Those losers at Al-Qaeda are fixating on Las Vegas. In their fanzine, Palestine, they urge their followers to build car bombs and target Sin City. Nightclubs and casino floors are the high-impact targets of opportunity. (Real geniuses, these terrorist folk.) Both the Southern Nevada Counter-Terrorism Unit‘s Lt. Nichole Splinter and the Counterterrorism Training School‘s Doron Benbenisty downplay the Al-Qaeda rhetoric somewhat, with Splinter saying the threat “does not, however, interpret there is any planning or operational phases that have been identified.”
Since the citation of Las Vegas as a target came in an article about car bombs (poor weapons against nightclubs, casino floors and restaurants), law enforcement is taking with a grain of salt. Reports KVVU-TV, “Splinter said it’s not uncommon for publications like this to suggest the names of big cities to target.” Still, it behooves all of us to be vigilant, especially in a city as thickly populated as ours.
* It’s not Game Over for MGM Springfield even if Massachusetts votes to repeal the state’s casino laws. That’s the opinion of Republican gubernatorial candidate Charlie Baker and of state Rep. Joseph F. Wagner (D), who helped author the enabling legislation. According to Wagner, “Local control is a central tenet of the gaming law … We would have to assess what was the percentage of the vote on either side, how did it break out across regions.” In other words, a “no” vote cast in Milford ought to carry less weight than a “yes” in Springfield. The casino law didn’t envision anyone besides the affected community having veto power over a casino, as is now the case with November’s referendum.
“I think the debate will take shape around moral grounds,” added Wagner, who thinks the state should blow off a negative November vote and build the casinos, since they are powerful vehicles of economic development.
Congratulations to Peter P. Wu, new general manager of Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tampa. Wu’s 13-year tenure in gaming reads like a litany of the blessed (Baha Mar, in the Bahamas) and the damned (Randy Black‘s ill-fated Black Gaming). In addition to working for Caesars Entertainment, Wu is also a veteran of the Macao market where he has held a variety of positions for Sands China, up to and including vice president of operations. We wish him good luck in his newest endeavor.
