… some money after midnight:
Evidently it’s not enough that gaming revenues and other casino-related retail taxes underwrite the State of Nevada. Lawmakers would extend a grubby mitt into the casino kitty and scoop up any unclaimed moolah. “[W]hy does the gaming establishment get to keep it,” harrumphed Assm. William Horne (D), throwing in a bit of demagoguery for good measure. (Big Bad Casino vs. John Q. Public) Only slot-ticket revenue would be affected but, rather than be content to tax the unclaimed vouchers, Horne and colleagues want to confiscate the lot. It’s vile and cowardly. Silver State lawmakers have run screaming from the idea of even the piddliest gross-receipts tax for non-gaming businesses but don’t piling on the casinos, an industry many Nevadans tend to resent.
Oaf of Office. Of course people remember Donald Trump when he was a first-grader. Because he’s so damned obnoxious, that’s why! He must have been a regular Little Lord Fauntleroy back then. Trump doesn’t strike me as someone you’d easily forget, no matter how much you wish you could. Anyway, I hope the fact that the casino figurehead is entertaining presidential delusions aspirations doesn’t mean we’ll have to pay closer attention to every inane thing he says.
Besides, it’s probably just a grotesque publicity stunt for his TV show. After all, in a presidential debate nobody would have to treat Trump with deference — and it’s not like he can jab his finger the opposition, say, “Ya fired,” and never have to confront them again. Politics ain’t beanbag but Donald Trump is its whoopee cushion.
Penn 1, Pinnacle 0. Over at The Newspaper That Must Not Be Linked, Howard Stutz reports that Wall Street is taking a dim view of casino prospects in Texas. A new report by Morgan Joseph analyst Justin Sebastiano enumerates the high hurdles casino legalization would have to clear: two-thirds approval by both houses of the Lege, majority approval by the electorate … with all those obstacles, the intractable opposition of Gov. Rick Perry (R, left) is lagniappe. As Stutz notes, this is very good news for Pinnacle Entertainment, so heavily invested in neighboring Louisiana.
What Sebastiano is evidently too kind mention is that his is a bulletin of gloomy portent for Penn National Gaming. Remember, Penn went halfsies into a trio of Texas tracks. Does CEO Peter Carlino have an exit strategy that doesn’t involve taking a bath on his Lone Star investment? As long shots go, this was one of the longest — unless Penn is prepared to sit on those parimutuels for a spell, hoping that the economy gets still worse and Texas lawmakers more budgetarily desperate. Like Caesars Entertainment, Penn appears prone to rash decisionmaking and will probably wish it had spent that money elsewhere … like Columbus, Ohio, where Penn is pleading poverty to the city fathers.
