What’s “incidental” & other Case Bets

When the Clark County Commission went out of its way to define “tavern gaming” in 2011, it went into all sorts of minutiae about kitchens and such. But it neglected to address the elephant in the room: How much gambling is “incidental” to a publican’s business? Commissioner Tom Collins has a radical solution: Cut the allotted number of gaming machines from 15 to five. That would appear to solve the problem but will raise hell with the likes of Golden Gaming (aka P.T.’s) and Dotty’s, even if their existing establishments are grandfathered into the legislation. They want to keep growing and Collins’ proposal would surely kneecap them.

Attorneys for Boston argue that the Massachusetts Gaming Commission has no standing to rule on whether Beantown is a host community or not. The commission plans to go ahead and conduct hearings on the issue anyway. Judging by the verbiage coming out of Boston, Mayor Martin J. Walsh is laying the groundwork for a lawsuit, bringing the casino-selection process to a grinding halt. Meanwhile, Mohegan Sun/Suffolk Downs has to redo its environmental impact study, since the Mohegan casino portion of the project now sits squarely on a flood plane. Wynn Resorts contends that this will delay the start of construction (if Suffolk Downs wins), while Mohegan Sun insists it’s on track for a 2014 groundbreaking.

To the southeast, the Massachusetts Gaming Commission is willing to entertain an extension of the July 23 application deadline — but Foxwoods Massachusetts doesn’t want to hear anything about it. Foxwoods says it’s on the verge of a deal with Fall River, and if the current deadline stands, it can carry Fall River over the threshold before anybody else has a chance to get in. On the opposite side, New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell is claiming to have “various proposals” to assess, which is news in itself. City Councilors say Mitchell is the problem, cluttering up the isssue with “his own personal feelings and reservations about an issue that was duly passed into law by the Massachusetts Legislature.” Not much has been heard from the Mashpee Wampanoags lately and, even with Neil Bluhm out there, this is Foxwoods’ ballgame to lose.

South Carolina‘s Supreme Court has ruled that the Catawba Indian Nation added two and two and got five when it applied for video gambling on the basis that the state allows “cruises to nowhere.” For starters, shipboard gambling doesn’t start until the vessel are out of Palmetto State waters. Secondly, in a major settlement with Uncle Sam in 1993, the Catawba gave up any form not authorized elsewhere in the state except for a pair of bingo halls. The next move for the Catawba is to resume trying to get land in North Carolina taken into trust for a full-scale casino in the King’s Mountain area.

Goldman Sachs  continues to lose money from its flutter into the Vegas casino industry. American Casino & Entertainment Properties is heavily propped up by the Stratosphere, which represents 44% of total income.