“The people involved in this, if you took a thimble and put their knowledge of Atlantic City in it, it wouldn’t fill it,” says Thomas Carver, former policy czar for the resort town, who lost his job when he 
displeased Gov. Chris Christie (R). The Washington Post has a comprehensive rundown of Christie’s struggles to revive the Boardwalk and concludes that it was a litany of poor decisions. There were certainly bad bets — a subsidy for Revel — and disappointments like Internet gambling. And there were less well-publicized gaffes, like ill-chosen public art (a nude woman cradling a dead deer — metaphor for Atlantic City?) and costly but underwhelming promotional campaigns: “Do A.C.” which locals rechristened “D.O.A. A.C.” But …
To take issue with some the Post‘s contentions, Christie was dealing with inexorable economic trends and, to his credit, he actually tried to rescue Atlantic City. His Democratic predecessor, Jon Corzine, ignored it and previous mayor Lorenzo Langford (D), was incompetent and a civic embarrassment. Where Christie can be held accountable — beyond 
his recent abandonment of the Legislature’s carefully crafted PILOT Program, is the deterioration of relations between the governor and local officials. “The governor and I do not have a speaking relationship,” says influential state Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D, right), to which Langford adds, “I do send him my coldest regards.” Even incumbent Mayor Don Guardian (R), facing a state takeover that Christie tacitly supports, says, “It’s disingenuous. It’s bullying. It’s just not fair. We haven’t done anything to deserve this.”
Compared to other presidential candidates, who talk like they can wave a wand and magically solve problems of a global scale, Christie’s struggle with Atlantic City was that of a governor who rolled up his sleeves and tried to solve a problem through incremental measures, including the pursuit of sports betting. In the end, free-market forces did more to determine Atlantic City’s fate than did the governor but to regard the Boardwalk as having been made worse by his ministrations is to misdiagnose both the patient and its attending physician.
* Having turned the corner with the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas,
could real estate megalith Blackstone be considering a takeover of Crown Resorts and double down on Las Vegas Strip megaresorts? It 
looks that way, as billionaire James Packer seeks to take the company private. In addition to Alon, Blackstone would get Packer’s 20% stake in Nobu, 34% of Melco Crown Entertainment and three casino resorts in Australia. Blackstone is no stranger to the Down Under market, so this isn’t as big a stretch as it initially looks. Packer’s been rooting around for Alon capitalization for some time now and Blackstone looks like his best bet yet.
* Thanks to the ongoing myopia of the New Hampshire Legislature, Maine continues to be buffered from casino competition. Gaming revenues hit an all-time high, even as Hollywood Casino Bangor was 
down 2%, continuing to lose business to Oxford Casino. Despite that small decline, Hollywood Bangor General Manager Jose Flores said, “We feel good about our performance last year.” The casino is experimenting with an enlarged entertainment calendar, having failed to stimulate business with round-the-clock operations. (Operator Penn National Gaming has gone back to a 19-hour work day.) It’s also trying to claw back $62 million in property taxes, arguing that the casino is grossly overvalued.
Oxford Casino’s 5% revenue increase was sufficient to lift Maine gaming revenue to a 2% annual increase in 2015. The two casinos grossed $130 million last year, fattening the coffers of the Maine Department of Education, among other beneficiaries, including harness racing and the Maine Milk Pool. Meanwhile, controversial casino speculator Shawn Scott has resurfaced, promoting a ballot question that would bring casino gambling to a track owned by … Shawn Scott. To sweeten the pot, the state is promised 39% of slot revenues and 16% of table game winnings.
Scott, who is bad news, seems to be up to his old tricks. According to the Bangor Daily News, a signature-gatherer in the city “told a reporter that schools need more funding and the proposal was about ‘uplifting the spirits of the people of Bangor,’ without mentioning that the casino he was boosting would likely be more than 120 miles away.” At the same time, legislators are having to balance fears of cannibalization with a WhiteSand Gaming report that says Maine could support a $250 million casino in its southern region, near I-95, and maybe one at the northern tip of the state. There’s nothing sacrosanct about Maine’s duopoly but if Scott is involved, voters should just say no.
