What’s Steve Wynn thinking?; Best news of the week

If Steve Wynn is trying to talk himself out of contention in Massachusetts, he’s doing a good job of it. Yesterday, he told the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, “We’re scared to death — not that you won’t pick us, but that you will, and there goes a billion-three or a billion-five.” Well, if he’s that scared, what’s he doing there in the first place? His concern is a seemingly exaggerated fear that he will be licensed and then fined for his dealings in Macao. Wynn wants a free pass on that but it doesn’t look like he’s going to get it. Said one Commission member, “You really have some disdain for investigations and law enforcement. That’s my opinion.” (MGM Resorts International took a considerably more sanguine view of its own probity.)

Hey, Gary Loveman, your Suffolk Downs chances just got a helluva lot better.

It’s ‘All systems go’ for New York State‘s casino referendum. Lawyer Eric Snyder dropped his case against Proposal One yesterday. With three weeks to go before election day, Snyder doesn’t feel he has time for an appeal. The merits of Snyder’s central argument — that the government was using tax dollars to pimp the pro-casino side — were never ruled upon. Instead, his suit was thrown out on several technicalities, proving yet again (as Geena Davis observes in Thelma & Louise) “The law is some tricky shit.”

Vexed and hexed, the Tropicana Las Vegas can’t seem to get any consistent entertainment or nightlife program together. Its remodeled showroom, in particular, has been dark more often than not. The latest solution to this problem is to bring back a show that never should have closed: Mamma Mia! It lasted five and a half years at Mandalay Bay, so you can’t argue it doesn’t have staying power. A touring company will bring it to The Smith Center in January, so they’re betting there’s life in the old gal yet. ABBA CDs still go into reprint after reprint.

The biggest worry ought to be the Trop’s remarkable ability to screw good things up. Compared to what the Trop was planning (an iffy-sounding original musical based on Gloria Estefan‘s life), I’d say this call was a no-brainer. Three cheers, folks.