Plucking General Manager Michael Storm from the executive ranks of The D and the Golden Gate and installing him at Hooters Casino Hotel is proving to be one of the 
best ideas that property’s had in a long time. Storm’s “Month of Giving” campaign, in which the August marketing budget is rechanneled into charitable causes is getting noticed. It’s also getting a strong amount of employee buy-in. Most recently, the Hooter Girls showed the flag (and a $1,000 check) at Sam’s Town’s bowling alley for the Nevada Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals “Out of the Gutter” fundraiser. Before that, they were enlisted as Habitat for Humanity volunteers.
“To my surprise, 14 girls showed up at 5 in the morning, ready to go, and they worked — they worked their butts off. Not only did we finish the house that we were there to do, but they gave us a second house, as well. We split our girls into two teams, we worked on two houses, did all of the work that Habitat gave us to do and still had 45 minutes to spare,” Storm told Vegas Inc., adding “what’s another billboard? We’re feeding 3,000 kids.” Hooters may not be the only community-spirited casino in town but, for the moment, it’s leading by example and telling an inspiring story.
* With a stroke of the pen, Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) has made daily fantasy sports legal in New York State. As gaming-law expert I. Nelson Rose observes in his latest column, the accompanying 15% tax on DFS and $50,000 registration fee will reinforce the DraftKings/FanDuel duopoly. While the twosome are free to act in the Empire State, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman doesn’t intend to let them off the hook for dubious conduct pre-legalization. “The amended lawsuit will continue against Draft Kings and FanDuel alleging consumer fraud and false advertising for prior operations in New York,” he said. Predicts Rose, “Look for that suit to be settled fairly quickly.”
* Las Vegas casino-hotels will go far, far out of the way to humor high rollers. But what will they do for the average Joe? You could follow the example of the couple who made a series of increasingly preposterous requests of an unknown (i.e., not necessarily in Vegas) hotel and had each one of them humored. It’s one way to get something for your “resort fee,” even if only in the form of self-amusement.
* If I wanted, I could celebrate my birthday by staying up until 2 a.m. tomorrow morning to watch the Riviera‘s Monte Carlo tower come tumbling down. In contrast to the 
downright celebratory spectacle the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority made of the implosion of the Monaco tower, this will be a strictly low-key event. I suspect (though I have no proof), that the LVCVA is erring on the side of caution, given the asbestos-remediation issues that surrounded the preparation of the Monte Carlo tower for demolition. Given the 10-year gap between the debut of the Riviera and that of Caesars Palace (which recently celebrated its half-century with some truly breathtaking fireworks), the obliteration of the Riviera severs the last major tie to the Rat Pack era. Sic transit gloria Vegas.
