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Five California gaming tribes are involved in a technical dispute with Governor Gavin Newsom that may delay the renewal of their tribal state gaming compacts. That, in turn, could force them to turn off their machines—and potentially lose millions.

The tribes are Robinson Rancheria, the Hopland Band of Pomo Indians, the Chicken Ranch Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians, Blue Lake Rancheria and the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe. All the tribes are coming to the end of the original compacts they signed with the state in 1999 and were supposed to renew in 2020, but an automatic 18-month extension was added. The deadline to renew is now June 30.

These tribes object to several provisions the Newsom administration seeks to add to the compacts. Without compacts they can’t legally operate slots.

Most other tribes have renewed their compacts with the state. However, the five tribes are involved in a lawsuit Chicken Ranch Rancheria v. Gavin Newsom. The tribes argue that Newsom’s new provisions would violate the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA.)

Some provisions they oppose including those on enforcing spousal and child support orders and the imposition of state law on the environment, minimum wage, and the labor code, among others. They say they violate tribal sovereignty.

Robinson Rancheria tribal Chairman Beniakem Cromwell told the Press-Democrat: “We closed ourselves for 125 days during the pandemic.” He added, “We know how devastating it is.”

He added, “This has nothing to do with revenue. It’s education for members in higher education or vocational school. It’s elders’ monthly social welfare. We use that revenue for after-school programs, sports teams. We fund employees at our elder center, our education center, our tutors.”

The attorney representing four of the tribes, Les Marston, explains that the tribes don’t oppose the goals of the provisions the governor insists on. He told the Press-Democrat: “Supporting children. Making sure spouses are adequately compensated. You really think tribes aren’t going to do that on their own?” He added, “How paternalistic is that? The issue here is the tribes’ right to govern themselves under their own laws, which is guaranteed to them by the Constitution of the United States.”

Last year federal judge Anthony Ishii ruled in favor of the tribes, writing, “The Tribal Plaintiffs have met their burden of producing evidence the State Defendants did not negotiate in good faith by raising topics in negotiations that were beyond the scope permitted by IGRA or which required some form of meaningful concession in return.”

But Nelson Rose, an expert on Indian gaming law, points out that on the rest of the issues raised in the lawsuit, the tribes didn’t win. The judge ruled that the governor didn’t have the authority to impose the provisions that they could also be the subject of negotiations.

Inevitably, the ultimate decision will be made by a higher court, where the state appeal is headed. However the case is decided could set precedent for gaming tribes throughout California. Several tribes have pending compact negotiations. If the five tribes win, some of them might demand to return to negotiations on some points that the state forced them to accept.

With gasoline prices at record highs, visitation to Las Vegas apparently is unaffected. According to a Newsbreak report, Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) Vice President of Research Kevin Bagger said Strip tourism typically does not decline due to higher fuel costs, and traffic from Southern California along Interstate 15 was up more than 2 percent in the first month of the year.

“Over the years, there have been spikes in gas prices that historically haven’t had significant impacts on travel demand,” Bagger said in an interview in March. “We are keeping an eye on it because inflation is at a level that we haven’t seen for quite some time.”

According to AAA, gasoline prices in the Las Vegas Valley averaged almost $5.37 for a gallon of regular unleaded last month—$2 a gallon higher than a year ago and up roughly $1.30 from February. Only California has higher per-gallon prices, about $6.

Boyd Gaming Chief Financial Officer Josh Hirsberg told attendees at a recent investor meeting organized by Truist Securities last week that the company’s casinos haven’t experienced any material loss of business because of gas prices rising throughout the country. But if the spike continues over the long term, he warned that could slow business in many drive-in gaming destinations across the U.S.

MGM Resorts International CFO Jonathan Halkyard made similar statements to Well Fargo Securities gaming analyst Daniel Politzer on March 23.

“Consumer demand recovered throughout the first quarter, with recent (hotel) occupancy trends better than expected,” Politzer wrote in a research note.

Politzer said Las Vegas has been a market with roughly 50 percent drive-in business versus 50 percent fly-in business, although MGM Resorts “skews more toward fly-in given in its premium room product.”

