{"id":28872,"date":"2020-12-03T08:35:05","date_gmt":"2020-12-03T16:35:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=28872"},"modified":"2020-12-16T07:50:52","modified_gmt":"2020-12-16T15:50:52","slug":"the-empty-city-and-other-sad-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/the-empty-city-and-other-sad-news\/","title":{"rendered":"The empty city and other sad news"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Politico<\/em> took a trip to Atlantic City<\/strong> and found a “city without a pulse<\/a>,” its Boardwalk “empty,” its casinos “limping.” One out of every three Atlantic citizens remains without a job, not surprising when casinos can only operate at reduced capacity. That said, one of the many distasteful aspects of the current pandemic is the spectacle of Wall Street<\/strong> boffins rubbing their hands with glee over the improved cash flow that results from casinos getting by on fewer employees and drastically reduced amenities. Big Gaming is not entirely blameless, as its representatives have indicated that this is their ‘new normal.’ As for Atlantic City, “unionized casino employees say they have now been jobless for so long that they\u2019ll have to reapply to their former jobs should their casinos decide to hire them back at all.” A 2,400-turkey Thanksgiving giveaway saw demand far outstrip supply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reports Community FoodBank of New Jersey<\/strong> CEO Carlos Rodriguez<\/strong>, “No one’s thriving here.” People who have money are saving it at record levels, not good for an industry that relies on conspicuous outlay of dollars. As for those who don’t have money, there’s scant help coming from the federal government, even if the Senate gets off its duff (a mighty big “if”) and passes a second multi-trillion stimulus package. If you think Covid-19<\/strong> has been bad for the economy, you ain’t seen nothing yet. As Politico<\/em> notes, “Atlantic City thrives on the industries the coronavirus hit the hardest\u2014entertainment, tourism, service, hospitality\u2014leaving it particularly vulnerable.” (Mind you, the exact same thing could be said about Las Vegas<\/strong>.) And it’s hitting the people at the bottom of the economic pyramid, those making under $27,000 a year, the hardest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cAtlantic City is going to lose the little charm and hospitality that we have left,\u201d\u00a0moaned local restaurateur John Exadaktilos<\/strong>, chafing at another closure order from Gov. Phil Murphy<\/strong> (D). “What are we doing?” Hanging on by one’s fingertips, it would appear. As for the casino industry, although it’s coming back faster than Las Vegas’, it would be in quite a bind without mobile sports wagering and Internet gambling. They’re two legs of the trip that’s keeping Atlantic City, however unsteadily on its feet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for Sin City, its restaurants are caught between a rock and a hard place. Gov. Steve Sisolak<\/strong>‘s latest capacity restrictions (25% or less) are prompting several eateries, including the Oyster Bar<\/strong> at South Point<\/strong>, to close altogether<\/a>, at least until the surge blows over. Veteran Mexican restaurant Lindo Michoacan<\/strong> (one of our faves) had to shut down for quite a different reason, after a sinkhole swallowed its dining room<\/a>, putting 80 people out of jobs. The restaurant may be out of action for as long as a year<\/a>. Speaking of calamities, the ‘skinny stimulus’ bill currently before Congress “fails to address the problems that threaten to collapse the restaurant industry,” writes Eater<\/em>‘s Amy McCarthy<\/strong>, mincing few words<\/a>. She contends that $300 billion in new Payroll Protection Program<\/strong> is but a drop in the bucket and that the restaurant industry needs relief from the loans it’s already taken (such as the airlines will be getting, despite having welshed on promises not to cut jobs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It\u2019s not surprising that Congress is willing to bail out major corporations with no strings attached while the lifeblood of the economy withers on the vine, but it is disappointing,” remarks McCarthy, viewing the Covid carnage that has include closures of 100,000 restaurants. Without stimulus there will be, she contends, a new wave of shutdowns and ripple effect of unemployment. “The newest stimulus proposal does pretty much nothing for those workers, outside of some assistance for those who are facing eviction.” Even Democrats have left the dining business in the lurch, abandoning a proposed, $120 billion infusion into the industry specifically, leaving the F&B biz at the tender mercies of Sen. Mitch McConnell<\/strong> (R), in whose veins the milk of human kindness does not flow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you have a Roku stick plugged into your TV, you probably get a service called Fubo<\/strong>, a streaming platform mainly for sports. Well, Fubo just got serious about being a player in sports betting. It purchased Balto Sports<\/strong>, “a Y Combinator company that develops tools for users to organize and play fantasy sports games” that Fubo intends to use as a stepping stone toward real-money, online sports wagering. As Fubo says, “Additional announcements will be forthcoming.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mohegan Sun<\/strong> is having problems moving forward with Inspire<\/strong> in South Korea<\/strong>. Although ground was broken last year, Coronavirus<\/strong> is having a dilatory effect on construction. Also, Global Gaming Business<\/em> reports, Mohegan Sun is having difficulty raising capital<\/a> to complete the project. The bad news comes as Mohegan Gaming & Entertainment waits for the permits for the $9 billion Hellenikon<\/strong> megaresort in Greece<\/strong> of which it is a key partner, a waiting period that could take a year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Politico took a trip to Atlantic City and found a “city without a pulse,” its Boardwalk “empty,” its casinos “limping.” One out of every three Atlantic citizens remains without a job, not surprising when casinos can only operate at reduced … 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":[23,18,14,283,22,37,167,33,187,243,19,17,38],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28872"}],"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=28872"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28872\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28873,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28872\/revisions\/28873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}