{"id":23516,"date":"2019-02-11T11:09:04","date_gmt":"2019-02-11T19:09:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=23516"},"modified":"2023-03-09T07:36:22","modified_gmt":"2023-03-09T15:36:22","slug":"a-change-of-heart-on-loco-weed-miller-briefs-congress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/a-change-of-heart-on-loco-weed-miller-briefs-congress\/","title":{"rendered":"A change of heart on loco weed; Miller briefs Congress"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a development certain to make Nevada<\/strong> resort owners grind their teeth in envy, cannabis is predicted to be this year’s wellness trend. As you know, Nevada gaming regulators have hung a “Do Not Enter” sign on the recreational-marijuana industry and casinos dare not going tiptoeing through the loco weed. “Now, in 2019, it could potentially become the most-used wellness product,” writes Mark Grenoble<\/strong>. “That\u2019s thanks in part due to the recent passing of the Farm Bill, which will make it easier for farmers to grow hemp (a type of cannabis) and removes hemp from the federal controlled substances list. Anxiety, insomnia,\u00a0nausea, epileptic seizures, multiple sclerosis, glaucoma and chronic pain are listed among the things that could be treated with medicinal Mary Jane. Trust me, if I lived in Nevada still I’d be asking my doctor for CBDs.<\/p>\n

But where the gaming industry’s hand is stayed out of fear of federal intervention, non-gaming hotels and spas<\/a> in the Silver State are free to experiment with loco weed. Restaurants, too, can catch a buzz<\/a>. Meanwhile, casinos are missing the curl of the wave.\u00a0\u201cDuring times of negative mood, society\u2019s priorities shift,\u201d says the Socionomics Institute<\/a>‘s Chuck Thompson<\/strong>.\u00a0\u201cPeople have other, bigger worries and begin to view recreational drugs as less dangerous, even innocuous.\u201d (Significantly, President George H.W. Bush<\/strong>‘s infamous “War on Drugs” stemwinder came when the stock market was riding a seven-year high.) If the Dow Jones<\/strong> average metamorphoses into a bear market, look for more states to join the 33 that have legalized medicinal marijuana and the 10 that have also approved recreational wacky tebaccy. Says Thompson,\u00a0\u201cWhen negative social mood finally does bring the drug war to an end,\u00a0marijuana will play an increasing role as a tax-generating industry in the United States<\/strong> and elsewhere.\u201d We think the Nevada Gaming Control Board<\/strong>\u00a0should take a cannabis-infused chill pill and relax the pot-in-casinos ban.<\/p>\n

* New American Gaming Association<\/strong>\u00a0President Bill Miller<\/strong>, in his first extensive public statement, sent an open letter<\/a> to Congress<\/strong>, one that was quick to mention that the gaming industry generates $41 billion in tax revenue and supports nearly 2 million \"\"jobs. “With operators and suppliers in 42 states, few industries employ as diverse a workforce as gaming, with workers in more than 200 job classifications, including high-tech, engineering, software development and law enforcement. Thirty-eight percent of gaming\u2019s workforce is composed of racial or ethnic minority employees \u2013 eleven percent more than the U.S. population,” Miller wrote. He gently advised congressmen that federal oversight of legal sports betting is “unwarranted at this time,” advising the feds to bend their energies toward illegal sports books.<\/p>\n

Miller also called for streamlining of anti-money-laundering procedures, including a “SAR-little” that would make suspicious activities easier to report. In a more headline-making statement, he called for raising the ‘IRS<\/strong> lockdown’ on reportage of gambling jackpots from $1,200 to $5,000, noting the amount of manpower and paperwork this would save. He also advocated making interest-deductibility permanent. Miller favors continuing “reasonable immigration policy that enhances economic growth and security” but opposes — no surprise here — the Yucca Mountain<\/strong> nuclear-waste depositor y.(I almost did a Chic Hecht<\/strong> and typed “suppository.) If one were expecting a sudden divergence from Geoff Freeman<\/strong>‘s priorities at the AGA, they were greatly disappointed. Personally, we heave a sigh of relief.<\/p>\n

* Casino revenues in Missouri<\/strong> dipped last month, down almost 4%. “Adverse weather” was blamed. People sure didn’t feel like going to Mark Twain Casino<\/strong>, cartwheeling\u00a019.5% to $2 million. They weren’t crazy either about Isle of Capri Cape Boonsville<\/strong>, \"\"plummeting 14% to $5 million. Other than that, outstate casinos did fine, Eldorado Resorts<\/strong> was in luck at Lady Luck<\/strong>, up 11.5% to $3 million, Isle of Capri Cape Girardeau<\/strong> hopped 5% to $5 million and St. Jo Frontier<\/strong> rose 3% to over $3 million. Harrah’s North Kansas City<\/strong> was flat at $12.5 million, as was Argosy Riverside<\/strong>. Isle of Capri Kansas City<\/strong> sank 9.5% to $5 million and Ameristar Kansas City<\/strong> came in with $14 million, a 6% slippage. Even with a 5% decline Ameristar St. Charles<\/strong>\u00a0(pictured<\/em>) led the state with $19 million, while nearby Hollywood St. Louis<\/strong> was down 7.5% to $16.5 million. Lumiere Place<\/strong> actually gained 2% for a $12.5 million finish while River City<\/strong> was down 3% to $16 million.<\/p>\n

* Casino developers in Japan<\/strong> had better be prepared to build Nippon’s largest hotels. The biggest currently is Tokyo Dome Hotel<\/strong> with 105,856 square meters of floor space. The government says integrated resorts must be of “substantially” more than 100,000 square meters.<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a development certain to make Nevada resort owners grind their teeth in envy, cannabis is predicted to be this year’s wellness trend. As you know, Nevada gaming regulators have hung a “Do Not Enter” sign on the recreational-marijuana industry … 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":[173,249,65,60,244,14,199,174,140,171,224,69,33,25,31],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23516"}],"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=23516"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23516\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32441,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23516\/revisions\/32441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}