{"id":22140,"date":"2018-07-25T08:43:16","date_gmt":"2018-07-25T16:43:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=22140"},"modified":"2018-07-25T08:43:16","modified_gmt":"2018-07-25T16:43:16","slug":"mgm-lauds-springfield-as-mandalay-bay-woes-increase","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/mgm-lauds-springfield-as-mandalay-bay-woes-increase\/","title":{"rendered":"MGM lauds Springfield as Mandalay Bay woes increase"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/8xOnmiwB5QQ\" width=\"450\" height=\"253\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>MGM Resorts International<\/strong> is targeting <strong>Hartford<\/strong> (and five other media markets) with its initial TV spot for <strong>MGM Springfield<\/strong>, whose opening is now less than a month away. The ad, which you can see for yourself, has shoutouts to virtually every <strong>Las Vegas Strip<\/strong> staple, from slot-playing grannies to nightclubs to hints of <strong>Cirque du Soleil<\/strong>.\u00a0\u201cEach component is meant to capture the energy of the resort and showcase the \u2018wow\u2019 moments guests will encounter throughout the destination,\u201d said casino President <strong>Michael Mathis<\/strong>. Other markets in MGM&#8217;s cross-hairs are <!--more--><strong>Providence<\/strong>, <strong>Albany<\/strong> and (of course) <strong>Boston<\/strong>. MGM <a href=\"http:\/\/www.courant.com\/business\/hc-biz-mgm-big-advertising-push-20180723-story.html#\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">is keeping mum<\/a> on the cost of the production number, filmed on <strong>Springfield<\/strong>&#8216;s <strong>Memorial Bridge<\/strong>. The question for casino developers in <strong>Connecticut<\/strong> is going to become, once they&#8217;ve seen Springfield how are you going to keep them on the farm?<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/sww9q8mlaKM\" width=\"450\" height=\"253\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>* MGM&#8217;s efforts to indemnify itself against lawsuits arising from the Mandalay Bay Massacre sprang a leak this week. A plaintiffs&#8217; attorney accused the company of covering up a prior would-be shooter. The man in question, <strong>Kye Aaron Dunbar<\/strong>. He was found in <strong>Mandalay Bay<\/strong> with &#8220;a scoped rifle pointing toward the Strip, court documents say.&#8221; Dunbar pled out to one count of &#8220;unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon&#8221; and was sentenced to prison. &#8220;Victims are pointing out that MGM knew of the risk, and should have taken additional effort to prevent this from happening again,&#8221; <a href=\"http:\/\/pacevegas.com\/2018\/07\/mgm-hide-another-mandalay-bay-shooter\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" class=\"broken_link\">reads one news report<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>* What if they gave a sports book <a href=\"https:\/\/triblive.com\/state\/pennsylvania\/13888934-74\/can-pennsylvania-casinos-compete-with-the-sports-betting-black-market\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">and nobody came<\/a>? You&#8217;d be in <strong>Pennsylvania<\/strong>, that&#8217;s what. Since May, not a single casino has applied for one, a process that comes with a $100,000 application <img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-17339\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/pennsylvania_pa_state_capitol-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/pennsylvania_pa_state_capitol-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/pennsylvania_pa_state_capitol-150x113.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/pennsylvania_pa_state_capitol.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>fee, a $250,000 regulation fee and a 36% tax rate. Is it any wonder that Keystone State casinos are focusing on higher-margin Internet gambling instead? <strong>Penn National Gaming<\/strong> might take the plunge &#8212; but only if the tax rate is lowered. Has Pennsylvania killed the goose that lays (small) golden eggs?<\/p>\n<p>* As was expected, <strong>Ellen Whittemore<\/strong> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ggrasia.com\/ellen-whittemore-new-evp-counsel-at-wynn-resorts\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">is the new corporate counsel<\/a> at <strong>Wynn Resorts<\/strong>. Job One will surely be to clean up the mess left by predecessor <strong>Kim Sinatra<\/strong>, pushed under the bus of the <strong>Massachusetts Gaming Commission<\/strong>. Whittemore has copious experience practicing before <strong>Nevada<\/strong> gaming regulators, which will come in handy considering that the latter are still investigating Wynn Resorts&#8217; sex scandal. The terms of Sinatra&#8217;s golden parachute are still unknown but <strong>Elaine Wynn<\/strong> wants it, if not clawed back, at least made public.<\/p>\n<p>* Kudos to <strong>Atlantis Casino<\/strong> in <strong>Reno<\/strong> for making an environmentally friendly step. It will <a href=\"https:\/\/lasvegassun.com\/news\/2018\/jul\/24\/atlantis-casino-in-reno-to-stop-offering-plastic-s\/?_ga=2.22908603.1280490813.1532439560-1890692149.1527085026\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">discontinue the use<\/a> of plastic straws, unless they are specifically requested. Good on them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MGM Resorts International is targeting Hartford (and five other media markets) with its initial TV spot for MGM Springfield, whose opening is now less than a month away. The ad, which you can see for yourself, has shoutouts to virtually &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/mgm-lauds-springfield-as-mandalay-bay-woes-increase\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[80,237,117,189,228,53,112,245,101,69,95,25,79,141,232,243,31,17,233],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22140"}],"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=22140"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22140\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22143,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22140\/revisions\/22143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}