{"id":25660,"date":"2019-12-19T09:30:49","date_gmt":"2019-12-19T17:30:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=25660"},"modified":"2019-12-19T09:31:48","modified_gmt":"2019-12-19T17:31:48","slug":"twin-river-has-scandal-of-its-own-musical-chairs-in-oklahoma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/twin-river-has-scandal-of-its-own-musical-chairs-in-oklahoma\/","title":{"rendered":"Twin River has scandal of its own; Musical chairs in Oklahoma"},"content":{"rendered":"

Twin River Casino<\/strong> can forget about prying the Rhode Island Lottery<\/strong> contract away from International Game Technology<\/strong>. Twin River exec Michael Barlow<\/strong> and a vendor have been hit with a staggering 30 counts of\u00a0\"\"bribery, obtaining property under false pretenses and tax evasion. Twin River has promised full cooperation with prosecutors but the damage is done<\/a>, as much as the company might try to minimize it as a “non-gaming matter.” Supposedly vendor Yehuda Amar<\/strong> bribed Barlow to award him contracts to sublease food-court space, among other felonies. The duo also went into business together, speculating in real estate in New London<\/strong>, Connecticut<\/strong>. The twosome\u00a0has pleaded not guilty, although they’re guilty as hell of dragging Twin River’s good name through the mud.<\/p>\n

* A suspect is dead<\/a>\u00a0in that Great Falls<\/strong> casino shooting that left three people dead and another wounded. The gunplay at the casino took place at 2 a.m. Tuesday and by 5:45 a.m. police had cornered the gunman, who shot it out with the cops and was killed. (Crime doesn’t pay.) “The entire situation was very dynamic, and the suspect was moving around quite a bit.\u00a0Things unfolded very quickly in a very short period of time,\u201d reported\u00a0Lt. Doug Otto<\/strong>. The gunman was spotted behind a local elementary school and police rushed to the scene. Law enforcement is still at a loss for the motive behind the shooting spree.<\/p>\n

* Apparently frustrated with Attorney General Mike Hunter<\/strong>, Oklahoma<\/strong> Gov. Kevin Stitt<\/strong> (R) is removing him<\/a> from compact negotiations and taking them on himself\u2014which he will undoubtedly find more difficult \"\"than dictating terms through the media. That means imported legal talent from Wisconsin<\/strong> is out of work, as Stitt plans to import some legal beagles of his own. In a concession to tribes, Stitt is relaxing his January 1 deadline, saying,\u00a0\u201cI want business to continue as usual while we resolve this dispute.\u201d (In the words of Charlie Chan<\/strong>, ‘When money talks, few are deaf.’) Hunter’s dismissal from the talks is being explained by Stitt as the need to present “one unified voice,” although there were no indications that Hunter wasn’t toeing the party line. For their part, tribes are signaling some flexibility on taxes (aka<\/em> exclusivity fees) but only if coupled with an acknowledgement that their 15-year compacts roll over next year.<\/p>\n

Hunter took his public humiliation with grace<\/a>. His spokesman said,\u00a0\u201cUnder Article VI, Section 8 of the Oklahoma Constitution<\/strong> and 74 0.S. S1221, the governor is given authority to enter into agreements with the federally recognized tribes.\u00a0Accordingly, the attorney general and the governor have agreed to return the lead agency over tribal gaming compact negotiations to the Governor\u2019s Office. This will allow the governor and his legal counsel to negotiate directly with tribes to hopefully develop a path forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stitt is to blame for the fractured tone of the negotiations, having\u2014by his own admission\u2014dickered with some tribes while Hunter was talking to others.\u00a0\u201cAs we have stated from the beginning, the Tribes are willing partners, and have appreciated Attorney General Hunter\u2019s work with Tribes on a variety of issues in the past,\u201d read a statement released by Oklahoma Indian Gaming Association<\/strong> Chairman Matthew Morgan<\/strong>. Meanwhile, Chickasaw Nation<\/strong> Gov.\u00a0Bill Anoatubby<\/strong> reiterated that status quo when he said,\u00a0\u201cWe have honored the terms of the compact and intend to continue operating under that renewing agreement, and we expect the State to do the same.\u201d<\/p>\n

*\u00a0Economic recovery is expected for Macao<\/strong> in 2020\u2014but not until the latter half of the year<\/a>, according to Deutsche Bank Securities<\/strong> analysts.\u00a0\u201cWe project mass [gross gaming revenue]\u00a0growth of 16 percent, and we \"\"are projecting an 11 percent decline in VIP GGR,\u201d wrote Carlo Santarelli<\/strong> and Steven Pizzella<\/strong>.\u00a0\u201cWith limited new supply in 2020, we expect shifts in operator EBITDA market shares to be more related to the performance of\u2013and relative exposure to\u2013the mass and VIP gaming channels.\u201d Las Vegas Sands<\/strong> and Wynn Resorts<\/strong>\u00a0are\u00a0\u201cwell positioned for Macau share gains, specifically within the mass channel.\u201d Catalysts for this include expansions of Sands’ Four Seasons<\/strong> and The Londoner<\/strong>. A “rejig” of Wynn Macau<\/strong> is supposed to help that property’s numbers.<\/p>\n

As for snail-powered\u00a0Grand Lisboa Palace<\/strong>, the Sociedade de Jogos de Macau <\/strong>megaresort,\u00a0\u201cWe believe it is likely the SJM Grand Lisboa Palace project comes online in early 2021, akin to Galaxy Phase 3<\/strong>, as opposed the second-half 2020 target.\u201d No surprise there. Hotel-room supply will be an easy comparison, only up 2% next year, as opposed to 9% in 2021 and 7% more the year after that. Nonetheless, the forecast looks a lot better than an anemic 2019<\/a> that cannot end any too soon for the Macanese.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Twin River Casino can forget about prying the Rhode Island Lottery contract away from International Game Technology. Twin River exec Michael Barlow and a vendor have been hit with a staggering 30 counts of\u00a0bribery, obtaining property under false pretenses and … 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":[14,29,241,189,62,115,141,213,20,269,38,233],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25660"}],"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=25660"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25660\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25662,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25660\/revisions\/25662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}