{"id":25157,"date":"2019-10-21T11:51:24","date_gmt":"2019-10-21T19:51:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=25157"},"modified":"2021-02-07T10:09:07","modified_gmt":"2021-02-07T18:09:07","slug":"biden-lobbies-station-important-victory-for-flynt-casinos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/biden-lobbies-station-important-victory-for-flynt-casinos\/","title":{"rendered":"Biden lobbies Station; Important victory for Flynt, casinos"},"content":{"rendered":"

George GOP donor Frank Fertitta III<\/strong> is unlikely to put missives\u00a0from Joe Biden<\/strong> at the top of his in-box. Thus it was more of a theatrical gesture than a \"\"substantive negotiation when Biden wrote to the Fertitta, in an open letter, that Station Casinos<\/strong> needs to “join employees from Boulder Station<\/strong> and Palace Station<\/strong> in negotiating for health care, benefits, job security, fair scheduling, fair seniority rules, and a fair grievance process … As a lifelong champion for working families and unions,” Biden wrote that he was “troubled” that Station was ignoring the outcome of unionization votes at the\u00a0Palms<\/strong>, Sunset Station<\/strong>, Green Valley Ranch<\/strong>, Fiesta Rancho<\/strong>, and Fiesta Henderson<\/strong>. Despite its previous insistence that it would honor secret-ballot elections, Station has dragged its feet on negotiations and thumbed its nose at the National Labor Relations Board<\/strong>, which supervised the votes. Biden joins Sen. Bernie Sanders<\/strong> (D) in calling for unionization, in a play for Culinary Union<\/strong> votes ahead of the Nevada<\/strong> caucuses.<\/p>\n

It wouldn’t be a Biden letter without a goof and he made one when he said his appeal\u00a0\u201cisn\u2019t about bipartisan [sic<\/em>] politics.\u201d However, Biden is right that paying Station employees what they deserve will be good for the Nevada economy.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Fertittae have the knives out at the Palms, where bodies continue to fall<\/a>. Not only is Executive Vice President of Nightlife Alex Cordova<\/strong> out, Station has canceled the red-ink-leaking contract of DJ Marshmello<\/strong>.\u00a0“With the opening of Tim Ho Wan<\/strong>, the transformation of the Palms is now complete …\u00a0it is time for me to move on to my next challenge,” said ex-General Manager Jon Gray<\/strong>, without explaining his precipitate departure. KAOS<\/strong> nightclub meanwhile battens down the hatches and waits for Cardi B<\/strong> to arrive Oct. 31.<\/p>\n

*\u00a0From Fertitta to Flynt. Hustler<\/em> Publisher Larry Flynt<\/strong> has struck\u00a0an important precedent for California<\/strong> casino owners. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals<\/strong> has agreed with Flynt that he should be allowed to own more than 1% of out-of-state \"\"casinos. This seems to spell doom for a law signed by then-Gov. George Deukmejian<\/strong> (R) with the intent of keeping the Golden State from being infiltrated by the Mob. According to Casino.org<\/strong>, Flynt has “been approached about buying gaming properties in Colorado<\/strong>, Iowa<\/strong>, Louisiana<\/strong>, Mississippi<\/strong> and Nevada<\/strong>. But he could not act on those deals because of California law.” Flynt’s attorneys were able to \u00a0persuade the appeals court that the statute of limitations on civil cases did not apply because of continuing harm. We’re sure this will go to the Supreme Court<\/strong> but Flynt is entitled to a victory lap.<\/p>\n

* At the opposite end of the DNA spectrum, meet Darwin Award nominee Reece J. Lindahl<\/strong>. He was caught on tape at Harrah’s Tahoe<\/strong> trying to crowbar open not one but two slot machines. He’s charged with felony burglary and possession of burglary tools. And he probably didn’t get any Caesars Reward<\/strong> points.<\/p>\n

* A casino ‘taking a bath’ obtained a new meaning at Encore Boston Harbor<\/strong>, where leak sprang in the ceiling of the poker room, dousing the tables (see video<\/a>). Can Robert DeSalvio<\/strong> fix this before he leaves town?<\/p>\n

* Based on that depressing photograph, I’d never go to Horseshoe Baltimore<\/strong>. I also wouldn’t call .3 of a mile to M&T Bank Stadium<\/strong> and a half-mile to Camden Yards<\/strong> “close proximity …\u00a0The corridor is currently littered with vacant buildings and warehouses, peddlers, and homeless,” reports Casino.org<\/strong>, \"\"painting a bleak picture. Caesars Entertainment<\/strong>‘s $50 million solution? A 4,000-seat concert hall to be called Paramount<\/strong>. Caesars has had the real estate for a couple of years now and has evidently decided that the time has come to monetize it. As for the bleak neighborhood, “The goal of the project is really to create a sense of place that is unique, so that people will come back to enjoy this place not because there\u2019s a certain performance, but they\u2019re coming to this place to enjoy and be part of this district,\u201d said designer Matt Herbert<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Caesars is also trying to juice things up by selling some adjacent real estate to Topgolf<\/strong> and is planning to redub the whole area Southern Gateway<\/strong>. It will include a nightclub called Hammerjacks<\/strong> (sounds like an especially rough\u00a0gay bar, but I digress). We don’t know if anything will goose casino revenue but one thing that will\u2014sports betting\u2014is being Caesars’ power, being tied up in the Assembly, giving punters an excuse to drive out of state to exercise their sports-betting jones.<\/p>\n

Speaking of sports wagers, Rivers Casino Pittsburgh<\/strong> is well and truly in the action with its new, $5 million book. It made a believer of casino patron Chris Ravello<\/strong>, who told a local TV station<\/a> “he personally doesn\u2019t bet on sports, but he\u201dll definitely be back.\u201d It opened in time for sports fans to watch the hometown Steelers<\/strong> demolish the incompetent Cincinnati Bengals<\/strong>, getting BetRivers<\/strong> off in the right spirit. And BetRivers has the cutest mascot I’ve seen since Big Al<\/strong> at The Orleans<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

* One S&G<\/em> reader forwarded me this story<\/a>, headed with a fivefold “NO.” Indeed, is not one of the appeals of the casino experience is relative anonymity (William Bennett<\/strong> certainly thought so)? Konami Gaming<\/strong> is rolling out facial-recognition technology for table games and slots, spinning it as all manner of win-win situation. Konami veep Jay Bertsch<\/strong> says the technology will\u00a0\u201cIdentify people who probably shouldn\u2019t be in there who are barred from a regulatory standpoint or barred patrons.\u201d What’s more, it’s predicted to make player cards obsolete. Big Brother will take care of that. You can ask to have your information deleted or to opt out from the new regime, but that puts the onus on the player. We have six months to derail this horrible concept before it’s put into action.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

George GOP donor Frank Fertitta III is unlikely to put missives\u00a0from Joe Biden at the top of his in-box. Thus it was more of a theatrical gesture than a substantive negotiation when Biden wrote to the Fertitta, in an open … 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":[244,34,133,151,18,26,4,272,76,189,72,112,159,95,242,74,243,57,8,87,233],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25157"}],"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=25157"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25157\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29233,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25157\/revisions\/29233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}