Stiffs and Georges

Found by Vintage Vegas Valley, a Facebook page you really should “like.” As in, right this minute.

Every few years, brows are knitted earnestly in discussion of whether this will finally be the year in which Japan legalizes casino gambling. I’ve been hearing versions of this debate regularly since 2005, so you’ll pardon me if I suppress a yawn. Yes, billions of dollars — to say nothing of various Asian currencies — [...]

“On the U.S. side … we view the State of Nevada as having uninspiring oversight of activities occurring in Macau. For every gap of oversight that exists from the Nevada Gaming Control Board or Nevada Gaming Commission, the U.S. Federal Government may fill it … If the Nevada Gaming Control Board and Commission were to [...]

MGM Resorts International has a 50% stake in Borgata that nobody wants … except MGM. In bolstering move that Atlantic City sorely needs, MGM may get to reclaim its half of the resort (with the support of partner Boyd Gaming), not to mention all the revenue that the State of New Jersey has been holding [...]

If your casino or club employs CLS Transportation, today would be a good day to call in sick and take the phone off the hook. Seems the limo fleet of CLS was taking Las Vegas visitors for a ride, running up $2.8 million in fraudulent credit card charges (try explaining those to the wife!), writing [...]

A natural disaster on the East Coast is fast becoming an industry-wide problem, its effects felt as far afield as Iowa, I kid you not. In light of the total havoc Hurricane Sandy has wrought upon travel, particularly by air, Las Vegas will feel an extra chill in the air, too. It seems nearly frivolous [...]

Despite rampant neglect elsewhere on the Strip, Caesars Entertainment continues to take good care of its namesake, Caesars Palace. A Wednesday-night visit disclosed that myriad schlock retailers had been banished, as Jay Sarno’s toga party tries to keep pace with other upscale properties nearby. Our destination was the Bacchanal Buffet, a $17 million investment that [...]

Two things give me reason today to ponder the line of thinking which holds that history is a construct formed by the winners — an agreed-upon narrative that keeps up from asking too many pesky questions. First, tonight is the moment when the historical Ralph Lamb is superseded, perhaps forever, by his fictional avatar, played [...]

… and not with customers unfortunately. Las Vegas is currently experiencing torrential downpours and flash flooding — including on the Strip. This suddenly closed the Tropicana Las Vegas‘ “Mob Attraction,” thanks to a wee bit of a design flaw. According to a Trop source, the Mob expo is just off the lowest point of the [...]

When he took over the Golden Nugget and its Laughlin sibling, Landry’s Restaurants CEO Tilman Fertitta quickly developed a reputation among employees as a skinflint and micromanager. Whether or not the micromanagement has gone by the boards as Fertitta’s Nugget-branded empire expands, the alleged pettiness seems intact. Fertitta bought packs of cards from Kansas City-based Gemaco [...]

While Caesars Entertainment struggles to rid itself of dilapidated The Rio, it’s attracted another problem that will diminish its “curb appeal.” A gang-related gun battle erupted in the wee hours of Sunday morning atop The Rio’s parking garage. At least 30 rounds were exchanged the three-way shootout. Their bloodlust insufficiently sated, several assailants followed the [...]

There are few real characters in the casino industry anymore. Dennis Gomes (1944-2012) was one of them. His recent death put a premature “full stop” on one of the most colorful and wide-ranging careers gaming has seen. After all, how many people can claim to have been a casino regulator in both New Jersey and [...]

Wall Street analysts are weighing in on Wynn Resorts‘ preemptive strike against Kazuo Okada last weekend. Surprisingly, J.P. Morgan’s Joseph Greff rates it as a positive in re Steve Wynn’s ambitions for expansion into Japan and says it doesn’t hurt him in Macao, either. (So, causing a prominent Japanese businessman to lose face in his [...]

Money problems at Caesars Entertainment are worse than we thought. According to the New York Post, the company is trying to shop as many as 10 Midwestern casinos in order to raise $500 million in development capital. The money would go toward Suffolk Downs (left) and other projects — such as a hotel in China [...]

Victor Rocha says it best: “Jack Abramoff is still the scum off the earth.” The unrepentant ripoff artist — to call him a snake in the grass would be a slander upon serpents — claims his only failing was to be just a teensy weensy bit overzealous. The problem, he brazenly asserts, wasn’t his conduct [...]

So the Las Vegas Mob Experience has sacked 90% of its staff, cut ticket prices by 75% (making it a bargain play), had its malfunctioning “interactive” exhibits repossessed by a creditor, closed off the theme-park portion of the attraction and done everything short of fit impresario Jay Bloom for a pair of cement overshoes. What [...]

Politics and gambling have literally gone to the dogs in West Virginia. A certain Harry Marshall Rae has pleaded ‘not guilty’ to attempted extortion of Gov.-elect Earl Ray Tomblin (D). At issue is an alleged $50,000 demand — placed on Tomblin’s Web site — or else “embarrassing video involving the greyhound racing industry” would be [...]

When casino revenues weren’t as bad as expected, earlier this summer, one Atlantic City property executive called it a light at the end of the tunnel. Elsewhere, S&G reader American Gaming Guru pithily remarked that the light was an oncoming train called Aqueduct. When the Guru couldn’t foresee was that Atlantic City is now set [...]

Bankrupt, 38-year-old Hooters Hotel got a two-month reprieve yesterday, as owners obtained a judge’s permission to keep spending creditors’ monies to keep the place open for an additional two months. That will at least give employees time to update their resumes. Majority creditor Canyon Capital Realty Advisors, however, is not amused by Hooters’ sagging financials, [...]

Just how dead is Rampart Casino, formerly known as — among other things — The Resort at Summerlin, the big-budget folly that finished Swiss Casinos‘ attempt to become a major Vegas player? Well, when Chicago commodities broker-turned-fugitive Arthur Jones wanted to avoid being found, he took a job as a sports book writer at Rampart [...]