As Atlantic City fights to maintain its monopoly on casino gambling in New Jersey, it’s getting a lot of help from casino companies themselves — and lobbyists are making out like bandits. The biggest spender to date has been Caesars Entertainment, which has flung 
$280,000 at Trenton in an effort to slow casino-expansion legislation. Boyd Gaming and MGM Resorts International paid $170,000 to one lobbying firm, but MGM has been spreading its bets across the board: It was part of seven-casino consortium that paid $175,000 to politically connected Optimus Partners and it also paid $83,000 to former governor Jim Florio‘s Kaufman Zita firm. “I think the money we’ve seen spent to influence these issues will be dwarfed by what we see this year,” predicts Gordon MacInness of New Jersey Policy Perspective, which opposes casino expansion.
Even some Pennsylvania casinos are getting into the act. Penn National Gaming and Parx Casino also have hired guns prowling the halls of the state capital, trying to stem the spread of competition. Sands Bethlehem, however, seems to be taking neither side for the time being. Of course, pro-expansion forces have their mercenaries, too. Steve Wynn not only donated $25,000 to Gov. Chris Christie‘s abortive presidential campaign, he even rang up Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto (D) to make his case one-on-one. Jeff Gural, owner of The Meadowlands Racetrack, invested $140,00 in lobbyists, while rival casino aspirant Paul Fireman bundled $1 million for Christie’s presidential aspirations and hired a superstar lobbying firm. We don’t know how the casinos will fare in November but the lobbyists have fallen into clover.
* Just when the Massachusetts Gaming Commission was about to weigh in on Neil Bluhm‘s bid for a Bay State casino, his Rivers Casino in Des Plaines has been fined twice over. The $1.65 million penalty is partly for “inconsistent” jackpot payments and — 
perhaps more seriously for Rush Street Gaming — giving out cleaning and security contracts on a no-bid basis. United Maintenance, beneficiary of the no-bid largesse, operated at Rivers Casino for years without even having a contract in place. “Rivers Casino operators were also accused of allowing people to enter a’$250,000 Sign Up and Win New Member Giveaway’ after a deadline had passed,” adds the Boston Herald. Throw in a bitterly divided Brockton community and the MGC may have all the reason it needs to award the final Massachusetts casino license to the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe — and collect 17% of its gross gaming revenues.
* More Las Vegas visitors came for business than for pleasure last year, and they spent less time gambling than in 2011 but wagered far more ($578.54). They were also promiscuous in their gambling habits, patronizing five to 10 casinos on average. They spent less on retail than in 2011 but, hey, used the Las Vegas Monorail more: 10%, as opposed to 6% in 2011. All in all, the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority study provided cause for boundless optimism. By the way, the Fremont Street Experience is still a tourist draw, being the primary motivator for 59% of Downtown patrons to check out Glitter Gulch.
* Western Australia forbids gambling on credit. So when Aussie resident Lim Soo Kok got himself $460,000 into debt at Resorts World Sentosa, he tried to use the Australian law as a “get out of jail free” card to evade his debts. Nothing doing, said the state’s supreme court, meaning Kok will have to pony up a Singapore court’s judgment against him … if he can.
