{"id":7377,"date":"2011-08-26T15:53:35","date_gmt":"2011-08-26T23:53:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=7377"},"modified":"2020-09-22T05:21:07","modified_gmt":"2020-09-22T13:21:07","slug":"the-lost-weekend-machine-gun-bloom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/the-lost-weekend-machine-gun-bloom\/","title":{"rendered":"The lost weekend; Machine Gun Bloom"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"When casino revenues weren’t as bad as expected, earlier this summer, one Atlantic City<\/strong> property executive called it a light at the end of the tunnel. Elsewhere, S&G<\/em> reader American Gaming Guru<\/strong> pithily remarked that the light was an oncoming train called Aqueduct<\/strong>. When the Guru couldn’t foresee was that Atlantic City is now set to absorb a body blow<\/a> in the form of Hurricane Irene<\/strong>. As of this morning, its track was projected to hit the Boardwalk square in the chops.<\/p>\n

\"\"Amazingly, casino bosses like Trump Entertainment Resorts<\/strong> CEO Robert Griffin<\/strong> and Caesars Entertainment<\/strong>‘s East Coast viceroy, Don Marrandino<\/strong> (left<\/em>), were actually toying with the possibility of staying open during the hurricane<\/a>. Unlike the Dixie riverboats that got ripped to shreds by hurricanes Katrina<\/strong> and Rita<\/strong> in 2005, the ones in Atlantic City are built to absorb heavy punishment. And, yes, the industry is faced not only with a lost weekend of revenue but also an indeterminate amount of property damage. But that’s no excuse<\/strong> for risking customers and employees in order to put a few extra dimes toward the bottom line. Resorts Atlantic City<\/strong> CEO Dennis Gomes<\/strong> gets the Best Practices award for deciding to close outright, even though he knows it’s going to hurt him in the wallet. If Gomes, boss of a struggling casino, can afford to be prudent, why were his colleagues dawdling? Fortunately, sanity eventually prevailed<\/a> earlier today.<\/p>\n

Speaking of dawdling<\/strong>, halfway across the country in the Land of Lincoln, Gov. Pat Quinn<\/strong> (D-IL) still can’t decide whether or not to veto a casino-expansion bill that’s moving toward his desk at glacial velocity<\/a>. While most of the “pro” arguments are specious or simply flawed, there’s no point in rehashing them for the umpteenth time.<\/p>\n

\"\"Quinn’s hapless dithering makes him look weak in the face of aggressive expansion proponents, riding a wave of euphoria after Neil Bluhm<\/strong>‘s Rivers Casino<\/strong> opened strongly … and never you mind that racino legalization would effectively throw a siege around Bluhm’s $450 million pleasure palace. Heck, slot routes are still stuck in the chute, although recent court rulings have lifted much of the doubt surrounding that new form of gambling.<\/p>\n

\"\"Machine Gun Bloom<\/strong>. Contrary to what I and many others expected, The Mob Experience<\/strong>, the cheesy Mafia<\/strong> theme park at the Tropicana Las Vegas<\/strong>, has been a commercial dud, running at half the projected visitation. Ousted developer<\/a> Jay Bloom<\/strong> is spraying fire at anyone and virtually everyone<\/a> involved with the attraction. His latest barrage winged the Trop itself<\/a>, although it’s hard to take seriously Bloom’s claim that the Trop was shy about promoting his cheesetastic showcase. Bloom’s tenure as de facto<\/em> director of entertainment at the Trop was a comparable flop and I’m sure Alex Yemenidjian<\/strong> is ruing the day he ever met this carnival barker. Oscar Goodman<\/strong>‘s downtown “Mob Museum” is certain to enjoy the last laugh.<\/p>\n

\"\"Incidentally, the Trop’s allocation of premier surface parking to the Nikki Beach<\/strong> crowd is looking like a major goof. Non-Beach patrons are relegated to the distant reaches — and they are<\/em> distant — of the Trop’s vehicular realm, while prime space in front of the hotel sits empty most of the time. Frankly, it makes it appear that nobody’s going to the Trop these days — hardly the visual message intended.<\/p>\n

\"\"After the planet-sized egg<\/strong> laid by Gary Loveman<\/strong> at G2E<\/strong> last year, American Gaming Association<\/strong> President Frank Fahrenkopf<\/strong> doesn’t dare let him give another keynote speech for a while. But I guess he had to throw Caesars a bone of some sort. It took the form of a “Lifetime Achievement Award<\/a>” to company lobbyist (and former Las Vegas<\/strong> mayor) Jan Laverty Jones<\/strong><\/a>. It’s kind of ironic when you consider the heat Jones took as mayor for attempting to curb slot routes. Though she’s hardly out to pasture, Jones has enjoyed one of the longer tenures among Caesars vice presidents and anyone who can put up with the insufferable Dr. Loveman that long deserves some sort of honorific. Congratulations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When casino revenues weren’t as bad as expected, earlier this summer, one Atlantic City property executive called it a light at the end of the tunnel. Elsewhere, S&G reader American Gaming Guru pithily remarked that the light was an oncoming … 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":[48,23,28,142,42,51,4,117,104,120,7,140,58,84,35,91,101,50,92,87,9,19],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7377"}],"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=7377"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7377\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28013,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7377\/revisions\/28013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}