Yeah, I know … no shit, Sherlock. With the notable exception of the Las Vegas Business Press‘ Matt Ward, precious few journalists have been willing to come forward and report what everybody’s tacitly agreed, ever since the Macanese casino market was opened to Occidental operators: That ancient Sociedade de Jogos de Macau oligarch Stanley Ho is cozy with the Triads, who conducted a reign of terror in Macao prior to the imposition of Chinese rule. A former casino regulator once asked me, with considerable dismay, how the Nevada Gaming Commission could approve MGM Mirage‘s purchase of a casino subconcession from such a sleazy figure. I was and remain stumped for an answer.
Now the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement has officially stated what the rest of us only implied or whispered. The 78-page report is hot off the Internet and I’ve not had a chance to more than glance at it yet, but it comes to some pretty damning conclusions in re MGM as well as the Ho dynasty. What’s particularly intriguing is then-CEO J. Terrence Lanni‘s elliptical admission to Garden State regulators that Ho’s criminal ties were more than a matter of perception and that, as paraphrased by Howard Stutz, “the company realized it would never get licensed in New Jersey if it maintained Stanley Ho as a business partner.” Lanni probably didn’t help his cause by having a broadly grinning Stanley Ho front and center at every significant MGM Grand Macau event, doing his best impersonation of Banquo’s Ghost.
Since there would be no MGM Grand Macau if Pansy Ho hadn’t been given a 50/50 piece of the action and if she hadn’t received startup capital from her father, the question of whether or not Stanley Ho is a “partner” in MGM’s operation there is semantic — at least until Ms. Ho pays off her loan from Dad. More pertinently, if Lanni realized MGM’s future in Atlantic City as a casino owner was toast, why did the company wait so long to put its half of Borgata on the market? By deferring the decision into the regime of successor Jim Murren, Lanni appears to have cost the company tens — if not hundreds — of millions of dollars by not getting out of Atlantic City while the getting was still good.
Call me an idiot, but I’d rather have Jim Murren steering this ship, vs Terry Lanni. Jim seems like a pretty smart guy to me, and MGM seems to be getting back on the right track.
Good riddance… For MGM, that is! I guess NJ thinks it can afford the “holier than thou” attitude, but I guess they don’t mind sitting by and watching Atlantic City die a slow and painful death. LVS and Wynn are now in the Philly area. Slots may soon come to NYC. Gaming is being expanded in Maryland and Delaware. And instead of thinking of ways for AC to stay competitive, they kick out MGM Mirage for doing what other casino companies are doing in pursuing a piece of the Macau action?
Well, at least MGM is getting out now before AC gets any worse. I just wonder what Harrah’s will do in the future as Macau opportunities emerge and AC continues its freefall.
And no, Brian, you’re not an idiot. I also think Jim Murren has done a pretty good job at MGM so far, considering all the problems he inherited (including this one).
[…] Entertainment’s troubled relationship with disordered gambler Terrance K. Watanabe, the covert-operations unit J. Terrence Lanni set up to conceal his negotiations with Stanley Ho (right) or the financial […]