{"id":5805,"date":"2011-02-18T13:36:49","date_gmt":"2011-02-18T21:36:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=5805"},"modified":"2011-02-18T15:34:30","modified_gmt":"2011-02-18T23:34:30","slug":"gary-loveman-not-so-visionary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/gary-loveman-not-so-visionary\/","title":{"rendered":"Gary Loveman, not so visionary"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Here’s a hypothesis for why the lenders holding the note on Colony Capital<\/strong>‘s underwater (more like submerged in Davey Jones’ Locker<\/strong>), market-lagging Atlantic City Hilton<\/strong> believe they can get as much as $75 million for the old place. If state Sen. Raymond Lesniak<\/strong>‘s bill to permit intrastate Internet<\/strong> betting makes it past the desk of Gov. Chris Christie<\/strong> (R), it’s good news for the Hilton. The measure could repose there until March 4, then be signed, vetoed — or simply allowed to become law without Christie’s signature. Only owners of Atlantic City <\/strong>casinos<\/em> can have Garden State online gambling, so the A.C. Hilton — or rather, its license — could become considerably more valuable.<\/p>\n

\"\"The ant at the picnic<\/strong> is, perversely, the biggest casino stakeholder on the Boardwalk, Caesars Entertainment<\/strong> President, Chairman, CEO & Pontifex Maximus Gary Loveman, Ph.D<\/strong>. He’s apparently been leaning on Christie to veto the bill<\/a>, thinking that a federal-level solution is preferable. Quoth the New York Post<\/em>, \u201cCaesars believes that New Jersey is getting in the way of potential Federal legislation legalizing online gaming, the source noted. It believes the Federal measure is a bigger priority.\u201d What are<\/em> they sniffing at Caesars HQ? Sounds like Sportin’ Life<\/strong> just dropped off a big shipment of “happy dust.”<\/p>\n

Seriously, is Democratic Party <\/strong>donor Loveman having problems with his arithmetic? The House is a lost and Sen. Harry Reid<\/strong> (D-NV) presides over an emaciated and eroding majority in the Senate. In other words, Loveman is willing to take money off <\/em>the table in Atlantic City in the foolish — yes, foolish — hope that nationwide Internet gambling is just around the corner somewhere, next to the unicorn petting zoo and legalized-hashish dispensary.<\/p>\n

Loveman’s lucky he doesn’t<\/strong> have to answer to shareholders anymore because this just wouldn’t wash. But since the good professor has extensive ties to overseas Internet-gaming and online-poker interests, he’s undoubtedly averse to the idea (and, horror of horrors, the cost) of setting up\u00a0 a Caesars-owned-and-operated Internet casino in New Jersey … and Lesniak’s bill makes offshore involvement strictly taboo.<\/p>\n

So if the Lesniak bill goes into the dumper, everybody who loses out on the chance to garner extra revenue should address their thank-you notes to Mr. Gary Loveman at One Harrah’s Court<\/strong>. Not that he cares what you think. (Sheldon Adelson<\/strong> may talk big and get on people’s nerves, but he can back it up, too. You have to respect that.)<\/p>\n

\"\"On the subject of Gov. Christie<\/strong>, he seems to have shot toward the top of the wish list<\/a> for 2012 presidential candidates. I dig it, man. But there’s a soon-to-appear I. Nelson Rose<\/strong> column that questions whether the Tea Party<\/strong> types really know what they’d be getting. Christie’s a stone fiscal conservative but not one of those in-your-face blowhards when it comes to social issues. Also, as the de facto<\/em> mayor of Atlantic City (and much preferable to the nominal one, I might add), he’s Mister Casino. That’s going to give hot conniption fits to all those old maids in the Religious Right who think gambling is shooting dice with Satan Incarnate.<\/p>\n

\"\"They seem to prefer pious hypocrites<\/strong> like former Alabama<\/strong> Gov. “Bingo Bob” Riley<\/strong> (R, left, perfectly coiffed for a Ronald Reagan<\/strong> Lookalike Contest), who publicly denounce gambling at every opportunity but quietly pocket casino donations — and consort with scumbag Jack Abramoff<\/strong> — to further their holier-than-thou ambitions. “Christie for President” has a good beat and you can dance to it, but I dunno how carefully some folks are reading the lyric sheet.<\/p>\n

However, as someone who’s carrying about 20-25 extra pounds, I cotton to the notion of putting a fellow waistline-challenged American in the Oval Office<\/strong>. We haven’t had one since the 19th century and it’s high time we rectified that oversight!<\/p>\n

(I don’t need to put a smiley face after that, do I?)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here’s a hypothesis for why the lenders holding the note on Colony Capital‘s underwater (more like submerged in Davey Jones’ Locker), market-lagging Atlantic City Hilton believe they can get as much as $75 million for the old place. If state … 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":[135,23,3,7,52,37,33,25,12,8],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5805"}],"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=5805"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5805\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5815,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5805\/revisions\/5815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}