Wynn: Up in smoke; Mohegan by any other name

Wynn Resorts is pursuing a no-tolerance policy toward high-rolling customers associated with corporate cannabis. “I can confirm that I was permanently banned from gambling at Wynn Resorts on June 7, 2017 due to my role as Chairman and CEO of a publicly-traded technology company focused on the cannabis sector,” said Isaac Diedrich. The 25-year-old marijuana mogul was trespassed and barred from gambling at Wynn Las Vegas. The casino defended the move on the grounds of the dichotomy between state and federal law on cannabis, citing the Bank Secrecy Act. In short, Wynn decided Diedrich’s money was obtained illegally (or at least from within a legal penumbra) and showed him the door.

Diedrich protested his treatment and said Wynn should be more accepting of the cannabis customer (his company, Mass Roots, is a cannabis social network and reports to the SEC). “We encourage Wynn Resorts to publicly support banking reforms at the federal level for cannabis-related companies, which would diversify Wynn’s customer base and create significant shareholder value,” said Diedrich. He’s sounding the right note: Few companies can resist the siren song of enhancing shareholder value.

* The State of Kansas went into the casino business to tap a new tax base and casinos there are run at the behest of the state lottery. How is the experiment working out? Since 2012, Hollywood Casino near Kansas City has paid $161 million in taxes. Last month, it grossed $12.5 million while Boyd Gaming‘s Kansas Star Casino hauled in nearly $15 million. Remotely located Boot Hill Casino grossed $3 million and newbie Kansas Crossing did the same. The Legislature has a slew of new gaming proposals headed for Gov. Sam Brownback‘s desk but they’re aimed at facilitating lottery-ticket purchases and charitable bingo, so I’d say the casinos have nothing about which to worry.

* Tribal gaming is sounding more and more corporate. First there was the Seminole Tribe‘s purchase of the Hard Rock brand. Now Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority is “out” and Mohegan Gaming & Entertainment is “in.” It’s only fitting for such a financially significant player, one with beachheads in Atlantic City, Pennsylvania, Washington State and South Korea. Basically, it’s marketable. As CEO Mitchell Etess said, “The change in the name to MGE has been made to better reflect where we are today as far as an overall entertainment company and our advancement as a major player in commercial gaming worldwide.” I wonder if the Mashantucket Pequots will keep up with the Joneses by rebranding Foxwoods, although it’s become such an effective shorthand for “gambling” that I doubt it.

* Failing upward, Stephen Crystal, has landed a gig as CEO of Casino Scouts, a company that “provides solutions that leverage the latest in gaming technology and trends while preserving the traditional Las Vegas casino atmosphere.” Could they be any more vague? Buried in the fine print at the bottom is the disclosure that Casino Scouts, “leverages mobile devices to allow patrons to extend the fun beyond the casino floor.” So it’s social gaming firm from the sound of it. Were it an Internet-poker outfit, we’d have heard of it by now, since there are so few (two) in Nevada, where it’s based.

If you remember Crystal, he was the CEO of the Tamares Group‘s downtown Las Vegas casinos during the shambolic “Barrick Gaming” era. Barrick talked big but its pockets were shallow and it was all a front to spare Tamares from having to get a Nevada casino license. Having dealt with Crystal as a reporter, I wouldn’t hire him to take out the garbage but Casino Scouts clearly felt differently.

* Casino developer and fallen hedge fund titan Phil Falcone is trying to act as a go-between for the government of Vietnam and the Donald Trump administration. His endgame? Lifting the local-customers ban on his Grand Ho Tram, an “awkward collision of hacienda-­style terra-cotta and pseudo-Baroque pediments” on the Vietnamese sea shore. It’s a surrealistic saga, complete with female golf caddies who “wrap themselves up like mummies, with white face masks and neck-­covering hoods over long-sleeved white shirts, to go along with broad yellow sun hats and yellow tartan trousers.” Says a former Ho Tram exec, “If Ho Tram is not going to get locals then it’s terminal.”