{"id":5200,"date":"2010-12-01T11:25:28","date_gmt":"2010-12-01T19:25:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=5200"},"modified":"2010-12-02T09:52:31","modified_gmt":"2010-12-02T17:52:31","slug":"pinnacle-sees-kasich-raises-him-45-million","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/pinnacle-sees-kasich-raises-him-45-million\/","title":{"rendered":"Pinnacle sees Kasich, raises him $45 million"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Pinnacle Entertainment<\/strong> pushed $45 million worth of chips into the middle of the poker table that is Ohio<\/strong> last week. Buying River Downs<\/strong> is a seven-figure wager that Gov.-elect Jon Kasich<\/strong> will resume outgoing Gov. Ted Strickland<\/strong>‘s push for VLTs at seven Buckeye State tracks. Kasich has been extravagantly noncommittal on the issue but Pinnacle is basically calling his bluff, staking 45 million clams on its certainty that — once budgetary realities take hold — Kasich will bow to the seemingly inevitable and give racinos his nod.<\/p>\n

It’s also a move to protect Pinnacle’s Indiana<\/strong> flank, where Belterra<\/strong> is expected to be one of the casinos hardest hit when Caesars Entertainment<\/strong> and Rock Ventures<\/strong> open their Cincinnati<\/strong> slot arcade. Since the prospects of recouping its money on the track if VLTs don’t come through are nil, Pinnacle must either be mighty confident indeed or quite fearful of what will happen once Cincinnati becomes a gambling destination. Wells Fargo<\/strong> analyst Carlo Santarelli<\/strong> agrees, to the extent of calling the purchase “somewhat defensive” but with the upside of a handsome ROI if Kasich comes out in favor of slots at the tracks.<\/p>\n

No Adelson-Suen rematch?<\/strong> In the cyber-pages of The Newspaper That Must Not Be Cited, Howard Stutz<\/strong> reports that Las Vegas Sands<\/strong> may settle with Macao<\/strong> matchmaker Richard Suen<\/strong> rather than risk another jury trial (with the prospect of ex-prez William Weidner<\/strong> testifying against<\/em> the company). In this instance, settlement is probably the better part of valor. CEO Sheldon Adelson<\/strong> expended much shareholder money fighting Suen and failed to set any aside in case the verdict went against Sands. It comes as no surprise that the Nevada Supreme Court<\/strong> found reversible errors in the conduct of the trial — which saw Weidner testifying from “cheat sheets” — but it would have been a good deal cheaper for Adelson to have paid Suen off early on. It’ll be far costlier to win this war than call a truce. Sands will also be spared another public airing of its corporate dirty linen, something one would think Adelson is anxious to avoid.<\/p>\n

\"\"Gaming gets a seat<\/strong>. Another incoming governor, Nevada<\/strong>‘s Brian Sandoval<\/strong>, has tapped three current or former casino executives<\/a> to serve on his transition team. In addition to MGM Resorts International<\/strong> board member (and former dean of regulators) Bill Bible<\/strong>, Sandoval’s also seeking the input of erstwhile Bill Bennett<\/strong> prot\u00e9g\u00e9 Tony Alamo Sr.<\/strong> and of Station Casinos<\/strong> Executive Vice President Scott Nielson<\/strong>. Considering Station’s expertise at shimmying out of financial tight spots, Nielson seems a particularly apt choice to advise a state that’s up to its ears in budget deficits. MGM backed Sandoval’s opponent, Rory Reid<\/strong>, but either the governor-elect doesn’t carry a grudge or he’s still tight with Bible, going back to their shared experience of riding herd on the Silver State’s myriad casinos.<\/p>\n

Gone bust<\/strong>. Former “Euro Vegas” pitchman<\/a> Shawn Ellis<\/strong> has fallen upon evil days. He proposes to leave the San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians<\/strong> and other entities holding the bag for $1.4 million<\/a> in debt associated with the defunct Ellis Las Vegas<\/strong> project. Numerous tribes were tipped as minority investors in this phantom, a $5 billion, 9,000-unit project that had “vaporware” written all over it. Considering how the Vegas economy was starting to tank when Ellis was shopping this “failsino” around<\/a>, creditors who bought into it and obviously weren’t performing their due diligence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pinnacle Entertainment pushed $45 million worth of chips into the middle of the poker table that is Ohio last week. Buying River Downs is a seven-figure wager that Gov.-elect Jon Kasich will resume outgoing Gov. Ted Strickland‘s push for VLTs … 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":[14,26,22,62,11,71,30,111,25,12,57,20],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5200"}],"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=5200"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5200\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5204,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5200\/revisions\/5204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}