{"id":25068,"date":"2019-10-09T08:55:46","date_gmt":"2019-10-09T16:55:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=25068"},"modified":"2019-12-06T15:45:33","modified_gmt":"2019-12-06T23:45:33","slug":"hard-rock-ratified-get-high-at-grand-river","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/hard-rock-ratified-get-high-at-grand-river\/","title":{"rendered":"Hard Rock ratified; Get high at Grand River"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Rockford<\/strong>&#8216;s city council ratified Mayor <strong>Tom McNamara<\/strong>&#8216;s selection of <strong>Hard Rock International<\/strong>, 11-1. Even casino opponent Alderman <strong>Frank Beach<\/strong> voted aye, saying, \u201cMy vote <img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-25013\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/rockford.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"240\" height=\"152\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/rockford.jpg 240w, https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/rockford-150x95.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px\" \/>tonight is really not for a casino in Rockford. But it\u2019s the best way to block the unregulated [read: tribal] casino from moving forward in <strong>Beloit<\/strong>.\u201d Alderwoman <strong>Venita Hervey<\/strong> requested a bit of\u00a0old-fashioned <strong>Illinois<\/strong> graft, asking Hard Rock to spread some money in her ward, even though the casino isn&#8217;t going there. The recommendation now <!--more-->proceeds to the <strong>Illinois Gaming Board<\/strong>, which has a year to vote on it.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, in <strong>Danville<\/strong>, the idea of a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/news\/2019\/oct\/5\/developers-plan-for-danville-includes-more-than-ju\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" class=\"broken_link\">&#8220;family friendly&#8221; casino<\/a> is being pitched. The concept would include a lazy river, among other amenities.\u00a0\u201cThis is more than just the typical casino. It will be a resort complex. A destination. A place that people will be excited to come to, and more importantly, more excited to want to come back to,\u201d said <strong>Haven Gaming<\/strong>&#8216;s <strong>Bill Bembenek<\/strong>. The casino would be strategically sited on the <strong>Indiana<\/strong> state line, just off <strong>I-74<\/strong>.\u00a0\u201cWhen you drive by, we want the \u2018Wow\u2019 effect,\u201d explained Haven counsel <strong>Scott Sypolt<\/strong>. The selection of Haven appears to be a done deal, so this one also goes to the regulators for approval.<\/p>\n<p>* In the strangest casino scandal I&#8217;ve ever read about, trading of hydrocodone for casino points (and comped meals) is alleged at <strong>Grand River Casino<\/strong>. The aptly named <strong>Meinrad Medicine<\/strong>, along with <strong>Carlene Cloke<\/strong>, has pled guilty to felony distribution, and nine others have been charged in the drug ring. Former casino marketing director <strong>Candace Crow Ghost<\/strong> has fessed up to embezzling five grand from the casino while\u00a0<strong>Quenton Brown Otter<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.keloland.com\/news\/new-documents-in-casino-scheme-involving-players-points-and-prescription-pills\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" class=\"broken_link\">has admitted<\/a> to slipping Crow Ghost the &#8220;hillbilly heroin&#8221; in exchange for the points and meals.\u00a0<strong>Standing Rock Sioux Reservation<\/strong> has responded to the scandal by 86-ing 10 people from the casino, presumably the same 10 who <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/news\/2019\/oct\/8\/2-plead-guilty-to-selling-drugs-to-earn-casino-poi\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" class=\"broken_link\">got their rewards level tweaked<\/a> by keeping Crow Ghost supplied.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rockford&#8216;s city council ratified Mayor Tom McNamara&#8216;s selection of Hard Rock International, 11-1. Even casino opponent Alderman Frank Beach voted aye, saying, \u201cMy vote tonight is really not for a casino in Rockford. But it\u2019s the best way to block &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/hard-rock-ratified-get-high-at-grand-river\/\">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":[165,58,189,25,182,20],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25068"}],"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=25068"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25068\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25541,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25068\/revisions\/25541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}