If Newport, Rhode Island, is the American Riviera (or was once), then casino gambling would seem like a logical amenity. Would-be owner 
Joseph Paolino and his partners want to add table games to the Newport Grand slot parlor — but for that they’ll need the approval of the populace, who voted the change down in 2012. This time there will be two ballot questions: One to permit table games, the other to prohibit cainos from being moved without popular consent. (Talk about moving Nweport Grand to the waterfront helped defeat it last time.) At present the election looks like it’s anybody’s ballgame.
Newport Grand labors under considerable burdens as it is, including a 61% tax rate. The new arrangement, if approve, would guarantee $9 million to Newport over the next six years, then $1 million a year after that. (Double, even triple the city’s current take.) Profits have fallen sharply at Newport Grand this year, so there’s plenty of incentive to get those ballot questions approved. If they, Paolino and friends will invest in a $40 million renovation of the old jai alai fronton, currently a slot parlor. “It needs an upgrade because, quite frankly, it’s obsolete,” says Paolino. “If we don’t do that, we’re going to lose it to the competition.”
Adding retail and a spa are also part of Paolino’s vision. “There’s a feeling from the people that are against it that they don’t want gambling. Well, guess what? It’s already here,” he told the Providence Journal. Both questions, however, would need to pass for Newport Grand to get table games, upping the stakes considerably. Proponents should be concerned that, despite overwhelmingly outspending the opposition in 2012, they were narrowly defeated. They’ll need some new talking points this year. However, there are anecdotal indications that the pendulum is swiming in Newport Grand’s favor, which would be a win for city and casino alike.
* John Gaughan, third generation of the gambling Gaughans, has bought a half-stake in Ely‘s Hotel Nevada,, which he will also manage. “We had turned down some other management deals because they didn’t seem right. Hotel Nevada has that historical feel to it, which really attracted us,” explained the son of Michael Gaughan and grandson of Jackie Gaughan. With that lineage, you have to respect his instincts, especially when he senses echoes of the El Cortez in his new acquisition.
Gaughan’s already retrofitted the slots with new, management software, but he’s also taken more rudimentary steps, like swapping out the old carpet. President Rick Richards, late of the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, has a portfolio that also includes not only the Hotel Nevada but a fleet of motels and a tavern. The Gaughans aren’t new to operating in rural Nevada and John Gaughan says, “My dad … gave me some nice equipment at a good price,” along with advice on matters such as where to put his billboards.
Since Ely sits at the confluence of three U.S. highways and the Hotel Nevada is the only casino in town, the world is young Gaughan’s oyster. The hotel may no longer be the tallest in Nevada but it’s got cachet that fairly leaps off the page.
