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Plot “worthy of a spy thriller”

Steve Wynn, chairman and CEO of global gaming operator Wynn Resorts, has been linked to a plan to deport a Chinese businessman seeking asylum in the U.S.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Wynn personally delivered a letter from the Beijing government to President Donald Trump, asking him to send dissident Guo Wengui back to China. Wynn is heavily invested in the Chinese territory of Macau; in 2016, his properties there accounted for more than 60 percent of Wynn casino net revenues, according to the company.

The Journal called the alleged plot “worthy of a spy thriller.”

Guo, described by CNBC as one of the top 80 richest people in China, is also a member of Trump’s exclusive Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida. He fled his home country in 2014, and on April 19 China’s foreign ministry said Interpol issued a “red notice” for his arrest. Guo was called a “vocal critic of alleged government corruption in China.” But he is also under investigation for crimes including bribery and rape.

According to the Journal, in a June meeting in the Oval Office, Trump referred to Guo as a “Chinese criminal” who deserved to be immediately deported. “We need to get this criminal out of the country,” Trump said.

In May, the UK Guardian reported, a group of Chinese security officials visited Guo in New York and issued threats about critical tweets he’s sent about the government. They also reportedly tried to persuade him to return to his homeland. Guo apparently did not bend to the pressure, and in fact recorded his conversation with the Chinese officials and posted part of it online. The FBI later got involved, and ordered the Chinese agents to leave the country.

Wynn Resorts Marketing Director Michael Weaver told the Journal in a written statement, “The report regarding Mr. Wynn is false. Beyond that, he doesn’t have any comment.”

A Justice Department representative made it clear that if Wynn acted in the manner described, he was violating the law. “It is a criminal offense for an individual, other than a diplomatic or consular officer or attache, to act in the United States as an agent of a foreign power without prior notification to the attorney general,” the representative told the Journal.

A restructured and re-energized Caesars Entertainment has begun to flesh out its growth plans for Las Vegas and other key markets.

As outlined in a corporate presentation to investors and analysts in New York last week, highlights include ongoing renovation of more than 10,000 Las Vegas hotel rooms, a ramp-up of the company’s Total Rewards loyalty program and plans for monetizing the Caesars brands through a variety of partnerships worldwide.

President and CEO Mark Frissora indicated plans are progressing for a $300 million-$500 million convention center slated for completion on the Las Vegas Strip in two years on land currently used as parking lot east of the High Roller thrill ride.

“The convention center is going to be 300,000 square feet,” he said. “It will be very functional; it will host small and midsize meetings. We’re not doing exhibit space.”

The company also said it is finalizing strategies for the development of seven acres in front of Caesars Palace, 39 acres adjacent to The Linq and another 50 acres near Bally’s, Paris Las Vegas and Planet Hollywood.

Internationally, he emphasized Caesars’ commitment to constructing a China-facing destination resort in South Korea and said the company wants to be in the running for a casino license in Japan and in Brazil, if legalization becomes a reality there.

He also said the company is looking for new ways to grow its global footprint through the licensing of its best-known brands―Caesars, Harrah’s, Horseshoe, Rio, Planet Hollywood, Total Rewards and the World Series of Poker among them. The company is looking for 16-17 percent management fees from prospective branding partners and possibly equity stakes and profit-sharing as well.

“Our brands are powerful and wanted by developers all around the world,” Frissora said. “We’ve never done this before.”

Celebrity dining concepts and A-list entertainment will continue to figure prominently in the company’s domestic marketing arsenal, hand in hand with a focus on expanding Total Rewards and developing other strategies to appeal to the growing millennial demographic on both the gaming and non-gaming sides of the business.

One strategy will include an aggressive program for displaying food and game offers to customers as they emerge from concerts, using discounted offers to increase spending at other sites within the properties.

Christian Stuart, executive vice president of gaming and interactive entertainment, said gaming floors are being revamped with new proprietary side-bet games on tables and fresh slot machines that will include skill-based components.

