Going home again; Hotel Hell: The sequel

Here’s a casino-development story with several personal angles. When I lived in Minneapolis and wrote from the since-defunct Twin Cities Reader, my publisher was R.T. Rybak. Now he’s mayor of the city and is trying to hold onto the perennially underachieving Minnesota Vikings. He’s floated several formulas, one of which entails licensing a casino on Block E for $20 million. Block E sits right smack downtown, across from a shopping mall called — yes — City Center. Back in the 1980s, Block E was home to a couple of newsstands that specialized in porn and provided me with some of my first post-collegiate employment.

But times change and one type of pleasure gives way to another. At the risk of engaging in sophistry, what Rybak is proposing is a circuitous tax levy to raise stadium money for the feckless Vikes. You and I gamble on Hennepin Ave., and a cut of those gross revenues is dedicated to paying for the Cargill Dome or whatever the new gridiron will be dubbed. So far, Rybak’s going it alone. But if he wants to make converts, he shouldn’t have difficulty luring potential casino developers to the cause (so long as developer Bob Lux is willing to share the sandbox).

The downpayment is relatively cheap, especially compared to upfront fees in other states. Penn National Gaming has to be short-listed for any new casino market and Minneapolis would snugly fit Caesars Entertainment‘s expansion strategy. Besides, the downtown-renewal model is of a piece with Caesars’ growing number of partnerships with Rock Ventures. CEOs Gary Loveman and Dan Gilbert can point to their Cincinnati and Cleveland casinos-in-progress as examples of the minimally disruptive casino that Lux is promising.

Assuming Lux is even willing to take on a brand-name, experienced casino partner, Isle of Capri Casinos is also deeply entrenched in the Upper Midwest. Up-and-comers for whom the Twin Cities would make a logical foothold include Neil Bluhm (right), who’s riding a hot streak, super-aggressive Genting Berhad (if it doesn’t deem the market too small) and Cordish Gaming. Of course, Lakes Entertainment and its CEO, Lyle Berman, constitute a potential “native son” candidacy — but Rybak could do a lot better, methinks. Easily ruled out are MGM Resorts International (risk-averse), Las Vegas Sands and Wynn Resorts (probably not enough ROI for either), Boyd Gaming (in caution mode presently) and Ameristar Casinos (in stasis). If Lux tries to go it alone, I don’t like his chances of success. Is Rybak putting taxpayers’ money on the right horse?

Closer to home, the now-you-see-it, now-you-don’t stadium project of Christopher Milam has found yet another haven … in Henderson. It’d be bankrolled with STAR bonds, pledged against anticipated sales-tax revenues, which were a favored development strategy back when times were good. Now the fear is that repaying Milam’s bonds will entail robbing Peter to Paul. The unkindest cut is Steve Sebelius‘ description of Milam (who has been quite successful in Texas) as a “would-be developer.” Five years of unrealized pipe dreams will do that to your reputation.

Note to the Los Angeles Times, the ‘pedestrian realms’ in front of Venelazzo and all other Vegas casinos are not “what [a street performer] said was a public sidewalk.” The LAT needn’t take Zorro’s word for it. Courts have decreed those sidewalks to be zones where the First Amendment can be exercised. Casino owners may not like it but there isn’t much they can do … although some ‘informational picketing’ I covered back in ’01 was met with a heavy LV Sands staff presence, including videotaping of Culinary Union members, for what dark purpose deponent knoweth not.

A truly classless promotion put on by — who else? — Trump Entertainment Resorts came to a happy ending. The woman who won the “Nip & Tuck Sweepstakes” at Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort passed up the proffered plastic surgery in favor of a $25K payday. In any economy, but especially today’s, that’s a no-brainer. One tempted to blame CEO Robert Griffin (left) for this debasing publicity stunt but, let’s face it, society’s decadent appetite for cosmetic surgical enhancement made it not only possible but timely.

We thought we had it bad when the missus and I spent a Stygian weekend at Primm Valley Resort. But our experience was a picnic compared to the fate of this unfortunate guest at neighboring Buffalo Bill’s. Seriously, would you get into that hot tub now, knowing what you do?