Revel: Crippled giant; Tough choice in Indiana

It may feel good for Glenn Straub to spit defiance (“We will never give in to blackmail. Let them dig their own grave, along with endangering other peoples’ lives.”) at the ACR power plant that just cut off water and electricity to Revel but it’s a Pyhrric victory. All manner of bad things can happen to the mammoth casino-hotel while it’s powerless (and it will take as long as two weeks to reroute its systems into the adjacent Showboat grid), including burst pipes, mold formation and fire hazards that could turn the 47-story Revel into a real-life towering inferno. With its fire-suppression systems out of commission, Revel is racking up $5,000 a day in fines and has lost its certificate of occupancy.

ACR says it’s willing to negotiate but Straub “has repeatedly told us that he can secure power from alternative sources. And now that he has demonstrated a willingness to jeopardize the life safety of our men and women in uniform and city officials on fire code violations, such only reaffirms the basis by which we need an agreement before taking any next steps.” Straub, for his part, variously claims to have been offered a $250,000/two-week deal and to have offered $300,000 for that same two weeks, depending on which media outlet he’s talking. He also claims the building’s tenants will reopen in a month, which is 180 degrees from what his people have been saying to me.

In the meantime, Straub is scrambling for generator trucks off which he can power up Revel, at least during the short term. His spokeswoman said, “We’re working as fast as we can. We don’t want to have our building burn down, either.” S&G suggests they should have thought of that sooner.

* Having to second-guess oblique pronouncements by Gov. Mike Pence (R) has left Indiana legislators in a tough position as they try to hash out a compromise on casino reform. The Senate bill, which passed with a two-thirds majority, would immediately authorize live dealers at the state’s racinos. But those dealers are believed to be the “expansion” to which Pence obliquely alludes whenever he threatens to veto the bill. So the House has put a five-year stay on them, meaning racino customers will be playing electronic table games until 2020. Supporters of immediately going to live dealers, like Sen. Tim Lanane (D), ridicule the idea that this somehow expands gambling. Instead he emphasizes the job-creation potential of the Senate version.

The Senate version also contains some sweetheart financial incentives for French Lick Spring Resort & Casino. For now, the bill’s fate rests with author Rep. Tim Dermody (R, right), who could accept the Senate version at face value or send it to committee to be reconciled with his more-spartan original legislation.

* Our friend and favorite player advocate, Dennis Conrad, is making headlines with the contention that casinos are burning through players’ wallets too rapidly. Addressing the current state of the casino industry, he asks, “When markets mature and expenses go up and the pool of gamblers remains stagnant after a point, how do you make more money? … We’re taking the money faster than at any point in gambling history.”

Some the ills Conrad identifies include high velocity and tight holds on slot machines, especially penny denominations, automated shufflers speeding up table game play and ATMs that gouge customers with high transaction fees. He also says the industry, having gone wild with free-play incentives during lean times is now “out of control … [players] they still want their comps and the good promotions. We’ve created a large sense of entitlement with players.” He recommends offering a better gamble — and superior customer service — rather than relying so much on promotions.

* Did you know that dragon-fruit pink and green “promote rejuvenation of the spirit”? That’s what they say at Bellagio, anyway.