations to MGM not only for making the deal but for keeping under wraps for what were described as &#8220;several months.&#8221; Why aren&#8217;t the Stars going to be playing in prestigious <strong>T-Mobile Arena<\/strong>? \u201cWe feel it\u2019s the absolute right size arena for the fans to have that intimate experience to come watch basketball,\u201d said Chief Experience &amp; Marketing Officer <strong>Lilian Tomovich<\/strong>. Translation: We don&#8217;t think women&#8217;s basketball is going to be as big a draw as hockey and don&#8217;t want to be embarrassed by acres of empty seats. Also, this not only keeps T-Mobile&#8217;s options open for <strong>NHL<\/strong> playoff games (well, somewhere down the line) or maybe even <strong>NBA<\/strong> ones, should a NBA team be lured to Vegas &#8230; and don&#8217;t think somebody isn&#8217;t trying.<\/p>\n<p>* Speaking of new ideas in marketing <strong>Las Vegas<\/strong>, somebody on the Strip really needs to recruit <strong>Grumpy Cat<\/strong> for a curmudgeonly endorsement as this hotel did. Given his high standards, Grumpy Cat would make a good spokescat for <strong>The Cromwell<\/strong> or, better yet, <strong>The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas<\/strong>, which has a good sense of humor about itself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>American Gaming Association President Geoff Freeman was in Oklahoma City yesterday to talk up the economic benefits of Native American gaming. While one might be tempted to say they speak for themselves, the AGA rolled out some pretty powerful numbers. &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/freeman-goes-native-mgm-hits-a-three-pointer\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20367,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[13,98,34,66,36,166,64,228,53,112,11,167,115,74,114,9,20,17],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20366"}],"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=20366"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20366\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25407,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20366\/revisions\/25407"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}