{"id":26758,"date":"2020-04-15T07:20:19","date_gmt":"2020-04-15T15:20:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=26758"},"modified":"2020-04-15T10:45:28","modified_gmt":"2020-04-15T18:45:28","slug":"small-casinos-still-screwed-hedge-funds-on-the-prowl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/small-casinos-still-screwed-hedge-funds-on-the-prowl\/","title":{"rendered":"Small casinos still screwed; Hedge funds on the prowl"},"content":{"rendered":"

Evidently someone got American Gaming Association<\/strong> President Bill Miller’s letter to Donald Trump<\/strong> before POTUS’\u00a0eyes. We say “evidently” because somebody (probably the White House<\/strong>), in an effort to \"\"be Solomonic, persuaded the Small Business Administration<\/strong> to effect a compromise. It has replaced a mossbacked constraint on emergency assistance with a slightly less archaic one. Heretofore, companies that derived over 33% of their revenue from gambling were excluded from the Paycheck Protection Program<\/strong> and other funds. Now, if you have less than $1 million in total revenue and get less than half<\/em> of that from gaming, you’re eligible for relief. That might help a lot of taverns and slot routes but small casinos continue to get the shaft.<\/p>\n

While the Congressional Gaming Caucus<\/strong> has been deferential to the SBA, Miller has not held back and he was in rare form yesterday. Take it away, Bill! “Despite promising conversations with the administration over the last two weeks, this updated guidance falls woefully short of fully addressing antiquated, \"\"discriminatory policies that have, to date, restricted small gaming companies from accessing critical loan support …\u00a0Small gaming businesses that have closed to comply with mandatory government orders will continue to be denied access to this critical lifeline to support their employees because of this half-measure.” He then thanked the Gaming Caucus and said the AGA would now be pinning its hopes on the legislative process<\/a>. As Rep. Susie Lee<\/strong> theorizes, the exclusionary language was probably lazily pasted in from 2009 Great Recession<\/strong> relief and this Congress’ clear intent<\/em> was to help Small Gaming. Miller’s new\u00a0wish list is:<\/p>\n