In a big setback for Big Labor, the House of Representatives voted to exempt tribal casinos from National Labor Relations Board oversight. This turns back 11 years of precedent, stemming 
from a 2004 NLRB ruling that San Manuel Indian Bingo & Casino fell under federal jurisdiction. The NLRB asserted, according to Reuters, “it can intervene in a tribe’s labor practices when the tribal business is commercial rather than governmental and both employs and caters to non-Native Americans.” The agency has employed this rationale sparingly — only four times in 11 years.
However, “Tribal leaders have repeatedly spoken out against this overreach, and Congress has listened,” said House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R). The House — or at least 259 members — were deaf to union arguments that, since tribal casinos are subject to OSHA and ERISA regulation, exempting them from the NLRB’s purview sets a double standard. The Senate has yet to take action on the bill and the House isn’t on track to overturn a White House veto, which remains a distinct possibility.
* As a warm-up to his Nov. 25 courtroom confrontation with DraftKings and FanDuel, the attorney general for New York, Eric Schneiderman has issued a subpoena to the #3 daily fantasy 
sports Web site, Yahoo. The latter didn’t comment on the news but DraftKings continued to defy Schneiderman’s cease-and-desist order, blowing the AG a raspberry: “We believe the attorney general’s view of this issue is based on an incomplete understanding of the facts about how our business operates and a fundamental misinterpretation and misapplication of the law.”
Meanwhile, the New York Times‘ gave its readers a preview of Schneiderman’s case, including accusations that DFS sites recruit staffers from online casinos and used lingo like “weekly fantasy college football betting” to increase search-engine optimization. 
Arguing that 89% of DFS players lose money, Schneiderman uses DraftKings CEO Jason Robins‘ more indiscreet public comments against him, such as his equation of DFS to a casino. Most damningly, DraftKings is accused of taking entry fees to the tune of $484,897 from the five states where DFS is illegal. This last item, juicy as it is, doesn’t necessarily seem like an item for the New York courts, but it dresses up Schneiderman’s presentation nicely. If true, DraftKings is a rogue elephant that has to be brought to heel.
* California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) took time out from being 
schooled by the federal judicial system to cut the ribbon on the $50 million expansion of the Bicycle Hotel & Casino, in Bell Gardens. No word on whether he availed himself of the 1,359-square-foot “Governor’s Suite.” Other new amenities include a brewpub but we’re certain that governor didn’t hoist a brewski in public.
* China is throwing Macao a crumb by instituting a beatdown on online gambling, of which it apparently approves as little as does Sheldon Adelson. So far, 98 suspects have been arrested. The 
busts actually occurred back in July, when the government seized $78 million in cash, but are only being announced now. (Second-guessing the motives of the Chinese government is always a mug’s game.) The network that Peking says it busted is accused of running as many as 500 online casinos. This crackdown, however, is puny compared to a 15,000-arrest August sweep of the Internet that supposedly came down hard on pornography and gun sales, among other infractions of draconian Chinese law.
