{"id":96,"date":"2009-09-25T17:19:00","date_gmt":"2009-09-25T21:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/blogs\/dmckee\/index.cfm\/2009\/9\/25\/Crime-doesnt-pay-Wyden-wimps-out"},"modified":"2022-06-29T10:32:22","modified_gmt":"2022-06-29T18:32:22","slug":"crime-doesnt-pay-wyden-wimps-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/crime-doesnt-pay-wyden-wimps-out\/","title":{"rendered":"Crime doesn't pay; Wyden wimps out"},"content":{"rendered":"

Five dimes worth of damage, $40,000 bail — and all to wrest a measly two grand<\/a> from some vending machines at Harrah’s Atlantic City<\/strong>. That’s the losing bet made by two security guards. Couple this with the floormen who destroyed their careers for a comparably picayune sum of money<\/a> they allegedly scammed from Planet Hollywood<\/strong>, and we’re seeing a level of desperation in casino crime the likes of which I can’t recall.<\/p>\n

City of Dreams<\/strong>. Voters in Ohio<\/strong> haven’t approved casinos in any form yet, but that’s not stopping<\/a> Cleveland Cavaliers<\/strong> owner Dan Gilbert<\/strong>, who’s already had a design executed. Gilbert has lined up critical support by promising to forego hotel rooms and restaurants (though he’s left himself a little wiggle room there).<\/p>\n

But don’t be fooled: Phil Satre<\/strong> used the same Trojan Horse strategy to get an onshore casino in the heart of New Orleans<\/strong>. A few bankruptcies and legislative showdowns later, Harrah’s N.O.<\/strong> has a hotel and a couple of restaurants. (Like it or not, Satre was brilliant.) I’ll be so<\/em> not surprised if Gilbert gets his casino, then discovers the numbers don’t pencil out at a 33% tax rate, and starts waffling on his non-aggression pact with hoteliers and restaurateurs.<\/p>\n

Damn that vox populi<\/em>!<\/strong> Seems that Harrah’s Entertainment<\/strong> had a bit of contractual noblesse oblige<\/em> written into its pact to purchase Thistledown Racetrack<\/strong>. If the issue of racinos has to be put to a vote of the people, all bets — so to speak — are off. Which means that Harrah’s can take its $89 million and skedaddle<\/a>, leaving bankrupt Magna Entertainment<\/strong> holding the bag. For the moment though, Harrah’s is playing the issue down, saying talk of a pullout is “premature” and hasn’t been given much thought.<\/p>\n

Even Las Vegas Sands<\/strong> appears to be feeling disappointed with early results from Sands Bethlehem<\/strong>. A massive, 2,000-slot expansion, slated for November, has been scaled back by 88%<\/a>. Even so, Pennsylvania<\/strong> casinos are busy planning for the addition of table games (although the Lege hasn’t approved it yet<\/a>). The price of table games will probably be higher (18% tax + $15 million upfront) than casinos want, but at least they’ve been successful in battling back an expansion-sapping 34% tax rate on tables. For slots, they still have to pay a usurious 55%, one of the worst rates in the nation.<\/p>\n

But if Sands<\/strong> wants to maximize its drawing power, it might want to think about finishing the hotel and other amenities that got shoved onto the back burner when Sheldon Adelson<\/strong>‘s coffers began to run dry. At least Sands has gotten a temporary reprieve from sliding to sixth place because — even with financing in place<\/a> — Neil Bluhm<\/strong> is taking a go-slow approach to his $355 million Philadelphia<\/strong> casino, out of deference to historical preservations. (Funny how Bluhm can build a Philly casino complex for half of what Adelson blew on his unfinished Bethlehem resort.)<\/p>\n

Fortune favors the bold<\/strong>, which means it won’t smile upon Sen. Ron Wyden<\/strong> (D-OR), who apparently caved to pressure from increasingly useless and counterproductive Sen. Harry Reid<\/strong> (D-NV). It looks like Hapless Harry is behind Wyden’s craven withdrawal of an amendment that would have taxed Internet gambling to help pay for health care reform.<\/p>\n

Incidentally, an amendment that would have authorized $100 billion to close the infamous Medicare “doughnut hole” was voted down yesterday. Jeez, those ‘Net-bet taxes could have come in handy as an alternative means of plugging the hole. (Oh, and fuck you too, Max Baucus<\/strong>.)<\/p>\n

And that goes double<\/strong> for you, stock-picker Jim Cramer<\/strong>, whose spam rips through our LVA<\/em> filters like Japanese torpedoes through the hull<\/a> of the U.S.S. Oklahoma<\/em>. It makes me sorry I ever said anything nice about you, Jimbo.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Five dimes worth of damage, $40,000 bail — and all to wrest a measly two grand from some vending machines at Harrah’s Atlantic City. That’s the losing bet made by two security guards. Couple this with the floormen who destroyed … 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":[23,7,52,67,37,84,91,71,115,95,6,33,12,8,38],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96"}],"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=96"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31329,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96\/revisions\/31329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}