Despite his positive view toward the Strip, he did worry that any additional spike in fuel costs could “create some near-term demand choppiness for the leisure/transient customer.”

AAA said people are still traveling despite the high gas prices. Overall February online bookings were up 42 percent over 2021 and up just 1 percent from pre-pandemic 2019. “Las Vegas remains the top destination for hotel bookings,” AAA said.

A private global development group is planning a $3 billion project to include a $1 billion, 20,000-seat arena just south of the Las Vegas Strip at the intersection of Las Vegas Boulevard and Blue Diamond Road.

Sports and entertainment venue developer Oak View Group is planning to break ground next year on the 25-acre development, with tentative plans for completion by 2026, according to a report in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. According to the report, the project will include a hotel, casino and amphitheater in addition to the arena and entertainment district.

“South of the Las Vegas Strip represents one of the few areas of potential future growth of the gaming and entertainment corridor,” said Tim Leiweke, CEO of Oak View Group, told the Review-Journal. “This unprecedented project is an industry game-changer, and we will usher in the evolution of Las Vegas as the new entertainment and sports capital of the world.”

The project also is adjacent to a planned station on the new Brightline high-speed rail line planned to link Las Vegas and Los Angeles, a project that also includes plans for a new Major League Soccer stadium, built by billionaire Wes Edens, co-CEO of Fortress Investment Group, who owns Brightline.

“If those two projects happen, I think it’s phenomenal,” Leiweke said. “We’re excited because it really builds something dynamic as a live entertainment zone that is connected directly to Southern California. Just a huge boon for not only Las Vegas and Nevada, obviously for our campus as well.”

Leiweke told the newspaper that although no professional sports team is currently linked to the planned arena, his company is interested in pursuing an NBA franchise. “We would join the governor, Clark County and the business leaders and the tourism industry to aggressively pursue a franchise, should one become available,” he said. “But we’re under no belief, expectation or direction today that that’s imminent.”

Also included in the project is Hollywood producer Jerry Bruckheimer and former Raiders President Marc Badain.

Oak view Group was the developer of the Climate Pledge Arena at Seattle Center, where the NHL’s Seattle Kraken play, as well as the UBS Arena in New York, the new home of the NHL’s New York Islanders.

Along with Nevada, Utah, Alaska and Hawaii, Alabama is just one of five states without a state lottery−and it’s likely to remain that way. Facing an April 7 deadline and issues that have blocked gambling legislation for years−conservative opposition, disagreements on how to use proceeds and turf wars over lucrative electronic gambling machines−state Rep. Chip Brown said his lottery bill will have to wait until next year. “I would say more than likely, just given the time constraints, that we won’t be moving forward to put it on the floor,” Brown said.

Brown’s bill would direct lottery proceeds to college tuition, college debt relief and bonuses for retired employees.

In the Senate, state Senator Greg Albritton’s gambling bill also is unlikely to come to the floor for a vote. It would establish a lottery, five casinos, two satellite casinos and sports betting, with the proceeds going toward college education.

Both the House and Senate measures would be constitutional amendments, requiring two-thirds of each chamber and approval of a majority of voters.

Brown said he thought he was “right there” regarding having enough House votes to pass his bill, but he didn’t believe it would get through the Senate. Still, he defended his measure. “There’s a lot of people that would prefer just a lottery, and people who prefer casino gaming and sports betting. So I’d like to see us address those as all separate packages, rather than one overall package,” he said.

State Rep. Reed Ingram said he’d vote against Brown’s bill and was generally pessimistic about its chances of passing. He said Republicans would filibuster the bill if it came to the floor. “If they do try to push it, I think it divides our caucus, and that’s one thing we don’t need. We’re looking at the speaker, we’re looking at the people in leadership we’re electing the next quadrennium. In my opinion, it’s in our best interest to set it aside,” Ingram said.

Last year, a comprehensive gambling bill passed the Senate after months of negotiations. But it crumbled in May after lengthy negotiations in the House and an unsuccessful attempt by House Republicans to turn it into an exclusively lottery bill.

