{"id":367,"date":"2009-07-16T11:50:00","date_gmt":"2009-07-16T19:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/blogs\/dmckee\/index.cfm\/2009\/7\/16\/Case-Bets-Midnight-Jim-Oscar-Sands-Peepshow"},"modified":"2009-07-16T11:50:00","modified_gmt":"2009-07-16T19:50:00","slug":"case-bets-midnight-jim-sands-peepshow-hard-rock-reid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/case-bets-midnight-jim-sands-peepshow-hard-rock-reid\/","title":{"rendered":"Case Bets: Midnight Jim, Sands, "Peepshow", Hard Rock, Reid"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chronic ineptitude by Nevada's governor is endless fodder for comedy (like entrusting your re-election campaign to the former marketing director of a ski resort and political novice<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

But it also has perilous consequences. For instance, his thoughtless decision to pack the Nevada Gaming Commission<\/strong> with lawyers now threatens to hamstring the board<\/a>. Jane Ann Morrison<\/strong> details how new Commissioner Joe Brown<\/strong> had to abstain from 24% of last month's votes. Seems he had conflict-of-interest issues with a couple of miniscule slot houses called Station Casinos<\/strong> and Harrah's Entertainment<\/strong>. Whoops. Brown's is the most egregious problem but it's hardly the only one.<\/p>\n

Most of Jim Gibbons<\/strong>' appointments to the NGC and the Nevada Gaming Control<\/strong> Board<\/strong> have been solid but this was a real boner and somebody up in Carson City should have seen it coming.<\/p>\n

Midnight Jim discovers Facebook<\/strong>. He also learns the need to think before you "friend<\/a>." He sure won't be getting Bill Raggio<\/strong>'s vote next year.<\/p>\n

Rescue may be at hand<\/strong> for the beautiful and historic Boulder Dam Hotel<\/strong>, thanks to a mysterious benefactor<\/a>. As for recent arrival Shear Madness<\/em><\/a>, not so much<\/a>. I hear that the "interactive" show may not have been interactive enough to ride the Vegas wave of Marriage Can Be Murder<\/em><\/a> and Tony 'n Tina's Wedding<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

In case you missed it … <\/strong>Apparently eager to stanch the flow of exiting executives, Las Vegas Sands<\/strong> has given Rob Golstein<\/strong> a promotion to senior VP<\/a>. The new title comes with a $535,000 raise. For those of you keeping score at home, that's $2,758 for each of the 194 workers Sands just pink-slipped.<\/p>\n

Bean out, O'Day in<\/strong>: The producers of Peepshow<\/em><\/a> are, more than anything else, great at generating publicity. It's official<\/a> that Shoshana Bean<\/strong> will be supplanted in late summer by Playboy<\/em> cover girl Aubrey O'Day<\/strong>. It sounds as though Bean was plugged into the cast on very<\/em> short notice (with seven days or fewer of rehearsal), lending credence to the reports that Mel B<\/strong>.'s disappearing act came as an unpleasant surprise to the erstwhile Scary Spice. At present, Bean is the best thing Peepshow<\/em> has going. How unfortunate it was but a brief fling. Shoshana, we barely knew ya.<\/p>\n

Rushing in<\/strong> where angels fear to tread, Morgans Hotel Group<\/strong> will open 490 more Hard Rock Hotel<\/strong> rooms on July 27, well ahead of schedule<\/a>. The timing seems odd but Morgans and financier\/hostage DLJ Merchant Partners<\/strong> have to make their rash of expansions at the HRH start turning a buck.<\/p>\n

Reid safe at home<\/strong>. The window of opportunity for unseating Sen. Harry Reid<\/strong> (D-NV) is closing fast. Thanks to Reid's support of assault weapons, the National Rifle Association<\/strong> has got his back<\/a>. Avowed challenged Sharron Angle<\/strong> is woefully short of cash<\/a>, while GOP dream candidate Rep. Dean Heller<\/strong> has even less financial traction<\/a>. If Reid's unpopularity with the home crowd makes him a low-hanging piñata, the GOP just keeps flailing at empty air.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chronic ineptitude by Nevada's governor is endless fodder for comedy (like entrusting your re-election campaign to the former marketing director of a ski resort and political novice.) But it also has perilous consequences. For instance, his thoughtless decision to pack … 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":[51,4,102,50,6,33,25,12,8],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367"}],"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=367"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}