{"id":9992,"date":"2012-11-01T15:23:05","date_gmt":"2012-11-01T23:23:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=9992"},"modified":"2020-12-31T06:45:59","modified_gmt":"2020-12-31T14:45:59","slug":"no-win-situation-october-surprise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/no-win-situation-october-surprise\/","title":{"rendered":"No-win situation; October surprise"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"You might say Mitt Romney<\/strong> was for gambling before he was against it. Both as a 1994 Senate candidate and later as governor, he advocated slot parlors and later VLTs in Massachusetts<\/strong>. (He also proposed to extort $75 million apiece in ‘protection money‘<\/a> from gambling facilities in adjoining states.) But, beginning in November 2004, there was an “evolution,” as he’s described it, in Gov. Romney’s views. Gambling was A-OK when the Bay State was running a $3 billion budget deficit but, after booking surpluses, “the social costs associated with gambling are too great,” he sniffed.<\/p>\n

This is a concern that<\/strong> was conveniently swept under the rug when Massachusetts was in the red — and theoretically even less able to bear aforementioned “social costs.” Romney’s relatively newfound scruples certainly postdate his Bain Capital<\/strong> tenure. His wholly owned subsidiary, Brookside Capital Investors<\/strong>, took a $29 million flier in stock<\/a> of Gtech<\/strong>, the world’s leading lottery-system purveyor. At the time, Gtech was dipping a toe<\/a> into Internet<\/strong> gambling, which Romney now opposes. So the man’s certainly been a “playa” in gaming expansion, but …<\/p>\n

In the end<\/strong>, this may be a distinction without a difference. Romney’s rival job candidate, Barack Obama<\/strong> has sent what could be very, very charitably called mixed signals. While the Justice Department<\/strong> has scaled back its previously expansive interpretation of the Wire Act<\/strong>, it has also been on the warpath against Internet casinos and currently has mobile-gambling operator Cantor Gaming<\/strong> under its microscope, too. Legislation to legitimize online poker continues to languish on Capitol Hill<\/strong>, despite a federal judge’s ruling that it is a game of skill<\/a>, not chance.<\/p>\n

Whichever man wins next Tuesday, the gaming industry loses.<\/p>\n

A generally favorable climate<\/strong> in D.C. toward tribal interests lulled some of us (well, me) into thinking the Mashpee Wampanoags<\/strong> were a slam-dunk for one of those Massachusetts \"\"casino licenses. Not so! But it was not the tribe which was faulted; rather, it was the Bay State’s 21.5% tax rate<\/a>, which the Department of the Interior<\/strong> deemed usurious. The levy was contrary to the bootstrapping intent of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act<\/strong>, Interior decreed, and the compact also yielded too much sovereignty<\/a> to Gov. Deval Patrick<\/strong> (right<\/em>) and on too many fronts. So it’s back to the drawing board<\/a> for the Mashpee. City fathers of intended casino destination Taunton<\/strong> are making supportive noises — but they’re also hanging onto $1.5 million the tribe already paid Taunton.<\/p>\n

Didn’t see that one coming.<\/p>\n

By most accounts<\/strong>, casinos in Atlantic City<\/strong> emerged from Hurricane Sandy<\/strong> with only cosmetic damage, although Caesars Entertainment<\/strong> told rather a different story during its latest earnings call, but what about the Boardwalk<\/strong> itself? A goodly section of it was churned to kindling<\/a>. In hopes of preventing a reprise, Atlantic Citizens and tourists may have to relinquish the romance of wood in favor of more durable, concrete-and-plastic replacements. Times change and we must needs change with them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You might say Mitt Romney was for gambling before he was against it. Both as a 1994 Senate candidate and later as governor, he advocated slot parlors and later VLTs in Massachusetts. (He also proposed to extort $75 million apiece … 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":[23,148,28,26,7,22,112,25,31,19,20,38],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9992"}],"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=9992"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9992\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29022,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9992\/revisions\/29022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}