Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker might want to curb casino expansions within the existing
Ho-Chunk Nation empire, as he did earlier this year in Kenosha but he can’t. Under 
pressure from the Menominee and Stockbridge-Munsee tribes, Walker put the blame for his constraint upon a compact signed by the Ho-Chunk and his predecessor, then-Gov. Jim Doyle (D) 13 years ago. “For me, I’d apply the same standards that applied to the [Menominee] site in Kenosha,” Walker said. The controversial expansion “was approved under the compact that Jim Doyle settled with the Ho-Chunk years ago. They chose to invoke it now. But I have no legal authority to block that.” Non-Ho-Chunk tribes in the Badger State are just going to have to grind their teeth in envy.
* It hardly comes as surprising news that Lucky Dragon Casino received its gaming license this week, although one notes with approval that, for once, the Nevada Gaming Commission didn’t wait until the last possible minute to do the deed. There were no scandalous, last-minute revelations, as was the case with SLS Las Vegas, where “Sam the Sham” Nazarian was revealed to have been doing blow and 
paying extortion money to rappers. The dilatory habits of Nevada gaming regulators are such that when it is revealed that there are serious problems within the project, as was the case with the new Aladdin, it’s too late to fix them.
Despite the Lucky Dragon’s heavy Chinese tilt (signage will be primarily in Chinese), the casino is expecting to get as much as 35% of its play from locals, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, which seems optimistic when one considers locals’ aversion to the Strip. Only 10% of players are expected to hail from China — a startling admission. SoCal is expected to supply 35% of the player base, with the remainder hailing from the Pacific Northwest and Canada. Finding Las Vegans with the skill to cater to a Sinophile clientele may be more difficult than it sounds: Lucky Dragon is still in the early stages of its hiring process, judging from what executives had to tell the NGC.
* Even with 18 of its executives languishing in Chinese jails, it’s business as usual at Crown Resorts. The company is proceeding with an IPO that would dilute its ownership of several Australian hotel brands, with the funds to go toward development projects. These might or might not include Alon, whose start date continues to recede into the distance like a mirage.
* You might think that a proposal to open additional Mississippi Real estate to casino development would play well with the gaming industry. Well, you would be wrong. Big Gaming, legislators and Gov. Phil Bryant all came down on the idea like a ton of bricks, with Bryant saying he was opposed to any expansion of gambling in the Bayou State. The concept — quickly tabled by the Mississippi Gaming Commission — would have permitted casino development on sites where the owners do not have control of the land all the way to the beachfront, a mandatory condition on Gulf Coast casino operators ever since they were allowed to move onshore after Hurricane Katrina, and a facet of Mississippi gaming law since casinos were legalized in 1992.
The Mississippi Gaming & Hospitality Association did not elaborate on its opposition but one can easily imagine that existing operators did not like the idea of newbies enjoying freedom from constraints the the current industry must observe. Ironically, the commissioners who went off the reservation on this issue were all Bryant appointees. This was a bad idea and I’m sure we’ve heard the last of it. At least the state could take consolation in the fact that gaming revenues were up 4% last month, for the highest tally since the early days of the Great Recession in 2008.
