Boston Mayor Martin Walsh got a taste of his own medicine when a Suffolk Superior Court court judge put a beatdown on his sleazy 
legal tactics. Assertions by Boston attorneys, slipped in at the last minute, that the Massachusetts Gaming Commission acted in “bad faith” and was guilty of “improper behavior” were so far over the line — “entirely improper” that she was going to have them stricken from the public record. “Although the materials have already been released to the media before the hearing (indeed, that seemed to be the real motive for these filings), they do not belong in the public file of this case,’’ ruled Superior Court Judge Janet L. Sanders.
This ruling must come as a harsh rebuke to Mayor McCheese, for whom slander and innuendo have become standard negotiating tactics. His office tried to justify this underhanded legal conduct as the only way to protect the rights of the residents of Charlestown. (The real bottom line is that Walsh wants 
a big payoff from Steve Wynn, in the form of a host-community agreement and, not getting one, has been throwing tantrums ever since.) In his scorched-earth tactics, Walsh had impugned the integrity of two former state police officers who investigated the involvement of convicted felon Charles Lightbody and his associates. (For that allegation, Walsh got bitch-slapped by the U.S. Attorney’s office.) If Boston can’t cash in on Wynn Everett, Walsh is going to do everything in his power to destroy it.
* Caesars Entertainment continues to try and sweeten its Chapter 11 deal, this time by putting its creditors in the driver’s seat of its proposed seat and sweetening the pot with Harrah’s New Orleans 
and Harrah’s Laughlin. As landlords, the creditors would rent myriad Caesars properties to Caesars Entertainment Operating Co., for $640 million a year (chicken feed), $165 million of that for Caesars Palace alone. CEOC would also be on the hook for $113 million in overdue capex maintenance, although the REIT would have to reimburse CEOC for the bulk of that. I’m surprised that the major creditors seem to be lining up behind, since Chairman of the Board Gary Loveman and his cronies are getting off so lightly.
* Scratch Pennsylvania as the best hope for expansion of Internet gambling. The Legislature, having blown through its self-imposed budget deadline, is unlikely to take up the issue this late in the 
session. True, it might be resurrected if licensing fees are seen as the solution to the Keystone State’s budget scrum, but Penn National Gaming CEO Tim Wilmott was emphatic: “We don’t expect anything happening in ’15, but we’ve been encouraged by the hearings that we’ve participated in, in and around the state of Pennsylvania, that there’s more of an appetite to consider these options than there ever has been.”
Too bad, for — as Steve Ruddock says — “Had the legislature managed to pass an online gambling bill, it may have been the tipping point that effectively ended Sheldon Adelson’s efforts to ban online gambling at the federal level — right in his own backyard.
* It’s difficult to get optimistic about California, where the issue of the “bad actor” clause short-circuits any Internet gaming legislation. However, with the backing of PokerStars, a five-tribe coalition is making a last-ditch push to overturn the opposition of the powerful Pechanga and Agua Caliente tribes. Horseracing lobbyist Robyn Black calls it “the biggest coalition yet behind Internet poker. “If we 
get consumer groups you’re going to see the coalition grow. If it isn’t a success in 2015 it will be a force in 2016.”
The Lege is currently in recess but expect the battle to resume in earnest when it reconvenes on Aug. 17. “I don’t think there will be any movement, We’re more than happy to not even have Internet gaming. We’re fine with that,” Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians Chairman Jeff Grube said. Not only does the bad act clause seem a hopeless impasse, the Pechanga/Agua Caliente coalition is firmly opposed to California’s horse tracks getting a piece of the action.
For their part, the pro-PokerStars tribes are counting on the support of the horseracing industry and the Teamsters & Service Employee International Union (with Caesars Entertainment lurking in the background). The oddball group of allies isn’t just lobbying, it’s holding all-star poker tournaments to help make its case. However, with just four weeks of lawmaking to to go and with intramural disputes within the two major factions (some horsemen would accept revenue-sharing in lieu of Web sites, others wouldn’t) it’s difficult to be optimistic.
