{"id":26828,"date":"2020-04-21T12:51:03","date_gmt":"2020-04-21T20:51:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=26828"},"modified":"2020-10-16T07:10:04","modified_gmt":"2020-10-16T15:10:04","slug":"case-bets-33","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/case-bets-33\/","title":{"rendered":"Case Bets"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>For decades, <strong>Pagcor<\/strong> has dabbled in both regulating and running casinos (imagine <strong>Caesars Entertainment<\/strong> having disciplinary oversight of the rest of the U.S. casino industry). In recent years it has made intermittent noises about selling off its 47 casinos and becoming strictly a regulator. But nothing has been done. However, with the <strong>Philippines<\/strong> financially strapped by the <strong>Coronavirus<\/strong> pandemic, one lawmaker says <a href=\"https:\/\/calvinayre.com\/2020\/04\/14\/casino\/the-philippines-might-sell-pagcor-casinos-to-cover-covid-19-debt\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">this is the time<\/a> <img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-7903\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/roulette-2-300x211.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"211\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/roulette-2-300x211.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/roulette-2-150x105.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/roulette-2.jpg 595w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>for Pagcor to act. Senate Minority Leader <strong>Franklin Drilon<\/strong> thinks there&#8217;s a $5.9 billion payday to be had. Trouble is, Pagcor&#8217;s casinos are finally profitable, which would give the government an incentive to maintain the status quo. Pagcor points out that 100% of those profits go directly to the government, while private casinos in the archipelago are taxed at 19.5% of gross gaming revenue. Nor would a Pagcor sale likely be as simple as proponents believe. In the words of <strong>CalvinAyre.com<\/strong>, &#8220;It would be na\u00efve to <!--more-->think that any casino sale would result in fast cash, like running to a local pawnshop to sell grandma\u2019s gold earrings, and the entire process would most likely not provide the level of economic support some may expect\u2014it certainly wouldn\u2019t offer it in the timeframe some believe.&#8221; Besides, if strongman <strong>Rodrigo Duterte<\/strong> isn&#8217;t behind it, it&#8217;s not going anywhere.<\/p>\n<p>* At least <strong>Montana<\/strong> taverns with slot routes have reason to celebrate the <strong>Small Business Administration<\/strong>&#8216;s expansion of <strong>Paycheck Protection Program<\/strong> largesse. Businesses with $1 million in revenue of which less than 50% is derived from gambling qualify for relief. The average Montana tavern grosses $700K a year, $300K of that from slots. So it squeezes in just under the &#8216;means test.&#8217; This set off some celebration among Montana politicos. \u201cI\u2019m glad the Administration heard us loud and clear and reversed course, giving these employers much-needed relief as we deal with the effects of COVID-19,\u201d said Sen. <strong>Jon Tester<\/strong> (D). The question is, does the SBA&#8217;s clemency come in time for it to be of help to Montanans? The money&#8217;s said to have all been spent.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Jottings<\/strong><\/em>: <strong>Westgate Las Vegas<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/calvinayre.com\/2020\/04\/14\/business\/the-superbook-sportsbook-is-headed-to-colorado\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">is franchising<\/a> its <strong>SuperBook<\/strong> in <strong>Colorado<\/strong>. Said sports book boss <strong>Jay Kornegay<\/strong>,\u00a0\u201cThe casinos operating in Colorado are in remote areas, unlike <strong>Nevada<\/strong> and the Strip. They are mountain towns, so the remote signup option Coloradans have for mobile apps is vital &#8230;\u00a0Most of our handle, 95% will be mobile\u201d &#8230; <strong>Virgin Hotel Las Vegas<\/strong> President <strong>Richard Bosworth<\/strong> insists that the project remains on schedule. Interestingly, he says hotel ownership <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reviewjournal.com\/business\/casinos-gaming\/virgin-hotels-las-vegas-overhaul-on-track-despite-virus-ceo-says-2006266\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">was &#8220;aware&#8221; of Coronavirus<\/a> at the time of the <strong>Hard Rock Hotel<\/strong>&#8216;s farewell weekend\u2014but went ahead with it anyway &#8230; Sports betting in <strong>Tennessee<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/d9bf0ff290bc31c8308e3c85f42bf57a\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">is finally a &#8216;go&#8217;<\/a> (although Internet-only). Now it just needs some sports on which to bet &#8230; Can&#8217;t go to see the <strong>Chippendales<\/strong> at <strong>The Rio<\/strong>? Now the beefcake <a href=\"https:\/\/lasvegassun.com\/news\/2020\/apr\/15\/chippendales-at-home-interactive-experience\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">can come to your living room<\/a>\u2014virtually.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For decades, Pagcor has dabbled in both regulating and running casinos (imagine Caesars Entertainment having disciplinary oversight of the rest of the U.S. casino industry). In recent years it has made intermittent noises about selling off its 47 casinos and &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/case-bets-33\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4,149,283,37,192,33,25,92,243,280,263,184],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26828"}],"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=26828"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26828\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28375,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26828\/revisions\/28375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}