Things haven’t been going well for Kazuo Okada but he could still play spoiler to Steve Wynn‘s casino aspirations in Japan. Litigation between the two could tarnish Wynn’s image. Already, Wynn is 
swimming upstream, with MGM Resorts International and Las Vegas Sands seen as the front-running casino aspirants. Why? Wynn’s all-important convention footprint is puny compared to those of the Sheldon Adelson and Jim Murren. (Adelson has over 10 times as much.) Morningstar analysts wrote, “While Wynn Resorts has a successful track record of constructing and operating luxury resorts, its involvement with bribery litigation, along with its weaker MICE … and balance sheet position relative to MGM and Sands, leads us to believe that the company is unlikely to receive one of the two urban gaming concessions in Osaka and Yokohama.”
That doesn’t mean Wynn is completely out of the picture. But it could find itself vying for one of the secondary markets, like Hokkaido. (If Tokyo‘s lukewarm government weren’t already a deterrent to casino development, construction costs there are on the upswing, meaning that MGM and Sands would get significantly less bang for their 10 billion bucks.) If it’s any consolation, the Japanese government may restrict gaijin ownership to one-third, limiting Adelson’s, Murren’s or Wynn’s exposure to a comparatively reasonable $3.5 billion.
* A seemingly paradoxical new law in Nevada is getting a trial run. The sweetheart provision allows casino companies to be rejected for licenses without being denied them. The only penalty is that they cannot offer new products. It might be called the Saucier Law as its initial beneficiary is Galaxy Gaming CEO Robert Saucier. Rather than find Saucier unsuitable for licensing, the Nevada Gaming Control Board took the face-saving move of referring the matter back to its staff for further review.
Though Saucier’s executives run a financially impressive operation, regulatory troubles dog Saucier wherever he goes. He’s been wrangling with California authorities in a case that goes back seven years. (The Nevada process has been a mere two years in duration.) In 2013, Administrative Law Judge Catherine Frink ruled that “Saucier was evasive and, in some instances, intentionally dishonest and misleading in his response to questions.” He didn’t fare much better with Washington State authorities, being faulted for “numerous false and misleading statements in its renewal and other applications.” Galaxy’s table-game products will continue to adorn Wynn, Sands and MGM properties but the path to respectability for Saucier remains elusive.
* Massive Resorts World New York and Resorts World Catskills aren’t simply meant as mousetraps for serious gambling. Owner Genting Group hopes that its frequent-player program will seed 
fertile ground for Resorts World Las Vegas when it opens in 2020. (Incidentally, Genting isn’t publicizing the fact but it has quietly jettisoned Paul Steelman‘s antiquarian design in favor of a more contemporary look.) Bloomberg reminds us that not all of Genting’s bets pay off. Its investment in the Miami Herald site is a $236 million albatross, hostage to the Florida Legislature’s resistance to resort casinos. And Genting is holding the bag for $347.5 million in promissory notes for Project First Light in Massachusetts while the Mashpee Wampanoag fight it out in court. Getting has already warned of a possible write down.
Still, noting a recent upturn at flagship Genting Highlands, CIMB Group Holdings Kristine Wong says, “The prospects are good in the long term.” They’d better be. Getting has a lot riding on them.
