{"id":214,"date":"2008-01-17T15:20:00","date_gmt":"2008-01-17T19:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/blogs\/dmckee\/index.cfm\/2008\/1\/17\/Case-Bets"},"modified":"2022-07-29T06:02:04","modified_gmt":"2022-07-29T14:02:04","slug":"case-bets-caucuses-cosmo-cloverfield-coasters-etc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/case-bets-caucuses-cosmo-cloverfield-coasters-etc\/","title":{"rendered":"Case Bets: Caucuses, Cosmo, "Cloverfield" & Coasters, etc."},"content":{"rendered":"

You wanna make Bill Clinton<\/strong> lose his cool<\/strong><\/a>? Ask him about caucuses in casinos<\/strong><\/a>. Not a good moment<\/strong><\/a> for the ex-Prez. He can’t be happy about this<\/strong><\/a>, either.<\/p>\n

Now that the Culinary Union<\/strong> is enjoying a moment in the sun, thanks to its Obama endorsement, it’s getting a moment in a different kind of Sun<\/em>. Seems it may be overplaying <\/strong><\/a>its hand<\/strong>. All of this tit-for-tat nastiness might (just barely) redound to the benefit of my guy, John Edwards<\/strong>.\u00a0(And, yes, you get to taunt me if Edwards is crushed on Saturday.)<\/p>\n

BUT …<\/strong> if you enjoy online gambling<\/strong><\/a> (click about three screens down) you won’t want to vote for Edwards, who’s against it, full stop. Sen. Clinton<\/strong> holds the same position as the AGA, favoring a taxpayer-funded study. Sen. Obama<\/strong>, with typical pith, calls the ‘Net a “Wild West of illegal activity,” but not only supports the study but regulation, too.<\/p>\n

So I’d call Obama the most liberal on this issue (he plays poker, after all), Edwards the most conservative. (I like Obama’s health-care position the best, his education stance the least.)<\/p>\n

No GOP breakdown?<\/strong> Or do they have to wait until Friday for their Sun<\/em> spot? Not fair.<\/p>\n

Best News of the Week:<\/strong> The truth is still out there<\/strong><\/a>. And not a moment too soon. But could they thrown in some chupacabras<\/strong><\/a>? (I’m surprised someone hasn’t thrown El Chupacabra into the “secure our borders” debate.) The Significant Other just loved that chupacabra episode<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Local paper<\/strong> deems Congress worse than steroids<\/strong><\/a>. You can’t make this stuff up.<\/p>\n

Even Better News of the Week:<\/strong> Another impostor band<\/strong><\/a> has been booted from the Sahara<\/strong>. This brings Larry Marshak<\/strong><\/a>‘s much-criticized<\/strong><\/a> and controversial <\/strong><\/a>revue<\/strong><\/a> to a grinding halt, at least for the nonce.<\/p>\n

Cosmo Update:<\/strong> As mentioned in “What’s News,” the Wall Street Journal<\/em> has a lengthy take on the foreclosure threatening the Cosmopolitan Resort & Casino<\/strong>. It observes ominously that owner Ian Bruce Eichner<\/strong> “gained notice during an earlier real-estate downturn in the early 1990s when he lost several projects<\/strong><\/a> in New York City.”<\/p>\n

Even more worrisomely, the WSJ<\/em> notes that Eichner is in default for $935 million and that Wall Street could be looking at a $100 billion<\/em> write-off thanks to the collapse of subprime lending. The story also references local disillusionment<\/strong> with the condo-hotel business model. Not to mention that the project has been limping along<\/strong><\/a> already.<\/p>\n

Another paper, meanwhile, paints a smiley face<\/strong><\/a> on the whole affair, deeming it merely “a setback.” Deep in the story, however, there’s some excellent historical background, the consensus of various experts being that the Cosmo will get finished … eventually. It just might take as much as four years.<\/p>\n

Quote of the day:<\/strong> “We’re a beneficiary to the degree that America’s on sale.” — MGM Mirage President James Murren<\/strong>, whose company is trying to sell 9.4% of itself<\/strong><\/a> to Dubai World<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Speaking of<\/strong> Dubai World. Is that the secretive company allegedly tied to the Cloverfiel<\/strong>d<\/strong> monster? Uh, no, that’d be Tagruato<\/strong><\/a>. Um, never mind. (Has the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority<\/strong> explored ‘viral marketing<\/strong>,’ by the way? Just a thought.)<\/p>\n

As for the LVCVA<\/strong>, small wonder that Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons<\/strong> is apt to applaud Las Vegas Sands President William\u00a0Weidner<\/strong>‘s calls to defund it, or at least raid its budget on occasion. Just look<\/strong><\/a> at who’s the most ‘george’ donor<\/strong><\/a> to Gibbons’ legal defense fund (other than the Gibbonses themselves, that is). George Maloof<\/strong> is in for 10 G’s, too.<\/p>\n

No Ho Roadshow:<\/strong> The proposed IPO of Stanley Ho<\/strong>‘s casino empire, SJM, is too rich for some investors’ blood, reports the AFP and the South China Morning Post<\/em>. Hence, a planned roadshow was scrapped and the $1 billion stock offering won’t be seen until after Chinese New Year.<\/p>\n

THIS<\/strong><\/a> isn’t the Cloverfield<\/a><\/em><\/strong> monster<\/strong><\/a>, but the 3,000-lb. beastie<\/strong> just might be Sir Arthur Conan Doyle<\/strong>‘s “giant rat of Sum<\/strong>atra<\/strong><\/a>.” (Search for “prehistoric rat” on Yahoo News for further details.) Talk about a rodent problem!<\/p>\n

Sweet revenge:<\/strong> Former Tropicana Casino & Resort President Pam Popielarski<\/strong> is back<\/strong> at the Atlantic City Trop<\/strong>, whose fortunes she guided for a bakers’ dozen years, this time as a consultant. She was one of many Trop employees who were ousted a year ago, when then-owner Columbia Sussex (recently kicked out of New Jersey) went on a cost-cutting j<\/em>ihad<\/em>. Magnanimously, Popielarski is dropping a lawsuit against Columbia Sussex that alleged age- and sex discirmination.<\/p>\n

Popielarski is part of a triumvirate of veteran casinos execs that will be advising former state Supreme Court Justice Gary Stein<\/strong> in his trusteeship of the embattled property (currently at the bottom of the A.C. market). Gary Simpson<\/strong>, a former senior veep of finance for previous Trop owner Aztar Corp. is also on board.<\/p>\n

Somewhat worrisome is the appointment of controversial<\/strong><\/a>, well-traveled<\/strong><\/a> former Foxwoods<\/strong><\/a> boss Mickey Brown<\/strong><\/a>. Given Brown’s stormy<\/strong><\/a> past<\/strong> and despite <\/strong><\/a>his considerable accomplishments<\/strong><\/a>, he may not be the face New Jersey wants to put on the Trop in lieu of layoff-fixated <\/strong><\/a>William Yung III<\/strong><\/a>. At least Brown’s background as a regulator could be put to good use, as Columbia Sussex’s persistent disregard or (to give it the benefit of the doubt) incomprehension of New Jersey laws was its undoing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You wanna make Bill Clinton lose his cool? Ask him about caucuses in casinos. Not a good moment for the ex-Prez. He can’t be happy about this, either. Now that the Culinary Union is enjoying a moment in the sun, … 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":[128,26],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214"}],"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=214"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31467,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214\/revisions\/31467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}