{"id":7797,"date":"2011-10-26T11:41:21","date_gmt":"2011-10-26T19:41:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=7797"},"modified":"2022-10-31T06:41:14","modified_gmt":"2022-10-31T14:41:14","slug":"quotations-from-chairman-steve-elvis-catches-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/quotations-from-chairman-steve-elvis-catches-fire\/","title":{"rendered":"Quotations from Chairman Steve; Elvis catches fire"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Perhaps due to his eagerness to get Wynn Cotai<\/strong> jump-started, Steve Wynn<\/strong> has become an even more pliant sock puppet for China<\/strong>‘s central government than was Sheldon Adelson<\/strong>. It must be a source of great amusement among the ruling elite to see these two “capitalist running dogs” scurrying about like greyhounds chasing a mechanized hare. In a boiled-down version of his latest Fox Business News<\/strong> jeremiad, Wynn offers up a couple of howlers. “People matter in Macao<\/strong><\/em>,” he solemnly intones.\u00a0 “And working folks there get primary consideration<\/em>.”<\/p>\n

Yes, they matter so much they’ve had to hold public protests against the \"\"mass importation of guest workers to build pleasure palaces like Wynn Macau<\/strong>, not to mention staffing the city’s tourist amenities. Half the Macanese construction force consists of imported labor. A gentleman who spent several months observing the casino industry in Macao told me that there’s considerable resentment toward Adelson, Wynn, et. al<\/em>. for “literally gobbling up” land on Cotai<\/strong> that was meant to alleviate packed living conditions in Taipa<\/strong>. The Chinese government never envisioned having more than three casino operators in Macao — at least not until Adelson and Galaxy Entertainment<\/strong> fell out with each other — and is now trying to corral the six-headed dragon it has loosed upon the real estate market. But it at least Peking<\/strong> has a very polished propagandist in Steve Wynn.<\/p>\n

\"\"Whether in Macao or Maryland<\/strong>, bad governmental policy has somewhat fortuitously resulted in unintended casino expansion.The State of Maryland<\/strong> has discovered that\u00a0 — surprise, surprise — slot revenues aren’t living up to projections<\/a> (aka<\/em> the Penn National Effect). Part of the problem is that Cordish Gaming<\/strong>‘s Arundel Mills<\/strong> project is running behind schedule. However, the onerous burden of a 67% tax rate dooms Marylanders to low-budget facilities, like Penn National Gaming<\/strong>‘s bare-bones Perryville<\/strong> slot parlor, that may not be competitive with casinos in nearby states. This turn of events has put table-game proponents back in the driver’s seat<\/a>, although existing operators like Penn and prospective ones like Caesars Entertainment<\/strong> may have conflicts of interests about making their Maryland properties too competitive with ones they own just across the state line.<\/p>\n

\"\"Ideas being batted around in Annapolis<\/strong> include tables, more slots, more casinos — none of which pleases Gov. Martin O’Malley<\/strong> (D, right<\/em>) — including a sixth slot house just outside Foggy Bottom<\/a> [sic<\/em>] at Rosecroft Raceway<\/strong>. Everything is on the table … except a lower tax rate, of course. The casino goose is just going to have to up its production of golden eggs, by golly. And, unless the Free State’s one-casino-per-operator rule has been quietly rescinded, reviving Rosecroft would require giving Penn special treatment that’s certain to have other operators crying foul.<\/p>\n

Maryland isn’t the only<\/strong> state that’s hurting from a saturation of casinos on the Eastern Seaboard. Delaware<\/strong>‘s racinos say they’re losing money<\/a>. The state’s Video Lottery Advisory Council<\/strong> has advised that it’s amenable discussing “revised revenue-sharing agreements,” which is code for “tax breaks.” Maryland lawmkers, take note.<\/p>\n

C’mon everybody<\/strong>. Put 60 Elvis Presley<\/strong> impersonators in a room and pull the fire alarm<\/a>, and you’ll get a surrealistic spectacle, a rhinestone-spangled version of the clown car at the circus. The ensuing tableau had to have been more Benny Hill<\/strong> than Viva Las Vegas<\/em> but no Elvis impersonators were harmed in the making of this news story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Perhaps due to his eagerness to get Wynn Cotai jump-started, Steve Wynn has become an even more pliant sock puppet for China‘s central government than was Sheldon Adelson. It must be a source of great amusement among the ruling elite … 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":[70,28,14,4,7,22,62,72,69,95,111,25,12,32,31,17,139],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7797"}],"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=7797"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7797\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31835,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7797\/revisions\/31835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}