Yesterday morning, it looked like Baton Rouge casinos were going to have to brace themselves for a smoking ban. Today, they’re lighting up celebratory cigars in relief: While 
proponents of the smoking ban on the city council had six votes, the expected seventh, swing vote failed to materialize and the ban went down, 6-6. This is good news for area casino operators, Pinnacle Entertainment (whose L’Auberge Baton Rouge is pictured), Gaming & Leisure Properties Inc. and Tropicana Entertainment. Perhaps the city councilors were thinking about the fate of Harrah’s New Orleans, which has seen a 10% revenue decline since succumbing to a Big Easy smoking ban, while revenue at Boomtown New Orleans and Treasure Chest, in neighboring Jefferson Parish, is up 6% over the same time frame. “To be fair, Harrah’s New Orleans had been losing share and underperforming prior to the implementation of the smoking restriction as well,” writes Deutsche Bank analyst Carlo Santarelli. Still, it’s a rare victory for smokers, and for those who believe that smoking and gambling go hand in glove.
* Casinos in Reno dodged a $5 million bullet when the Washoe County Commission decided not to charge for back taxes which had been underestimated because the county had been “significantly miscalculating a portion of their gaming tax for seven years.” They’ll have to pay the full tab — $994,696 — but commissioners decided to heck with it, it’s too much work to try and collect the arrearage: “During the seven-year period that gaming taxes were under-billed, many of these operators have ceased operating, changed ownership (sometimes more than once), and the basis for their bill may have changed many times.” There was also the consideration that trying to collect the money could result in lawsuits.
Things have been on the upswing for the Reno gaming market lately and this is a nice little bonus. How the cities of Reno and Sparks feel about the discovery that they’ve been losing out on $100,000 and $50,000 a year respectively remains to be seen. The casinos still have to negotiate that issue with the municipalities in question. One of the affected casinos, the Sparks Nugget, will have to pay out $1 million to the Treasury Department, due to a “willful disregard for anti-money laundering laws.”
“Despite the fact that it hosted convicted embezzlers and had been repeatedly alerted to suspicious transactions by its own compliance manager, Sparks saw no need to re-think its defenses,” blasted FinCEN Director Jennifer Shasky Calvery. It appears that the penalty will be paid by current ownership, Wolfhound Holdings, not the Ascuaga family, on whose watch the malfeasance occurred. Wolfhound also reached an undisclosed settlement with the Ascuagas over the purchase price of the Nugget. The two parties had each accused the other of owing them money on the transaction.
* Speaking of tax deals, New York State‘s Legislature has agreed overwhelmingly to cut Madison County in for a share of the 25% of slot revenue the state receives from Yellow Brick Road Casino. Having passed with veto-proof majorities, the bill now heads to Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) for his signature.