Alabama Republican voters, however, appear to support a state lottery. A recent survey of Alabama Republican primary voters, commissioned by Alabama Daily News and Gray Television, indicated 43.5 percent agreed the state should legalize and tax a lottery, sports betting and casinos; 20.5 percent said they supported only legalizing a lottery; and 25.7 percent said they opposed any gambling expansion.

In Danville, Virginia, officials are looking ahead to the 2023-24 budget, which is expected to include revenue from the $500 million Caesars Virginia casino resort in Schoolfield, opening in late 2023. The venue is projected to generate $38 million in annual revenue by its third year of operation. Danville City Manager Ken Larking noted, “We won’t know the actual number for sure until it actually opens and then we’ll see what it looks like in reality.”

That anticipated $38 million would include $12 million in annual payment from Caesars, $22 million in yearly gaming tax revenue and $4.2 million in other tax revenue including sales, lodging, meals and property taxes.

An interim report from the Investing in Danville committee and an analysis by the financial consulting firm PFM indicated citizens wanted the casino tax revenue to be used for public education and economic development, followed by public safety, infrastructure, community health, quality housing, financial stability and quality of life amenities.

Caesars Virginia will include a casino with more than 1,400 slots and 75 table games, Caesars Sportsbook and a 25-table World Series of Poker Room, plus a 500-room hotel with a spa, pool area and fitness center; 40,000 square feet of meeting and convention space; numerous restaurants and bars; and an entertainment venue for up to 2,500 guests. The project will create 900 construction jobs and 1,300 permanent jobs.

Founded in 1903 by Dan River Inc., Schoolfield was one of the largest textile mill villages in Virginia and the South. The three prominent smokestacks at the site, known as the Three Sisters, will anchor the new casino, officials said. Also, a common design element will be red brick and tonal colors, a reference to Danville’s textile history.

The ongoing battle between Station Casinos and the Culinary Union entered a new phase when the union attacked the operator on two fronts. The union appealed to the Nevada Gaming Control Board to revoke the operator’s gaming licenses, saying Station is “unsuitable” for a Nevada license after repeated failures to bargain with the union.

Separately, the Culinary Union filed a mass action lawsuit against Station, alleging it violated Nevada’s Right to Return law by failing to return furloughed employees to their jobs.

In a statement, Culinary officials urged the Nevada Gaming Control Board to investigate the suitability of Station Casinos “for failing to adhering to federal labor law.”

But apparently the union has no problem with Boyd Gaming, whose CFO has bragged about not re-hiring furloughed employees.

In the statement, Ted Pappageorge, the union’s secretary treasurer, said Station’s ongoing practices have violated labor laws, citing allegations currently before the National Labor Relations Board.

“The Culinary Union is confident the state’s gaming regulators will want to take action against Station Casinos after they have reviewed the ample documentation and evidence of the company and its affiliates’ disregard of federal law, including the current allegations before the NLRB,” Pappageorge said. “No one has a right to a revocable, privileged Nevada gaming license—gaming regulators have a duty to make sure license-holders, like Station Casinos, are always operating in way befitting Nevada’s gold standard of gaming industry regulation.”

Station wasted no time in responding. “The Culinary Union seems unable to win the hearts and minds of our team members, so they just continue with their harassment and their thuggish attempts to intimidate Station Casinos, whose employees voted us the top casino employer in Las Vegas,” a Station Casinos spokesperson told station KLAS in Las Vegas.

Station also has indicated employees voted to decertify the union at Boulder and Palace Stations, where the company no longer recognizes the union as a bargaining agent. The union alleges the decertification votes were illegal, and that union members were intimidated by Station management to vote against the union.

The union already has won several court rulings. An Oct. 25, 2021, injunction issued by U.S. District Court Judge Gloria Navarro stated the National Labor Relations Board would likely rule that Red Rock Casino Resort and Spa had violated federal labor law in its campaign to defeat the union in an election.

The union made an official request to gaming officials to review Stations Casinos’ suitability to hold a license. The Gaming Control Board meets April 6 and April 7 in Carson City.

