{"id":21564,"date":"2018-04-23T10:17:15","date_gmt":"2018-04-23T18:17:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=21564"},"modified":"2018-04-23T10:17:15","modified_gmt":"2018-04-23T18:17:15","slug":"mixed-report-from-japan-wynn-boston-harbor-up-for-grabs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/mixed-report-from-japan-wynn-boston-harbor-up-for-grabs\/","title":{"rendered":"Mixed report from Japan; Wynn Boston Harbor up for grabs"},"content":{"rendered":"

First, the good news: The casino-regulation bill over which Japan<\/strong>‘s Liberal Democratic Party<\/strong> has slaved, may make it into the Diet by Friday, giving the Nipponese parliament just under two months to \"\"consider it. (The Diet adjourns on June 20.) Now, the bad news: Prime Minister Shinzo Abe<\/strong> is in a world of hurt, with plummeting job-approval ratings and an expectation that he could resign when the Diet wraps up business. Abe and wife Akie<\/strong> are accused of mixing private business with public duties, using Abe’s position of financial gain. The Finance Ministry’s\u00a0Junichi Fukuda<\/strong> is already out, having been caught making “crude sexual remarks<\/a>” on tape. To Americans this must all sound very familiar. Moreover, Abe dare not use one of his favorite ploys — a snap election — as the outcome would probably not augur well for LDP or casinos.<\/p>\n

The compromise casino bill restricts gambling to a puny 3% of megaresort square footage. In addition to a $56\/day admission fee for Japanese nationals (cheaper than joining the Church of Scientology<\/strong>), it specifies three initial megaresorts, with possible expansion to additional \"\"cities seven years\u00a0down the road. At this point, it appears to be a fait accompli<\/em> that Yokohama<\/strong>, Osaka<\/strong> and Tokyo<\/strong> will get the megaresorts, partly because the size restriction on gambling capacity discourages heavy investment in secondary or tertiary markets. if CalvinAyre.com<\/strong> columnist Rafi Farber<\/strong> is to be believed, it will be at least 2026 before a casino opens in the Land of the Rising Sun. He adds,\u00a0\u201cIt will likely take longer because there is no economy more bloated with dead weight in the world than Japan.\u201d Makes you feel all confident about those promised $10 billion investments, doesn’t it?<\/p>\n

* Confirming our initial impression, MGM Resorts International<\/strong> would be forbidden from operating two casinos in Massachusetts<\/strong>. However, this does not invalidate our theory that MGM Growth Properties<\/strong> could buy the real estate and lease it to a third party — in which case Mohegan Sun<\/strong> \"\"is firmly back in the running. The Boston Globe<\/em>‘s Adrian Walker<\/strong>, however, thinks it’s all a clever head-fake<\/a> by Wynn Resorts<\/strong> CEO Matt Maddox<\/strong>: \u201cMore likely, Wynn officials are using the threat of sale to throw the process into chaos and prod the [Massachusetts<\/strong>] Gaming Commission<\/strong> into deciding sooner rather than later whether Wynn Resorts gets to keep its casino … The commission is in an unenviable position. If Wynn keeps its license and proceeds as scheduled, the panel will be accused of rank hypocrisy, or talking a good game on ethics but backing down when it counted. But if Wynn is stripped of its license, the company is left with half a casino, years of wasted time, and a ton of broken promises to Everett<\/strong>, which is counting on the casino as the key to its long-overdue revitalization.\u201d<\/p>\n

Union Gaming<\/strong> analyst John DeCree<\/strong> speculates that — in a pretty audacious flip — MGM could sell MGM Springfield<\/strong> in return for relieving Wynn (and the MGC) of the \"\"Everett problem. He rules out Genting Group<\/strong>, Las Vegas Sands<\/strong> and Caesars Entertainment<\/strong> — already rejected forcefully by the MGC — as contenders for the Boston<\/strong> market. But how does MGM get out of its host agreement with Springfield<\/strong>? The latter has already deep-sixed one potential buyer, Penn National Gaming<\/strong>, while other possibilities could include suddenly acquisitive Boyd Gaming<\/strong>, Foxwoods Resort Casino<\/strong> and Hard Rock International<\/strong> … although, with Hard Rock Atlantic City<\/strong> coming down the track, does the Seminole Tribe<\/strong> want to lumber itself with another megaresort at this point, even if it comes ready-built?<\/p>\n

* In a praiseworthy development, the American Gaming Association<\/strong> has formed the Responsible Gaming Collective<\/strong>. According to the AGA, the Collective will “identify the programs and policies that best address responsible gaming and the prevention of problem gambling, and \"\"hold government accountable for supporting proven, effective solutions.” (Nevada<\/strong>, which lags the nation badly, should be first on the RGC’s accountability list.) There’s a six-point set of objectives — Sample: “Develop a set of recommendations and industry best practices” — although no deadline has been set. Said<\/a> AGA President Geoff Freeman<\/strong>,\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s time to comprehensively review existing responsible gaming policies and regulations.\u00a0We must drive a new discussion around proven, effective programs and ensure that governments are appropriately allocating resources.\u201d There’s never a bad time to discuss problem gambling, let alone<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

First, the good news: The casino-regulation bill over which Japan‘s Liberal Democratic Party has slaved, may make it into the Diet by Friday, giving the Nipponese parliament just under two months to consider it. (The Diet adjourns on June 20.) … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21247,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[23,60,166,120,174,165,7,171,112,11,167,207,69,33,90,25,200,12,38,233],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21564"}],"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=21564"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21564\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21566,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21564\/revisions\/21566"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}