Melco Crown Entertainment is in Eeyore mood these days, darkly muttering about a “contingency plan” for Studio City if the Macao government doesn’t give it 400 table games. As far back as its 2014 
annual report, the company was making noises about bankruptcy at the $3.2 billion megaresort, a rescue project that Melco Crown (unwisely?) took over from its original developer. It has threatened to default on a $1.4 billion loan, stating, “In the event that we are unable to meet these conditions, it may constitute an event of default under the Studio City Project Facility.” Melco Crown is also reeling from an 83% decline in second-quarter profits.
While Lawrence Ho has admitted that he could get Studio City up to 400 tables by moving some inventory over from other Melco Crown properties, he thinks special treatment is in order, saying, “We hope that the Macao government will reward us for the hard work we have put in over the years [and] the amazing elements we have introduced to Studio City.” That’s quite a lot of sycophancy, political naivete and self-promotion rolled into one sentence. Also, the government’s cap on the number of table games is years-old news, and Ho and James Packer should have planned for this state of affairs. Ho’s feigned surprise makes him look uncharacteristically clueless.
If the government grants Studio City 400 tables, Galaxy 
Entertainment is wont to raise holy hell about only getting 150 — and well they might. Nor are Sheldon Adelson, Steve Wynn, Jim Murren or Angela Leong (right) likely to all hold their tongues, with good reason. While you don’t want to make waves in Macao, it would set a bad precedent to let City Hall coddle one operator and tell everyone else to go fishing. If Ho gets what he wants, it will say a lot about his political clout … and about whether the Macanese casino market really is a level playing field.
* Kevin Preston survived the crash-and-burn of Columbia Sussex and emerged to found Premier Gaming Group. It’s the small-but-plucky outfit that just bought the Isle of Capri Hotel in Natchez, which is slated for a $15 million makeover. Preston isn’t a man in a hurry: He plans to augment his new hotel and Magnolia Bluffs Casino with another casino purchase … by the end of 2016.
* SugarHouse Casino in Philadelphia is getting a new look with a 
$164 million expansion. When complete, the SugarHouse will have added a parking garage and more than doubled its casino-floor space. That’ll mean Philly’s first poker room (28 tables), 44 more table games and 289 more slots. Rush Street Gaming is promising that the augmentation of SugarHouse will bring 500 new jobs to the market.
* “Some candidates require more education [in gaming] than others,” slyly writes the American Gaming Association, “and you can play a tremendous role in this … process.” The AGA is compiling a kind of tip sheet for voters, to show them what various presidential candidates have done and said vis-a-vis gambling. For instance, one of them has said that casinos only belong in Las Vegas and Atlantic City. (Hey, Geoff Freeman, could you shoot me a copy when you’re done?) The impetus for the primer is President Barack Obama‘s remarks discouraging the spending of TARP money in Las Vegas. “His comments cost the industry hundreds of millions of dollars,” says the AGA.
* While a tribal vote has yet to be held on the matter, the Aquinnah Wampanoag are making their case for a Class II casino in federal 
court. At issue is whether 1988’s Indian Gaming Regulatory Act supersedes a 1983 pact between Martha’s Vineyard and the tribe in which the latter signed away the right to gambling in return for 500 acres. The verbiage in court grew heated. “The tribe doesn’t have a school system, there’s no taxing system, no health board, no criminal code, no prosecutor, no jail,” said the lawyer for the Aquinnah/Gay Head Community Association. Tribal attorney John Duffy responded, “What you have here is a thriving tribal government that is looking to do more but is already doing far more than what’s required … You can’t subject this tribe to two separate regulatory schemes.” The fate of the bingo hall now rests with Judge Dennis Saylor.
* When is an agreement actually binding? That’s the existential question posed by the continuing skirmish between 888 and GVC Holdings for the coveted prize that is Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment.