Station, after signing contracts recognizing the Culinary Union at seven of its properties, closed two Fiesta properties and sold the Palms. Maintenance workers at the Palms have since petitioned the NLRB to decertify the International Union of Operating Engineers at that property. More recently, slot technicians at Red Rock Resort, owned by Station parent Red Rock Resorts, Inc. petitioned the national board to decertify the same union.

Last year, an NLRB administrative judge found Station’s parent company, Red Rock Resorts, Inc., “has engaged in contumacious conduct by failing to respond fully to a federal subpoena issued by the NLRB.”

“The Control Board does have jurisdiction over federal law violations on licensed properties. This is arguably a violation of federal law under the National Labor Relations Act,” said Ruben Garcia, Boy Law Professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, in an interview with Nevada Current. “They also have an interest in ensuring suitable operations, and if you’re violating that would seem to be unsuitable.”

The mass action complaint alleges that Station—Nevada’s third-largest private employer and owner of nine casinos in Las Vegas—has operated “in flagrant violation of its obligations as an employer and has not recalled hospitality workers back to work as mandated by SB386.”

At the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, 98 percent of Culinary Union members were laid off and currently 80 percent are back to work. While a majority of unionized workers already have extended recall protections in their contracts, a majority of workers protected by SB386 are not unionized.

“The Culinary Union is proud to have won the Right to Return for over 350,000 hospitality workers in Nevada,” the union said in a statement announcing the lawsuit. “SB386 gave hundreds of thousands of union and non-union casino, hospitality, stadium, and travel-related employees, who were laid off, through no fault of their own, the Right to Return to their jobs as business returns. Every Republican member in the 2021 Nevada Legislature voted to not support SB386.”

In its press release, the union noted SB386 Right to Return mandates;

• Workers laid off after March 12, 2020 for economic reasons due to the pandemic are eligible for Right to Return. Protections in SB386 begin July 1, 2021 and expire August 31, 2022.
• Hundreds of thousands of union and non-union hospitality, airport, casino, travel, and stadium workers (including third party operators at hotels and casinos such as retail shops, restaurants, bars, and parking facilities) are protected.
• Covered employers (that have 30 or more employees) must make offers to laid-off employees when they have job openings for the same or similar positions as the employee worked previously.
• Workers who receive job offers have 24 hours to accept or decline and must be available to work within five days of receiving an offer.

Meanwhile, the Culinary Union rallied last week outside the Foley Federal Building in Downtown Las Vegas to call on the Internal Revenue Service to change the tax method for tipped workers, saying the tax had been hiked without consulting organized labor.

The IRS tip allocation rate estimates how much a tipped employee usually makes, and taxes them at a rate deemed appropriate. The IRS lowered the allocation rate in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic, but raised the rates again at the beginning of 2022—according to the union, higher than pre-pandemic levels in many cases.

“These are good jobs” said Pappageorge, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “These people are making a decent living, but these are average working-class jobs that the IRS is going after them instead of going after the biggest corporations and billionaires out there.”

Boyd Gaming, like many other operators, including Station Casinos, made significant cuts to promotions, comps and other marketing expenses in reaction to the Covid-19 crisis. The operator also cut staffing by 40 percent, from 25,000 before the 2020 shutdowns to 15,000 today.

According to the company’s chief financial officer, Boyd Gaming is in no hurry to bring either promotions or staffing back to pre-pandemic levels. In a meeting with Truist Securities analyst Barry Jonas, Boyd CFO Josh Hirsberg and Director of Corporate Finance Jake Mulcahy said there was “no going back” to pre-pandemic promotional levels.

As far as staffing, the executives said current plans for the next 12 to 24 months call for augmenting a workforce down by 10,000 employees by adding only 1,000 to 1,500 new hires.

“While some of the increased staffing will ease pressures on existing staff, (management) believes other hires will drive incremental revenues,” Jonas wrote in a note following the meeting. He added that new investments in technology will reduce its reliance on labor.

One of the last remaining large tracts of land on the Las Vegas Strip was purchased last week by the Las Vegas-based Siegel Group. The site of the former Riviera hotel, the 10-acre plot at one time was owned by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority and was once planned as the entrance to the city’s convention center on the Strip. The Siegel Group reportedly paid $75 million in cash for the property, a bid lower than other bidders, but because the sale would close within 45 days, the lower offer was accepted.

