{"id":233,"date":"2008-10-03T14:29:00","date_gmt":"2008-10-03T18:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/blogs\/dmckee\/index.cfm\/2008\/10\/3\/Macao-Not-so-fast"},"modified":"2020-08-01T11:39:18","modified_gmt":"2020-08-01T19:39:18","slug":"macao-not-so-fast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/macao-not-so-fast\/","title":{"rendered":"Macao: Not so fast?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here’s a how-de-do, to paraphrase Gilbert & Sullivan<\/strong>. The head of the Travel Industry Council of Macau<\/strong> appears to confirm<\/a> a report that many Chinese citizens will now be restricted to visiting the former Portugese colony on a quarterly basis. But … Blogmacau<\/strong> got in touch with the authorized agency that handles visiting permits to Macao, Guangdong Post<\/strong>. The latter told Blogmacau that no such instructions had been received. This may explain why the selloff of MGM Mirage<\/strong>, Las Vegas Sands<\/strong> and Wynn Resorts<\/strong> stock has slowed today.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, visitation to Macao during the Golden Week holiday is up 9% this year. Oh, and the city has a housing-bubble crisis of its very own. It’s becoming more and more like Vegas every day.<\/p>\n

Cherokee back on the block<\/strong>. The magic date for submitting new bids on the Cherokee County<\/strong>, Kan. casino concession (whew!) is Jan. 21, 2009. That means you’ve got 90 days, folks, to get your $225 million casino proposal (plus a modest $25 million application fee) in order.<\/p>\n

The price of entry may come down a bit — like 80% — if Phil Ruffin<\/strong> can convince the Kansas Lege to reduced the mandated level of investment to $50 million. If so, he plans to pitch a racino for a defunct dog track near Frontenac<\/strong>, Kan. Does this mean gambling in Kansas is already going to the dogs? <rimshot<\/em>> I’ll be here all weekend, folks.<\/p>\n

P.S. Ruffin is swimming in $1.2 billion, after he took Elad Properties<\/strong> to the cleaners on that New Frontier<\/strong> sale. He might not be the best person to carry the message that casino development in southeastern Kansas is currently unaffordable.<\/p>\n

That’ll teach ’em!<\/strong> Cripple Creek, Colo.’s Midnight Rose Hotel & Casino<\/strong> was found to have violated Colorado’s smoking ban by allowing players to smoke them if they’ve got them. The penalty was a whopping $100<\/a>. Plus court costs. (The maximum penalty is $200.) Ouch!<\/em> The Midnight Rose must be just reeling in pain. Let that be a lesson to all you scofflaws out there.<\/p>\n

Dr. Hammergren’s House of Horrors<\/strong>. Even in a city that is currently home to the likes of Michael Jackson<\/strong> and Siegfried & Roy<\/strong>, there is no more colorful character like Dr. Lonnie Hammergren<\/strong>, brain surgeon and former lieutenant governor. If he didn’t exist, a novelist would have to invent him. If you’re not familiar with this only-in-Vegas phenomenon, here’s a quick video primer<\/a>, although nothing compares to the in-person experience and words will never provide an adequate description.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here’s a how-de-do, to paraphrase Gilbert & Sullivan. The head of the Travel Industry Council of Macau appears to confirm a report that many Chinese citizens will now be restricted to visiting the former Portugese colony on a quarterly basis. … 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":[27,45,62,11,12,32,38],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233"}],"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=233"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27654,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233\/revisions\/27654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}