He noted that a new mobile gaming platform has been launched and said the company is working with Gamblit, GameCo and Competition Interactive for new skill-based offerings designed to be available for free on social platforms so that players can easily transition to paid games once in the casino.

In related news, Caesars Entertainment Operating Co. Inc., the company’s largest subsidiary, has secured a $265 million term loan two weeks after exiting a comprehensive restructuring under the protection of U.S. Bankruptcy Court that has slashed some $10 billion of its debt.

The funding will be added to existing resources valued at around $1.43 billion and used to repay senior secured notes issued by the holding companies for Harrah’s Philadelphia Casino and Racetrack, the company said.

Frissora said the loan, combined with other recently announced refinancing packages, will reduce CEOC’s debt by a further $290 million.

The new Deputy Secretary of the Interior, David Bernhardt, wouldn’t commit to supporting a new rule that many tribes support: updating the Indian Traders rule. The deputy secretary is what one senator called, “the COO” of the department. The Bureau of Indian Affairs reports to him.

Bernhardt, in his first appearance before tribal leaders, at the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, did not promise to push for updating the rule. “I’m not convinced that we won’t,” he added.

Randy Phelan, vice chairman of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation (MHA), explained why so many tribes want the rule, which would end the practice of dual taxation on reservations. In Phelan’s state of North Dakota, both the federal government and the state tax energy resources.

“The state of North Dakota is draining our taxes,” Phelan told Bernhardt. To date, North Dakota has collected $1.2 billion from the reservation’s energy industry. That’s much less than what the tribe itself has collected.

Bernhardt promised to try to learn more about the issue.

Some members of Congress have warned the Trump administration not to get involved in this fight between the tribes and the states.

Meanwhile, the Bureau of Indian Affairs continues to hold several consultations and listening sessions with tribes on the proposed rule.

Ron Allen, chairman of the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe, urged the administration to “move on this thing as fast as possible.” He stressed the importance of being clear that only tribes can tax on Indian land.

Aaron Payment, chairman of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, told Bernhardt that adopting the rule would generate economic activity on reservations and create jobs. He thus subtly reminded him of Trump’s state goal of being pro-business.

The administration recently asked tribes to submit examples of economic opportunities they missed due to worries of being doubly taxes.

NCAI’s general counsel, John Dossett urged members to respond to the survey.

One member of the department, Gavin Clarkson, deputy assistant secretary for policy and economic development for the BIA, is enthusiastic about the proposal. Several months ago, according to the Bismarck Tribune he told a tribal energy symposium: “Together, we’re going to prove that it is in everybody’s best interest for taxes collected at MHA to stay at MHA and be collected by MHA and by nobody else.”

Other Interior officials have commented that state dual taxation has prevented many projects from happening.

At the same time, a number of tribal leaders are lambasting the Trump administration for adding steps to what they already consider an onerous process for putting land into trust.

However, critics of the ease in which tribes had under the Obama administration in taking land far from their reservations and putting it into trust are less scathing.

Tribal leaders spoke their minds at a so-called “listening session” in Milwaukee, Wisconsin scheduled so they could give feedback to members of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

The man doing the listening, and little of the talking, was John Tahsuda, acting assistant secretary for Indian Affairs, whose job was to run the Bureau until last week’s appointment of Tara MacLean Sweeney, a member of the Native Village of Barrow and the Iñupiat Community of the Arctic Slope, as his boss.

The listening session was also the occasion for the National Congress of American Indians’ 74th annual meeting in the Wisconsin Center.

Yavapai-Apache Nation Vice Chair Larry Jackson, Sr. declared, “We’re talking about doubling the burden on tribes in an already burdensome process. It’s about creating a burden on the tribal nations.”

Outgoing National Congress of American Indians President Brian Cladoosby, who is also chairman of the Swinomish Tribe, said, “What I as a tribal leader am seeing is more burdens, more hoops to jump through.”

Ron Allen, chairman of the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe was even more critical: “The timing is terrible. That’s the kind of Christmas present you’re going to give us? I don’t think so.” He said that tribes would have to take their grievances to Congress.

