{"id":26536,"date":"2020-03-25T06:41:24","date_gmt":"2020-03-25T14:41:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=26536"},"modified":"2022-06-05T07:00:26","modified_gmt":"2022-06-05T15:00:26","slug":"under-the-boardwalk-premature-panic-in-virginia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/under-the-boardwalk-premature-panic-in-virginia\/","title":{"rendered":"Under the Boardwalk; Premature panic in Virginia"},"content":{"rendered":"

New Jersey<\/strong> Gov. Phil Murphy<\/strong> (D) is taking the long view<\/a> on casino closures\u2014as in, what happens if they last two months? He’s measuring the negative economic impact\u00a0at $1.1 billion. According to The Press of
\nAtlantic City<\/em>, “That figure encompasses all direct and indirect economic \"\"activity associated with the casino industry, including gaming revenue, food and beverage and hotel, but also the impact on suppliers, vendors and workers.” It’s not an entirely<\/em> bleak picture for the casinos, as Internet gambling is unaffected, but they’re looking at an indefinite retail closure, which is going to upend Atlantic City just when things were looking great: 21 straight months of revenue increases. Last year’s’ $3.3 billion gross has been replaced with a big question mark for 2020. Unfortunately, the American Gaming Association<\/strong> continues to behave recklessly, demanding an immediate resumption, public health be damned.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, our choice for Irresponsible Public Servant [sic<\/em>] of the Year goes to Las Vegas<\/strong> Mayor Carolyn Goodman<\/strong> (D), who’s still yammering<\/a> to reopen the casinos, less than a week after Gov. Steve Sisolak<\/strong> (D) shut them down. Evidently public safety is a lower priority with Her Honor than keeping the slot machines clinking.<\/p>\n

* Although casinos have been legalized in Virginia<\/strong>, there’s doom and gloom afoot<\/a> that Coronavirus<\/strong> and an ailing stock market are going to scare off investors. This is nonsense. The five casinos still need local \"\"approval in November’s election (assuming it happens on schedule) and the casinos themselves are years from opening. As Caesars Entertainment<\/strong> spokesman Richard Broome<\/strong> said, \u201cCaesars will continue to pursue a gaming license in Virginia and hopes to build and operate a casino in Danville<\/strong>.\u201d Or, as state Sen. Louise Lucas<\/strong> put it, “We have time on our side.” The biggest stumbling block to casinos is the lack of competitive bidding in the enabling legislation, something that Gov. Ralph Northam<\/strong> (D, above<\/em>) is expected to address.<\/p>\n

While Norfolk<\/strong>, Bristol<\/strong> and Portsmouth<\/strong> have deals in place, seven companies are vying for Danville<\/strong> and a couple of others are looking at Richmond<\/strong>. \u201cIn light of the current environment and new risks we are facing, it is even more imperative\u201d that there be additional bidding, said developer Steve Johnson<\/strong>, whose Bristol pitch was rebuffed.\u201cCertainly, there\u2019s going to have to be some additional scrutiny,\u201d said Secretary of Finance Aubrey Layne<\/strong>. \u201cThey\u2019re not the panacea everybody thinks they are.\u201d As for Caesars, the main worry for Danville is that incoming CEO Tom Reeg<\/strong> pulls the plug as a cost-cutting measure … but there are plenty of other suitors to take his place.<\/p>\n

* Wanna bet on sports? We hear camel racing is blowing up. Ditto Russian table tennis and Australian rugby. And don’t forget Belarussian soccer.\u00a0\u201cWe are doing stuff we have never done before.\u00a0Over\/under on stocks. People are betting on video games. We got our creative juices flowing.\u201d So says Dave Mason<\/strong> of BetOnline.ag SportsBook<\/strong>. And it’s not just obscure sports and wacko prop bets.\u00a0\u201cOur [Internet] casino and poker room numbers\u2019 are through the roof.” Remember, you read it here first<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“What\u2019s left is a plate of horse racing in the UK to Australian Football, to Division II soccer in Aruba<\/strong>. For the truly dedicated gambler, they can find hockey games in Russia<\/strong>, to soccer games in Nicaragua<\/strong> and Hong Kong<\/strong>,” reports the Raleigh News & Observer<\/em>. And, for something less obscure, there’s the NFL<\/strong> draft\u2014or Tom Brady<\/strong>‘s stats with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers<\/strong>. (How many times will he set those cannons off?) \u00a0As Mason puts it, necessity has been the mother of copious invention:\u00a0\u201cThis has forced us to put out so much original content.\u00a0People want action and we are giving them action. Or as much as we can think of.\u201d We suddenly feel much more sanguine about the immediate future of sports betting.<\/p>\n

* Foxwoods Resort Casino<\/strong> has furloughed 5,000 employees, with \"\"1,200 (unionized) dealers getting paid leave. There presently about 300 Covid-19 cases in the state. Halfway around the globe, SkyCity Entertainment<\/strong> withdrew its earnings forecast, closed its Adelaide<\/strong>\u00a0casino and braced itself for casino closures<\/a> in New Zealand<\/strong>. Construction on an expansion of the Adelaide property continues unabated.<\/p>\n

While Florida<\/strong> Gov. Ron DeSantis<\/strong> (R) continues to waffle on anti-coronavirus measures (blaming the disease on New York<\/strong> and New Jersey<\/strong>), the state’s last operational tribal casino finally closed last Sunday<\/a>. Miccosukee Resort & Gaming<\/strong> held out as long as tenable\u00a0but evidently decided continued business was no longer feasible. The tribe stated that the casino was\u00a0\u201cnot considered an essential business establishment in the eyes of the government [but]\u00a0considered the finances of our staff as essential and wanted to keep our doors open for as long as possible.\u201d Better late than never. Your move, guv.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) is taking the long view on casino closures\u2014as in, what happens if they last two months? He’s measuring the negative economic impact\u00a0at $1.1 billion. According to The Press of Atlantic City, “That figure encompasses … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12733,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[249,65,23,103,244,14,26,36,166,283,140,22,37,33,74,243,20,215],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26536"}],"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=26536"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26536\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31253,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26536\/revisions\/31253"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}