Boyd Gaming and MGM Resorts International have gone to bed with bwin.party but may wake up with Anaya Gaming Group. That’s one possible outcome of “preliminary discussions with a number of interested parties” and 
bwin. “Such discussions may or may not result in an offer being made for the company.” On one side is Anaya, prepared to offer $1.86 billion for bwin and on the other is Playtech, which has $493 million stockpiled for acquisitions. Anaya is, of course, the parent company of PokerStars.
Aye, there’s the rub. In Atlantic City, PokerStars is already teamed with Resorts Atlantic City while bwin is Borgata‘s online partner. A Playtech takeover might be even more problematic, as Playtech has no U.S. license and apparently no plans for one. However, Playtech stock dove after Credit Suisse issued a downgrade, saying a “focus on M&A [was] not necessarily aligned with shareholder interests.”
There’s not much Boyd or MGM can do but remain stoic. Once a company is mooted as being up for sale there’s precious little chance you can run un-ring the bell. Maybe Anaya doesn’t have the additional debt capacity to pull this off, but that’s putting one’s hopes on a slim reed.
* American Gaming Association President Geoff Freeman wasted no time jumping on NBA Commissioner Adam Silver‘s call to legalize sports betting on a national scale. “In some cases, sports books in Nevada have even notified the FBI of unusual betting activity on sporting events that have led to convictions on match fixing,” Freeman said, quoting an oft-cited fact of sports-betting enthusiasts.
Freeman got pretty worked up, promising to turn the AGA into an industry watchdog: “In the coming months, the AGA will be working to identify the size and scope of illegal gambling in the United States and what can be done to address the issue at a federal and state level. The gaming industry is committed to thwarting illegal gambling wherever it occurs, and we look forward to partnering with the NBA and others who share this goal.”
Whew! Mighty bold talk — and laudable, too. Freeman’s setting an ambitious goal but he clearly wants to seize the prize of sports betting as it dangles within his grasp … and maybe head off proscription of Internet gambling, too. His language is certainly vague enough to suggest it.
* At least one group of Las Vegas service employees has managed to thwart the process of tip confiscation … the dancers at Rick’s Cabaret.
* Man Bites Dog: If you’ve held a job in casino management or even pushed a broom, Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Sioux City would like to talk to you. It has 40+ openings ranging from housekeeper to director of hotel operations. Most casinos find themselves overstaffed at this early point in their lifespan but “It’s not that we’re replacing people. We’ve never gotten up to staff,” says General Manager Todd Moyer. Many of the more sensitive positions are being temporarily filled with personnel flown out from Warner Gaming headquarters at Las Vegas’ Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. With 50 former Penn National Gaming employees in the workforce and “Siouxland” unemployment standing at 4%, Hard Rock is bringing jobs to the area but it’s having difficulty bringing people to the jobs.
* How do you make your casino relevant to younger people? Here’s one approach, derived from the world of politics.
