{"id":27636,"date":"2020-07-29T07:26:22","date_gmt":"2020-07-29T15:26:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=27636"},"modified":"2020-07-30T07:43:27","modified_gmt":"2020-07-30T15:43:27","slug":"election-special-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/election-special-5\/","title":{"rendered":"Election special"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Good news! The word “casino” is no longer toxic in politics. Why do we say that? Because Montana<\/strong> Gov. Steve Bullock<\/strong> (D), a U.S. Senate aspirant, merely describes Sheldon & Miriam Adelson<\/strong> as “this billionaire couple” in a fundraising e-mail slamming the left’s new bogeyman, the Las Vegas Sands<\/strong> CEO. Sheldon makes a big and inviting target but now it’s for size of his largesse and not from where that wealth was derived. Speaking of the Senate, opinion polls are all over the place so we went to a reliable source<\/a>, futures market PredictIt<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Mitch McConnell<\/strong> (R) needn’t worry about involuntary retirement, being favored over challenger Amy McGrath<\/strong>, 81 cents to 20. Sen. Lindsey Graham<\/strong> (R) is getting a stiff challenge from Jaime Harrison<\/strong> but PredictIt has the incumbent pulling it out, 79 cents to 25. Goodbye and thanks for playing, Sen. Susan Collins<\/strong> (R). She’s a 31-to-70 underdog against Sara Gideon<\/strong>. Also on the Endangered Senators List is Alabama<\/strong>‘s Doug Jones<\/strong> (D), down 19-to-85, while Georgia<\/strong> conservatives are expected to boot Sen. Kelly Loeffler<\/strong> (R) in favor of Rep. Doug Collins<\/strong> (R), 86 cents to 17 in a special election. Dems in Massachusetts<\/strong> are anticipated to dump Sen. Ed Markey<\/strong> (32 cents) in favor of Rep. Joe Kennedy<\/strong> (66 cents). Congressional Gaming Caucus<\/strong> member Sen. Martha McSally<\/strong> (R) of Arizona<\/strong> also might want to update her resum\u00e9. PredictIt has Mark Kelly<\/strong> winning her<\/em> special election 84 cents to 16 cents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

In the main event, Sen. Kamala Harris<\/strong> (D) had been looking like a lock for the veepstakes but former U.N. ambassador Susan Rice<\/strong> has come on strong lately … although the odds here are too volatile to repost. And Donald Trump<\/strong> has his work cut out for him: PredictIt only gives him 40 cents to Joe Biden<\/strong>‘s 62. The site isn’t taking odds on loyal soldier Vice President Mike Pence<\/strong>‘s future, even though we hear persistent buzz that either Rep. Elise Stefanik<\/strong> (R) or former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley<\/strong> will supplant him. That would be cruel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a setback for slot routes, Nevada<\/strong> Gov. Steve Sisolak<\/strong> (D) extended closure of bars in four counties for an additional week<\/a>. Taverns that serve food are exempted (but with restrictions). Also, perhaps feeling the heat for going easy on Big Gaming, Sisolak promised closer scrutiny of casinos. With more than a touch of asperity the guv said, \u201cTo put it bluntly, the time for education is over. Businesses, Nevadans, and visitors should all be familiar with the expectations of reduced indoor capacity, required face coverings, and social distancing. We are close to five months in. No more excuses. If people aren\u2019t following the rules to keep us safe, there needs to be consequences.\u201d Indeed there do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking of consequences, the Nevada Gaming Control Board<\/strong> has opened disciplinary procedures on three<\/a> casino<\/a> companies<\/a>, including a slot route, for noncompliance, one of the scofflaws being quite obnoxious about it. Fines are recommended. All of the violators are small fry. We’re hearing that a prominent Downtown<\/strong> casino has been fined but are waiting for confirmation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"The NFL<\/strong> is still proceeding as though it’s business as usual but that darned Coronavirus keeps rearing its ugly head. On the New England Patriots<\/strong> alone, linebacker Dont\u2019a Hightower<\/strong>, safety Patrick Chung<\/strong> and right tackle Marcus Cannon<\/strong> are all opting to sit out the 2020 season and doubtless there will be others. Sports-betting handle in Colorado<\/strong>, meanwhile, grew to $38 million last month. Saying that Colorado wagering “surpassed expectations,” analyst Dustin Gouker<\/strong> continued, \u201cThat quick start should have Colorado\u2019s online sportsbooks well-prepared for a much higher level of engagement, which is already happening.\u201d Despite strong NBA<\/strong> futures bets, table tennis dominated the wickets with $9 million in wagers. The pandemic has been hard on sports books but they’ve responded with resilience and creativity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Good news! The word “casino” is no longer toxic in politics. Why do we say that? Because Montana Gov. Steve Bullock (D), a U.S. Senate aspirant, merely describes Sheldon & Miriam Adelson as “this billionaire couple” in a fundraising e-mail … 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":[135,109,27,42,26,152,283,116,147,112,33,25,12,130,74,243],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27636"}],"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=27636"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27636\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27639,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27636\/revisions\/27639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}