{"id":22041,"date":"2018-07-10T10:57:04","date_gmt":"2018-07-10T18:57:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=22041"},"modified":"2023-05-23T15:30:31","modified_gmt":"2023-05-23T23:30:31","slug":"sheldon-snuggles-up-to-commies-elaine-tests-her-clout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/sheldon-snuggles-up-to-commies-elaine-tests-her-clout\/","title":{"rendered":"Sheldon snuggles up to Commies; Elaine tests her clout"},"content":{"rendered":"

If toup\u00e9e-collecting Sheldon Adelson<\/strong> were offered the chance to build Venetian Tehran<\/strong> he’d immediately become a peacenik regarding Iran<\/strong>, a country he lusts to nuke<\/a>. Instead of making nice \"\"with mullahs, he’s doing the next best thing, warbling sweet nothings\u00a0to\u00a0Kim Jong-un<\/strong>. Citing his service in the Korean War<\/strong>, Adelson called for detente between the two Koreas so that he could get down to “open up business,” preferably in the north<\/a>. (He can’t build — feasibly — in South Korea<\/strong> because a tourists-only policy makes the cost of investment prohibitive. South Korean casino revenues are small potatoes compared to other markets.) North Korea<\/strong> has been putting out feelers to the U.S. for help in establishing a casino resort in the Wonsan-Kalma<\/strong> region. Hmmmm. Starving native populace … concentration camps … 180th out of 180 on the Heritage Foundation<\/strong>‘s human-rights index? Nope, I can’t see anything wrong with doing business in North Korea.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere in Adelson Country, a new report by Steve Vickers<\/strong> \"\"warns of collateral damage<\/a> to casinos in Macao<\/strong> from the current U.S.-China<\/strong> trade war.\u00a0\u201cThe gaming sector in Macau is highly exposed.\u00a0\u00a0Any significant slowdown or fall in the yuan\u2019s value may lead to Beijing<\/strong>\u2019s further curbing of capital outflows, so dampening casino revenues,\u201d wrote Vickers, who also wrote the current hostilities could imperil concession renewals for Wynn Resorts<\/strong>, Las Vegas Sands<\/strong> and MGM Resorts International<\/strong>: “These companies now sit on a geopolitical fault line. Their Macau concessions can therefore be on the line.\u201d Vickers deemed the deprival of concessions “brutal” but also unlikely.<\/p>\n

He did, however, advise, “Companies might consider restructuring joint ventures, so as to invest alongside partners \"\"deemed\u00a0\u2018neutral\u2019.\u201d Galaxy Entertainment<\/strong>‘s purchase of a 5% stake in Wynn was cited as one example of this strategy. Concluded Vickers, “the harsh reality is that strategic decisions are not made in Macau but rather in Beijing: this is because of the huge scale of the gaming operations in Macau and the political sensitivities of U.S. businesses being allowed to repatriate very significant amounts of Chinese money back home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking of Wynn Resorts, Elaine Wynn<\/strong>‘s newfound clout only extends so far. The board of directors has\u00a0ashcanned her choice for \"\"chairman, “identified only as a former Fortune 500<\/strong> chief executive officer with extensive experience in the casino business.” (Let the speculation begin!) The person in question “wasn\u2019t a close associate of hers,” so that rules out nephew Andrew Pascal<\/strong>. Elaine hasn’t quit flexing her muscles: She’s seeking to have General Counsel Kim Sinatra<\/strong> fired for cause<\/a>. Jefferies<\/strong> analyst David Katz<\/strong> applauded the Sinatra ouster, writing,\u201cWe view the announcement of Wynn general counsel as anticipated and reflective of the pressure the company\u2019s management team is facing in the near term from regulators and shareholders.\u201d\u00a0The company continues to be investigated in Massachusetts<\/strong>, Nevada<\/strong> and Macao for Steve Wynn<\/strong>‘s sexcapades. (Since Sinatra was a key player in the hush-up of a $7.5 million paternity settlement paid by Wynn, she may be the latest human sacrifice on the Massachusetts Gaming Commission<\/strong>‘s altar.)<\/p>\n

*\u00a0MGM and Caesars Entertainment<\/strong> can openly gloat that they outfitted workers with ‘panic buttons’ voluntarily. In Chicago<\/strong>, a law had to be passed<\/a> to get it done. A Unite-Here<\/strong> spokeswoman said “49 percent of hotel workers surveyed said they had seen a guest naked or had a guest flash them.” Worse yet, “58 percent of employees said they were sexually harassed while working at hotels, particularly at night.” Human nature being what it is, one can only assume that similar statistics (at minimum) apply to Las Vegas<\/strong>. The era of #MeToo<\/strong> and #TimesUp<\/strong> has not arrived a moment too soon.<\/p>\n

* Daredevil Travis Pastrana<\/strong>\u00a0pitted himself<\/a> against the Las Vegas Strip<\/strong> for a three-hour History Channel<\/strong> special. First, he \"\"jumped a motorcycle over 52 crushed cars, then over 16 Greyhound buses. These stunts\u00a0were performed on empty land behind Planet Hollywood<\/strong> and Paris-Las Vegas<\/strong>. Then Pastrana, whose first two jumps will rival the greatest feats of Evel Knievel<\/strong>, would try to do what Knievel couldn’t: Jump the Caesars Palace<\/strong> fountain. Of course, if Stunt #1 or Stunt #2\u00a0went awry, the History Channel would have a lot of airtime to fill (cue standby Hitler footage) and Pastrana\u00a0would have been looking at a big hospital bill, assuming Caesars didn’t pick up the tab.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If toup\u00e9e-collecting Sheldon Adelson were offered the chance to build Venetian Tehran he’d immediately become a peacenik regarding Iran, a country he lusts to nuke. Instead of making nice with mullahs, he’s doing the next best thing, warbling sweet nothings\u00a0to\u00a0Kim … 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":[244,237,201,140,58,22,241,62,112,11,207,6,33,25,232,12,187,74,32,9,196,233],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22041"}],"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=22041"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22041\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32664,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22041\/revisions\/32664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}