Stiffs and Georges

That pesky Illinois Legislature writes up a new, gambling-expansion bill as fast as Gov. Pat Quinn (D, left) can veto the last one. Evidently worn down by long combat with lawmakers and facing a $100 million hole in the state’s education budget, Quinn has finally waved the surrender flag. This Christmas tree is garlanded not [...]

Today’s top story is the rumor, first aired on LasVegasAdvisor.com that Binion’s Gambling Hall & Hotel will close in July, lock, stock and million-dollar display. This dovetails with an earlier report that a detailed makeover is in the works. So Binion’s could follow the lead of the Plaza and go the short-term-closure route, rather than [...]

French statesman Georges Clemenceau once dryly remarked that the cemeteries are full of indispensable men. Clemenceau’s quip obtained fresh sting this week when the gaming world lost Dr. William Eadington. The industry scholar has been struggling with cancer for a year and a half, and succumbed at age 67. A reserved and unpretentious man, Bill [...]

In addition to presiding over the most grotesquely indebted company — by far — in the casino industry, Caesars Entertainment CEO/President/Chairman/Pontifex Maximus/Generalissimo Gary Loveman also wants to dictate the manner in which we eke out our “golden years.” Amazingly, somebody actually put this buffoon in charge of the “health and retirement committee” of a club [...]

By the time Revel CEO Kevin DeSanctis realizes he’s made a mistake, he’s almost always past the point of no return. Although it is my deeply rooted opinion that smoking is a noxious, disgusting habit that invades other people’s space, banning it has been demonstrated to cause a 15% or greater decrease in the revenues [...]

Just when it seemed hope was lost … The D is reintroducing Sigma Derby to Downtown. In one fell swoop of utter brilliance, owner Derek Stevens has staked a prohibitive claim to Gaming Executive of the Year. To be completely honest, slot machines bore me. But I’ve never seen an electronic game — anywhere! — [...]

Warren Buffett likes to say that we’ve already had class warfare in this country and his class won. Whilst laid up, recuperating from an ill-advised meal at Mizumi, I had reason to ponder this in connection with the recent stateside exploits of Steve Wynn. His recent smackdown at the hands of Foxborough voters arguably makes [...]

This just in: It was pretty clear that Sheldon Adelson was cool toward his home state of Massachusetts and he officially called it quits today. His excuse? Three casinos and a slot parlor will “dilute the market.” In other words, no monopoly = no Sheldon. That’s a slight variation on the too-much-competition wheeze he used [...]

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 [...]

Last week, Mandalay Bay hosted an advance screening of the pilot episode of Luck, which debuted on HBO last night. If it was hard to follow on the ginormous MBay screen, I cannot imagine how impenetrable it seemed on a humble TV set. Before the showing, an HBO executive rhapsodized about the “elevated writing” of [...]

Sarah Palin says, “vote for Newt, annoy a liberal, vote Newt.” I say, “Vote Newt, please, because the concurrent stream of Sheldon Adelson stories is a blogger’s dream come true. Keep that gravy train going!” (Besides, it’s had the side benefit of getting people talking about Space: 1999 again. Loved that show.) OK, I’m being [...]

As the online-gambling gravy train begins leaving in the station, members of Congress are making one last attempt to derail it. After all, once New Jersey, Illinois, California, the District of Columbia and so forth set up shop as havens for Internet poker and other games of chance, the hundreds of millions of dollars in [...]

OK, so we’re six months early but this year marks the 50th anniversary of the Eldorado, which opened in downtown Henderson on July 1, 1962. Locals casinos wouldn’t become an industry unto themselves for years yet but the Eldorado and nearby Jokers Wild are said to hold a special place in Boyd Gaming Chairman Bill [...]

“Prior to the official opening, a 60-minute opening ceremony was held outside of the main entrance to the casino, where local and state politicians patted each other on the back for finally getting the casino opened, a mere 10 years – exactly 3,650 days – after legislation was signed by then-Gov. [...]

“Nightclubs — we just didn’t fare well with them. There are so many nightclubs. Everyone’s got just one or two. Ours were just marginal.” That’s Treasure Island owner Phil Ruffin’s argument for repositioning the pirate place for a mid-market, middle-aged crowd. The State of Nevada ought to give Ruffin a medal for ridding us [...]

There’s no one more depraved than a politician looking to close a revenue shortfall. So we’ve learned from the drive-by shootings hailing from the amoral outlaw band otherwise known as the Nevada Legislature. As sage political pundit Obi-Wan Kenobi observed, “You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.”

According to the Las [...]

A SoCal-based player kindly shared this image from the latest Aria/M life offer:
My friend ran an experienced eye over the chips on the rail and concluded that it “must be the lowest-minimum craps table Aria has ever seen,” as there’s an aggregate $60 in chips being played. Either that or these presumable mid-rollers have blown [...]

Other than as a medium for sports betting, mobile-gambling devices have resolutely failed to catch on in Las Vegas casinos. Provider/operator Cantor Gaming has made a few inroads but mostly at one-off properties like M Resort and the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. By law, mobile gizmos like Cantor’s can only be used in public [...]

… of online gambling. So writes IAM Corp. CEO Peter Karroll,  S&G’s newest guest blogger. To wit:
Recently in New Jersey, Gov. Chris Christie vetoed the legalization of online gaming, pointing to the prospect of backroom gambling shops popping up all over the state, combined with undefined protection for problem gamblers. It appears Gov. Christie has [...]

“Needless to say, gambling can indeed be a safe activity, gambling is common, and state-regulated casinos are not inappropriate locations for gambling.” — federal Judge Renée Marie Bumb, rejecting the claim of disbarred New Jersey attorney and compulsive gambler Arelia Margarita Taveras (left) that gambling is “abnormally dangerous.” Taveras was suing a plethora of Atlantic [...]