{"id":5424,"date":"2010-12-23T14:15:32","date_gmt":"2010-12-23T22:15:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=5424"},"modified":"2020-10-28T04:13:41","modified_gmt":"2020-10-28T12:13:41","slug":"twere-the-case-bets-before-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/twere-the-case-bets-before-christmas\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Twere the Case Bets before Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the casino industry, everything was stirring, including the mice<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"Cordish’s revenge<\/strong>. It’s a dish best served by opening Cordish Gaming<\/strong>‘s controversial Arundel Mills<\/strong> gambling hall late next year with a temporary, one-year casino<\/a>. That means karma comes early for Penn National Gaming<\/strong> and Gov. Martin O’Malley<\/strong> (D) alike. Both tried to bigfoot the Anne Arundel County<\/strong> issue in an effort to get the casino contract away from Cordish and into Penn-owned Laurel Park<\/strong>. Penn’s interference was particularly egregious<\/a> (one of the few things on which Gary Loveman<\/strong> and S&G<\/em> would wholeheartedly concur), especially since it had just opened<\/a> its one allotted Maryland<\/strong> casino. Even Cordish’s temporary casino will be 25% larger than Penn’s permanent one in Perryville<\/strong> — 137% larger as soon as the mind-boggling total of 4,750 slots is crammed onto the floor.<\/p>\n

Apropos of Loveman<\/strong>, he was pissing and moaning at Global Gaming Expo<\/strong> about how there aren’t nearly enough casinos in the U.S. One notes with interest that a potential slot parlor in western Maryland has gone begging twice over, for lack of qualified applicants. Time for Caesars Entertainment<\/strong> to put its money where its CEO’s mouth is. After all, it’s got the scratch to buy into Dan Gilbert<\/strong>‘s $1 billion, two-casino project<\/a> in Ohio<\/strong> (and may be sniffing around online-gambling provider<\/a> 888.com<\/strong>, which would cost at least $370 million). Meanwhile, co-owner Apollo Global Management<\/strong> has been quietly accumulating an ownership stake in the Twin River<\/strong> racino as the latter emerges from bankruptcy. The Providence Journal<\/em>‘s description of Apollo is blackly funny, if one considers how Harrah’s Entertainment<\/strong> was doing before Loveman came knocking on Apollo’s door: “[It] specializes in searching out distressed businesses it can buy cheaply, straighten out quickly and sell profitably<\/em>.” How’s that working out for you, Apollo?<\/p>\n

\"\"Recycled attraction<\/strong>. It wasn’t on the to-do list of former MGM Grand<\/strong> headliners Recycled Percussion<\/strong><\/a> to appear at a Tropicana Las Vegas<\/strong> media event promoting its new gig. The smattering of local scribes who were there got extended looks at Yesterday: The Beatles Tribute<\/em><\/a> and chop-socky show Sideswipe<\/em><\/a>. One is distinctly better than the other<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Fear of spending<\/strong>. One metric doesn’t make or un-make an economic recovery<\/a> but while I was shopping at Brookstone<\/strong> last night, I heard the store manager complaining about a lack of holiday business this year. He told a co-worker that the Henderson<\/strong> branch had made $30,000 on Dec. 22, 2009 but only half that amount yesterday. It’s a purely anecdotal sort of stat but it’s the kind that burns itself into your memory.<\/p>\n

On the other hand<\/strong>, although the Las Vegas<\/strong> area is still paying the price for years of overbuilding, Downtown is finally seeing the development renaissance<\/a> that was supposed to happen six years ago. Maybe the planned Forest City Enterprises<\/strong> casino-hotel will be the tipping point for one or two Downtown casinos that have outlived their usefulness. S&G<\/em> maintains that what the city proper needs is better<\/em> casino product, not just more of it. Along with Tilman Fertitta<\/strong>‘s Golden Nugget<\/strong>, Forest City’s casino should raise the bar. Even so, Downtown is desperately in need of economic diversity, so moving 1,200 Zappos.com<\/strong> employees there was a deal worth doing. If Michael & Jennifer Cornthwaite<\/strong> can bring hipness back to Glitter Gulch<\/a>, miracles are indeed possible.<\/p>\n

Return of the Mob?<\/strong> That’s one of the subplots which led up to an $18 million judgment against a Pennsylvania<\/strong> company which had a no-show “management” contract with Shooting Star Casino<\/strong> in rural Minnesota<\/strong>. Keystone State company Medure Development<\/strong> somehow managed to pocket $10 million without ever having an employee on property<\/a>. I guess you could call it “virtual” management.<\/p>\n

Why is Singapore<\/strong> growing casino-driven tourism even faster than Macao<\/strong> did? TodayOnline.com<\/strong> explains it all<\/a>. Obviously, it never hurts to already<\/em> be perceived as a tourist destination.<\/p>\n

“Casino patients [sic]” get robbed in a pre-dawn raid<\/em>.
\nThe Christmas spirit<\/strong>. It’s alive and well in the local gambler who calls himself Robin Hood 702<\/strong>. While online wagering sites have cynically tried to cash in on the notoriety of the Bellagio<\/strong> stickup, Mr. Hood 702 is offering twice as much as the thief stole<\/a>, both as a reward for turning in a dangerous criminal but also to deter future high-profile banditry in the Vegas Valley. May Santa be good to him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the casino industry, everything was stirring, including the mice. Cordish’s revenge. It’s a dish best served by opening Cordish Gaming‘s controversial Arundel Mills gambling hall late next year with a temporary, one-year casino. That means karma comes early for … 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":[48,98,70,28,51,14,4,104,7,37,62,72,11,43,71,69,95,33,111,108,87,9,129,19,20,38],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5424"}],"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=5424"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5424\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28698,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5424\/revisions\/28698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}