The Siegel Group operates low-priced apartments and extended stay complexes along with retail shops and restaurants in Las Vegas. The group recently sold the off-Strip Artisan Hotel to a Los Angeles developer that plans to convert it into a “cannabis friendly” hotel.

Siegel Group founder Steve Siegel says his company has been shopping for land on the Strip for quite some time.

“We’ve been waiting years to acquire a large piece of land in the Strip, and have been watching this site for a long time,” Siegel said in a statement.

“When this opportunity presented itself there was no question that we had to purchase it. This is a phenomenal property that will one day soon have a development worthy of such an irreplaceable location on the Las Vegas Strip.”

The land is adjacent to the expansion of the convention center and just north of Wynn and Encore Las Vegas. It is across the Strip from the new $4 billion Resorts World Las Vegas and just south of the Fontainebleau, scheduled to open sometime in 2023.

In Virginia, Hard Rock International announced its temporary casino, Bristol Casino−Future Home of Hard Rock, will open July 8 at 500 Gate City Highway. The temporary facility will offer 30,000 square feet of gaming space with 900 slots, 20 tables, a sportsbook and non-smoking and high-limit gaming areas. The venue also will include a Hard Rock retail store, restaurant, grab-and-go food outlet, sports bar and lounge and smoking sports lounge. The facility will create 600 jobs.

Jon Lucas, chief operating officer at Hard Rock International, said, “We are excited to open the casino and welcome guests. As Virginia’s first casino, Bristol Casino−Future Home of Hard Rock will be a wonderful addition to the Hard Rock global portfolio of dining, hotel and entertainment properties.”

Allie Evangelista, president at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Bristol, said, “I cannot wait to open the doors on July 8 for our temporary casino in Bristol. We continue to hire new team members daily and are working hard to fill remaining positions. Visitors will be thrilled to enjoy fantastic gaming and dining opportunities at our new property.”

The Nevada Supreme Court has reversed the decision of a lower court that held state gaming regulators had no right to deem former casino mogul Steve Wynn unsuitable to hold a gaming license.

The case stemmed from the Nevada Gaming Control Board’s complaint in 2019 asking that Wynn be declared unsuitable for a state gaming license, due to reports of inappropriate relationships with subordinates, unwanted sexual advances and sexual harassment when he was chairman of Wynn Resorts. Wynn challenged the decision in court, claiming the board was not authorized to decide the matter because he had given up his gaming license in 2018, shortly after the scandal became public.

Judge Adriana Escobar of the Clark County District Court agreed with Wynn, holding that the board did not have standing to decide on the matter. Last week, seven justices on the Nevada Supreme Court reversed that ruling, holding that Escobar should not have decided the matter because the Nevada Gaming Commission, the final arbiter in gaming matters, had not yet ruled on the gaming board’s recommendation to find Wynn unsuitable for licensing.

The state regulators appealed the ruling, and the high court overturned the decision last week.

“We conclude that the district court lacked jurisdiction to entertain Wynn’s petition,” Justice Abbi Silver wrote on behalf of the state’s high court. “Accordingly, we reverse the district court’s order granting Wynn’s petition and remand this matter to the district court with instructions to dismiss the petition for lack of jurisdiction.”

The court did not rule on the merits of the arguments made by Wynn attorney Colby Williams during the January 3 hearing of the case, in which William argued the regulatory agencies have no authority over Wynn now.

The justices agreed that a judicial review of the Wynn case was “precluded because only final orders may be reviewed, and the district court properly found that the commission’s order is not final.”

Gaming Control Board Chairman Brin Gibson said in a statement the agency was “pleased with the ruling. We are reviewing the decision with legal counsel to determine next steps.”

The gaming board’s complaint will now go back before the Nevada Gaming Commission.

“We’re disappointed that they didn’t reach the ultimate issue, but we’re gratified that all of our arguments can still be presented when we go back to the commission, and then if necessary, back to the court,” Wynn attorney Williams told The Nevada Independent.