{"id":25792,"date":"2020-01-09T09:05:00","date_gmt":"2020-01-09T17:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=25792"},"modified":"2020-01-09T09:05:00","modified_gmt":"2020-01-09T17:05:00","slug":"stitt-robs-public-purse-hard-rock-blindsided","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/stitt-robs-public-purse-hard-rock-blindsided\/","title":{"rendered":"Stitt robs public purse; Hard Rock blindsided"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oklahoma<\/strong> citizens may find themselves using the term “Indian giver” to describe Gov. Kevin Stitt<\/strong> (R). He’s planning to plunder the state’s rake<\/a> of \"\"tribal gaming revenue to defend against a lawsuit brought by the state’s three biggest tribes. The Sooner State must not need tribal lucre as much as Stitt claims, if he can so cavalierly use it to bring in pricey Seattle<\/strong> legal talent to defend himself. It is, however, characteristic of Stitt’s me-me-me perspective\u00a0on a sensitive issue: whether the state’s tribal compacts rolled over last Jan. 1 or must be renegotiated. While each tribe is required to pay the state $35,000 a year for\u00a0\u201ccosts incurred in connection with the oversight of covered games,\u201d Stitt seems to have a much more luxurious legal tab in mind.<\/p>\n

Incidentally, if the $35K apiece were not enough, tribes are also required to pony up $50,000 startup costs for helping “the state in initiating its administrative and oversight responsibilities.\u201d There’s $2 million in that kitty, money that Stitt apparently plans to blow through in a hurry. Using compact money for legal bills may not stand up in court. Also, Chickasaw Nation<\/strong> Senior Counsel Stephen Greetham<\/strong> \"\"was quick to spot a flaw in Stitt’s logic.\u00a0\u201cGiven that Governor Stitt believes the compact expired with the New Year, it is unclear what he thinks the state\u2019s ongoing compact-oversight responsibilities are,\u201d he told the governor’s preferred megaphone, the Tulsa World<\/em>. State\u00a0Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Roger Thompson<\/strong> (R) also queried\u00a0whether defending against litigation qualified as “compliance”-related. As we’ve said, Oklahoma must not need the $139 million terribly much if Stitt can throw it around at his personal discretion.<\/p>\n

* A Bristol<\/strong>, Virginia<\/strong>, casino may not be a slam-dunk for Hard Rock International<\/strong> after all. The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians<\/strong> and Johnson Commercial Development<\/strong> have disclosed plans to build one on 350 acres of undeveloped land. While the Hard Rock site at the former Bristol Mall<\/strong> is snugly inside city limits, the Cherokee project would be in unincorporated Washington County<\/strong>. That could be a problem: Bills currently before the Lege specify Bristol as a casino locale, meaning the county has a lack of standing. The Cherokee are calling for more study of the issue plus a competitive-bidding process.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe problem with competitive bidding is you don\u2019t know what you\u2019re going to get. We all felt pretty comfortable with the Bristol proposal, the investment and things of that nature,\u201d said state Del. Terry Kilgore<\/strong> (R, \"\"right<\/em>), adding,\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s a little bit late in the game for new projects.\u201d The Cherokee could, however, revert to the IGRA land-into-trust process.\u00a0\u201cThe location of the casino will be within the beloved ancestral home of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians,\u201d said Chief Richard Sneed<\/strong>. Hard Rock backer Jim McGlothlin<\/strong>, however, poured scorn on the new proposal. “We have a standing facility that we made a purchase of and it seems we would be the choice for the city.\u00a0I would propose that we don\u2019t need to make this two or three years of having RFPs\u00a0and everybody in the world come here. We need the city to make that choice and let the referendum be voted on. Then the state would have to issue the license, and, at that point, if they don\u2019t like the proposed operator, the state could turn it down. \u2026 We can\u2019t wait years and years to do this.\u201d Maybe not, but some patience wouldn’t come amiss.<\/p>\n

* Las Vegas<\/strong>‘ biggest international market isn’t Hong Kong<\/strong>. Nor is it Mexico Cit<\/strong>y. Try Toronto<\/strong>. One visitor from that august city<\/a> chose Planet Hollywoo<\/strong>d for her stay because\u00a0“I’m not really a gambler, but I love great restaurants and really good entertainment and\u00a0Vegas has so much to \"\"offer, it seemed like a perfect fit.” Caesars Entertainment<\/strong> has been helped in tailoring its marketing to the Great White North by anchoring its resorts with headliners like C\u00e9line Dion<\/strong> and Shania Twain<\/strong>, distinguished Canadians both.\u00a0“When we’re booking entertainment, our goal is to land the best talent, but it’s certainly a bonus in offering our Canadian guests an opportunity to support their fellow countrymen or women,” said Caesars President of Entertainment Jason Gastwirth<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Putting the “international” in MGM Resorts<\/strong>\u00a0are those nonpareil<\/em> Canucks, Cirque du Soleil<\/strong>, whose seven shows can pack in 20,000 of their countrymen per day. And don’t forget the Canadian national sport, hockey, as represented by the Las Vegas Golden Knights<\/strong>. Canadian-made TV series Stargate Atlantis<\/em> even filmed its series finale on the Las Vegas Strip<\/strong>. Now if we could just get Amanda Tapping<\/strong> into town …<\/p>\n

* Casino regulation in Japan<\/strong> kicks off tomorrow. That’s when the Casino Management Commission<\/strong> holds its first meeting<\/a>, an important milestone in that shows Nippon means business about this casino thing. The Shinzo Abe<\/strong> administration is holding to its casino-\"\"development pace, despite the evolving bribery scandal involving Chinese firm 500.com<\/strong> and a spate of Japanese lawmakers. Chief Cabinet Secretary\u00a0Yoshihide Suga<\/strong> said the scandal was ‘not directly relevant’ to casino development\u2014although 500.com’s goal was to boost the number of approved gaming resorts from three to five. Early agenda items for the CMC are to set up its ground rules and allocate its $59 million budget. Other priorities are\u00a0security matters, probity and background checks, as well as countering problem gambling. If all goes well with the first round of casinos, more are likely to be approved … although we won’t have results until 2025 at the earliest. Hang in there Hard Rock.<\/p>\n

* As the Nevada<\/strong> caucus draws nearer, the second tier of Democratic presidential candidates is courting the Culinary Union<\/strong>. Already Bernie Sanders<\/strong>, Elizabeth Warren<\/strong>, Joe Biden<\/strong> and\u2014to no avail\u2014Kamala Harris<\/strong> have been through town. On Jan. 11 the Culinary tees up a doubleheader, with conservative Sen. Amy Klobuchar<\/strong> (D) at 10 a.m., followed by South Bend<\/strong> Mayor Pete Buttigieg<\/strong> (D) at 11 a.m. Then, on the 16th, billionaire activist Tom Steyer<\/strong> (D) puts in a 10 a.m. appearance. Steyer’s rhetoric ought to be music to the Culinary’s ears but the local is playing its cards masterfully close to the vest. Anyway, staging these town halls where your constituents can get face time with The Man is an excellent demonstration of the Culinary’s clout.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Oklahoma citizens may find themselves using the term “Indian giver” to describe Gov. Kevin Stitt (R). He’s planning to plunder the state’s rake of tribal gaming revenue to defend against a lawsuit brought by the state’s three biggest tribes. The … 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":[244,266,80,151,26,4,165,171,245,115,25,31,9,19,20,17,215],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25792"}],"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=25792"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25792\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25795,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25792\/revisions\/25795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}