He predicted that the proposed rule changes would make it easier for those he called “anti-Indians” to file lawsuits to stop land being put into trust. He urged the administration, “get the hell out of the way,” of tribal sovereignty.

Tahsuda, who is a member of the Kiowa Tribe, did speak a bit. “To my mind, we are trying to streamline the process,” he said. He said the proposed change would create a “two-phased” review for tribes that seek to put land into trust that isn’t adjacent to their reservations.

During a speech to the group of hundreds of tribal leaders, he said, “We understand that there is a need for jobs in Indian Country and this administration offers an important and encouraging opportunity for creative approaches for drawing businesses and economic development to our tribal communities.”

Tribes would be obliged to submit data on tribal unemployment, and be able to show the economic benefits of putting the land into trust. They would also be required to show that they worked with local governments, and how their acquisition might affect local economies.

Gus Frank, chairman of the Forest County Potawatomi Community, was the only tribal member who supported the changes. He said that it would prevent a tribe from acquiring land and opening a casino on what was another tribe’s homeland.

More sessions are scheduled later this year in Seattle, Sacramento and Phoenix.

Moving the focus to Washington D.C., the bureau will soon undergo grilling by the House Subcommittee on Indian, Insular and Alaska Native Affairs. Tahsuda will testify about H.R. 215, the American Indian Empowerment Act, which would allow tribes to take land out of trust and be placed in “restricted fee” status.

The purpose of the bill, says author Rep. Don Young of Alaska is to give tribes more control over their homelands. “The land will keep its immunity from civil regulation, state and local taxation, and likely state criminal jurisdiction,” he wrote in a memo.

Previously the BIA opposed the bill. Tahsuda could signal a change.

The previous administration helped put more than 500,000 acres into trust, and restored another 1.87 million acres through the Land Buy-Back Program for Tribal Nations.

Standard & Poor’s Global Ratings have upgraded Atlantic City’s bond rating slightly as the city—through New Jersey’s fiscal control of the resort—has settled most of its casino tax appeal cases.

The ratings agency upgraded the city bonding rating from CCC to CCC+. The new rating means the city’s bonds carry substantial risks, a slight uptick from the former rating which said the city’s bonds were extremely speculative, according to the Press of Atlantic City.

This year, the state—which took over the city’s finances in November 2016—settled more than $300 million in casino tax appeals for $139 million.

“The upgrade and stable outlook reflect our opinion of the city’s improving financial performance and settlement of significant unfunded tax appeals,” said Timothy Little, S&P Global Ratings credit analyst. “Additionally, while current and projected cash flow statements have not been provided, the city and state have indicated they will continue to make debt service payments on time and in full, including $6.4 million due by Nov. 1 of this year.”

In February, the state agreed to a $165 million tax appeal for $72 million with Borgata Hotel Casino and in August, the state settled more than $137 million in tax appeals with various casino properties for $67 million.

“By settling outstanding tax appeals for a fraction of what was demanded by casinos and reducing overly generous union salaries and benefits, the state has taken action in a way that the city was unable or unwilling to do,” Lisa Ryan, spokeswoman for the state Department of Community Affairs told the newspaper. “However, there remains more work to be done, and we cannot lose sight of the fact that the city’s operating budget will be hampered by structural challenges that started many years ago and will take significant time to fix.”

Also, ratings agencies aren’t exactly bullish on the city’s casino industry as the prospect of Hard Rock International re-opening the former Trump Taj Mahal—and the possible re-opening of the closed Revel casino in the future—has many worried that the city will again see its casino industry oversaturated, which could lead to more casino closings in the resort.

“While there could be short-term economic and budgetary gains, they are unlikely to improve state credit quality. With declining tribal gaming revenues in Connecticut and the erosion of the Atlantic City gaming monopoly in New Jersey, long-term risks from commercial casino gaming are an ongoing credit risk,” according to a Standard & Poor’s report. “As states in the region continue their gambling expansion, coupled with the region’s weak demographic trends, the likelihood that these revenues will meaningfully supplement state revenues over the long term diminishes and will have long-term credit implications.”

