Election Special; Station Reno project approved

Preoccupied with stumping for legalized sports betting, the American Gaming Association fell down on the job and failed to deliver a promised (yes, they literally Capitolpromised us) election roundup. By this shortcoming, the AGA flunked one of its mandates, which is to keep voters appraised of gaming-related ballot issues in their area. Fortunately, Global Gaming Business stepped into the gap. Gaming-expansion iniatives have been tossed by the courts in Arkansas and Nebraska, but several remain on the ballot in the Northeast. By this point, we are all well familiar with the proposal to expand New Jersey casino gambling outside of Atlantic City. The question at this point is not whether or not it will lose but by how much. A recent poll shows it failing by a three-to-one margin, a potential loss so crushing it would deter a 2018 sequel.

Aside from damaging the Atlantic City economy, it is just a stopgap. By the time developers like Jeff Gural and Paul Fireman get multi-billion-dollar resorts built, the five boroughs of New York City will be on the verge of gaming expansion themselves. S&G urges a “no” vote. “This is an issue we’ve been polling on for years, and there never has been broad and deep support for allowing casinos to expand beyond Atlantic City,” PublicMind Director Krista Jenkins told GGB.

“There were so many mysteries surrounding the Revere proposal that we felt we needed to help get the facts out.” With those words, Wynn Boston Harbor President Robert DeSalvio swung into action against mysterious developer Eugene McCain and his proposal to sneak a second Massachusetts slot parlor over the transom by dint of ballot SCT Deleo.jpginitiative. (An advisory vote bombed with Revere constituents.) The plan has a who’s-who of opponents, including the mayor of Revere, Gov. Charlie Baker (R) and Speaker of the House Robert DeLeo (D, right). Wynn contrasts the transparency of its opposition with the obscurity shrouding McCain. What little we do know is that he’s been palling around with shady casino speculator Shawn Scott and convicted felon Hoolae Paoa. S&G urges another “no” vote.

Voters in Rhode Island will be asked whether to transfer a slot-parlor license from the old Newport Grand to Tiverton. Casinos are one of the largest sources of revenue for the nation’s smallest state and Tiverton is thought to be leaning pro-casino, despite a mysterious, unregistered opposition movement. If approved, the casino will be designed to resemble a public library. S&G advocates a “yes” vote.

* “It’s just a bunch of slot machine tables,” groused Monarch Casino & Resort President John Farahi to the Reno Gazette-Journal after Reno city fathers gave the go-ahead for Station Casinos‘ hotel-less casino project. The company expects it will spend $70 million, tops, for the facility, which will have a bowling alley and cinema, in addition to gambling. Although Station is enjoying the use of a portable, no-gambling license that it acquired along with the old Turf Club back in 2005, it has not ruled out an eventual hotel (Farahi’s main sticking point) at some unspecified future juncture. This is Station’s first venture into Reno, so a measure of caution is understandable.

* Harrah’s Resort in Atlantic City became the first the property to officially unveil skill-based slots, debuting GameCo‘s Danger Arena last week. GameCo CEO Blaine Graboyes says he didn’t choose Atlantic City (where Caesars Entertainment will have a monopoly on the devices) for boyhood Boardwalk nostalgia alone: “New Jersey is known as a very well-regulated jurisdiction and we wanted to prove that we could do it here. It opens up the door for us to move into other jurisdictions around the world.”

Mayor Don Guardian (R) took time off from trying to prevent a state takeover of Atlantic City to cut the ribbon and say, “We know you could have been in Macao; you could have been in Las Vegas. Instead you chose the beautiful Caesars properties here.” Graboyes appears to know the history of skill-based slots being “vultured” — as Anthony Curtis puts it — by advantage players in the past. Of the robot-killing game he noted that some of the robots are invincible. With 10,000 scenarios loaded into Danger Arena, the chances you could come up against an invincible ‘bot sound pretty high.

* Scientific Games may have bit off more than it can chew with its recent acquisition mania. The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported “massive” firings at the company’s Las Vegas campus after SGMS posted a $99 million loss. “We want to be on the cutting edge, not the bleeding edge,” rationalized new CEO Kevin Sheehan (already sounding out of his depth), whose move to trim $75 million in payroll is playing to mixed reviews from Wall Street analysts.

* Abandon all hope, ye who play daily fantasy sports. FanDuel and DraftKings are reported to be in merger talks, which would give them a virtual monopoly on the DFS market, which is already heavily titled against the average player. If the deal is consummated, it will certainly be galling to states which desire sports betting and will have to watch FanDraft/DuelKings make another end run around the rules.

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