The issue of expanding casino gambling into northern New jersey will likely have the support of the next New Jersey Governor supports as both major candidates for the office said they were in favor of expansion at their last scheduled gubernatorial debate.

Democrat Phil Murphy and Republican Kim Guadagno said they favor expanding casinos outside of Atlantic City into the northern part of the state.

New Jersey voters, however, overwhelmingly defeated a referendum to allow the expansion last year. Supporters of expansion have vowed to bring the issue back before voters, but will have to wait at least one more year before a new referendum can be put on the state’s ballot.

Supporters had hoped to gain approval to allow two new casinos at unspecified locations in the state, though the Meadowlands and Jersey City were considered the leading contenders. However, a strong advertising campaign by opponents of the plan—including casino interests in Pennsylvania and New York—helped defeat the referendum.

Murphy and Guadagno—speaking at the last scheduled gubernatorial debate before the election—both voiced support for the casino expansion.

Murphy, who is leading the race in opinion polls, said he was a strong supporter of the plan

 “It’s a huge job creator, and we’re desperate for jobs. No. 2, if it’s not in North Jersey, before we know it, it will be on the west side of Manhattan,” he said during the debate.

Murphy said new casinos could send significant revenue to Atlantic City to help the city increase non-gaming attractions. That provision was part of last year’s pitch for two new casinos to be built in northern New Jersey. Though it lacked specifics, the plan was to have new casinos contribute revenue for development of non-casino attractions in Atlantic City.

Murphy also said the state must remain competitive with neighboring states that allow casino gaming.

“My fear is if there’s a casino on the west side of Manhattan, they won’t send one red cent to Atlantic City. I’d rather that gaming, and those jobs created, be in New Jersey,” Murphy said.

Guadagno also supports expansion, but said the state should wait until Atlantic City’s finances are stabilized before revisiting the issue.

“Once Atlantic City is stabilized, yes, I believe we should put on the ballot the question of whether we have gaming up north. And I agree, if someone is going to get the jobs, we should get the jobs,” she said during the debate.

The state currently controls Atlantic City’s municipal finances and has been working to reduce the city’s massive debt and return it to fiscal stability. While the candidates both supported casino expansion, they differed on what role the state should continue to play in Atlantic City.

Murphy said he wants to return control of the city’s finances to local officials, but have the state continue to provide assistance.

“Atlantic City has gone through hell and back,” he said. I would undo that state takeover. But we’d be there on the ground working with the local elected officials to keep the progress we’ve seen in Atlantic City and a whole lot more.”

Guadagno, however, said the state’s intervention into the city has been positive, such as development tax credits offered by the state which Murphy has criticized.

“The only thing that keeps Atlantic City alive now and attracts businesses to Atlantic City are those tax credits,” she said. “That’s why Atlantic City is on the way back.”

The initiative on the November ballot that would allow a casino in York County, Maine that only one man would be qualified to operate is expected to dominate the final weeks of the election leading up to the statewide vote.

So far controversial gaming developer Shawn Scott has spent $6 million to promote Question 1, which could put Scott in line to get a casino license that could be worth as much as $150 million to him if he chose to sell it. As he did in 2003 when he brought the first casino to Maine: which is now operated by Penn National Gaming as Hollywood Casino Resort & Raceway in Bangor. Scott sold the rights to Penn for $51 million after promoting a successful initiative.

The official proponent for Question 1 is the PAC Progress for Maine, which several months ago hired the Washington D.C. lobbying firm Goddard Gunster, which last year successfully piloted the Brexit campaign in Great Britain. Campaign expenditure records show that the campaign has so far been billed for $629,000 by Gunster, and could probably spent $1.3 by the end of the election.

The Forecaster reported that Gunster has a 90 percent success rate for the imitative campaigns it has run.

The Question 1 campaign has also hired the services of former Maine Attorney General Andrew Ketterer.

Progress for Maine is promoting the requirement that some percentage of the casino profits would go to fund state services, such as education.