Author: Casino Connection Staff

Briefing will preview SCOTUS sports-betting case

Stakeholders in the potential legalization of sports betting joined gaming experts in New York City and a one-day seminar in Washington D.C. within the last two weeks to analyze what a legal sports betting market in the U.S. would look like, and to preview the first hearing at the United States Supreme Court of Christie v. National Collegiate Athletic Association, New Jersey’s appeal in favor of its sports-betting law, which also challenges the constitutionality of the federal ban on sports betting.

The two-day Sports Betting USA conference was directed toward all who would be affected by the repeal of the 1992 Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), which bans sports betting in all but four grandfathered states, with only Nevada offering full sports books. Sessions looked forward to the future of sports betting in the U.S. after the Supreme Court rules in the New Jersey case. Hearings in that case are slated for December 4, with a decision expected next spring.

According to CDC Gaming Reports, MGM Resorts International Vice President of Vice President of Race and Sports Jay Rood told an audience at the conference he was headed to the company’s Borgata resort in Atlantic City to “scout what we’re going to do down there” with regards to a sports book.

“We’re in line with thinking that there’s going to be some sort of movement on this,” Rood said during a panel discussion on the “optimal routes” to a legal sports betting market. “We’re preparing for all the different scenarios. Everyone is going to have to explore how it’s going to fit into (the) business model of their existing operations.”

Dennis Drazin, chairman of New Jersey’s Monmouth Park racetrack, added that his property actually went ahead and spent $1 million to build a sports book while New Jersey’s first sports-betting law was winding through the courts. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear that case, affirming the decision of the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals that the New Jersey law violated PASPA.

Another seminar brought a professional sports executive into the sports-betting discussion. Titled “Envisioning a Sports Betting Model That Would Work for the Sports Industry,” the panel, chaired by Yahoo Finance columnist Daniel Roberts, featured Dan Spillane, senior vice president and assistant general counsel for the National Basketball Association; Michael McCann, head of the Sports and Entertainment Law Institute at University of New Hampshire School of Law and legal analyst for NBA-TV; and Tom Russell, general counsel for Genius Sports.

The NBA’s Spillane reprised the position formerly taken by league Commissioner Adam Silver, who came out in favor of legalizing sports betting.

“Our general position on sports betting is that it should be legal and regulated, pursuant to a federal framework that has minimum safeguards,” Spillane said. “We have advisers in D.C., we have legislation that we’ve been pulling together, talking with other stakeholders in this area. It’s a slow process…

“When the leagues were all just unanimously opposed to it, it really wasn’t a practical discussion to have, and now it is… I think that there will be a little bit more clarity, and people will be more open, especially members of Congress, to talking about potential legislation once the (New Jersey) case is resolved one way or another.”

McCann noted that the U.S. Supreme Court takes only one percent of potential cases, so “the fact that the Court took the case at all is a fairly significant point… at least four justices voted to hear the case.”

The conference also addressed the future of sports betting in connection with the tribal gaming industry. One panel examining tribal gaming and sports betting, moderated by Victor Rocha, publisher of Pechanga.net and president of Victor Strategies, included Debbie Thundercloud, chief of staff of the National Indian Gaming Association; Mark Macarro, chairman of California’s Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians; and Jonodev Chaudhuri, chairman of the National Indian Gaming Commission.

Thundercloud said any sports betting discussion needs to recognize tribal compacts with states. “We want the sports betting discussion to recognize our existing compacts with states, to recognize exclusivity clauses, (to make sure that tribes have) access to the customers that are going to be available for sports betting, and to make sure that there’s an economic benefit to the tribes,” she said.

Panelists expressed concern that legalized sports betting will open the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act to amendments for the first time in its history—an outcome tribes have sought to avoid. “Once it’s open, it’s open,” Macarro said of IGRA, cautioning that anti-gaming lawmakers could use the opening to restrict the tribal gaming industry.

Macarro added that tribes expect sports betting to be classified Class III, requiring amendments and revamping of existing state gaming compacts.

Other panels examined the Supreme Court case itself, which could result in a full or partial repeal of PASPA. In a session moderated by Cath Breeding, vice president and general counsel for Mississippi’s Island View Casino Resort, Monmouth Park’s Drazin said he is cautiously optimistic. “I do believe we’ll win,” he said, “but there’s more than one way to win. What does it look like? Is it (an affirmation of) the 2014 New Jersey partial repeal? Or is it a complete declaration that PASPA is unconstitutional?”

He added that if the Supreme Court upholds PASPA, “New Jersey has introduced another total repeal. I’m certain there can be a challenge.”

American Gaming Association Media Relations Director Steven Doty told attendees at the conference that the “there’s not a lot of opposition” to a repeal of PASPA, noting that the AGA I “cautiously optimistic” that either the Supreme Court or Congress will overturn the law.

Doty cited a recent Washington Post report which showed a “55 percent majority approve of legalizing sports betting on pro sporting events, a flip from almost a quarter century ago.”

Finally, delegates attending Sports Betting USA recommended a plan of initiatives to expedite the introduction of regulated and responsible sports betting across the country.

Announced by event organizer Ewa Bakun at the conclusion of SBUSA, the so-called Clarion Accord comprises the following five-point plan:

• “Make consumer protection and long-term health of the player the utmost goal through proactive, considerate and sustainable responsible gaming strategies that encompass impact not just now but in the future.

• “Seek sports industry’s buy-in by providing comfort, through an educational effort, that its commercial, reputational and integrity goals are fully met.

• “Action a transparent and inclusive lobbying effort that considers the interests of all stakeholders, both gaming and sports, for a consistent message to policy-makers.

• “Protect the integrity of sports through regulatory framework consistent across the states and enabling full cooperation between sports, gaming, regulatory and enforcement stakeholders.

• “Create a sustainable regulatory and taxation environment that instills trust for the consumer, provides revenues to the state budgets and roots out the illegal market.”

The Supreme Court case will be examined and previewed three days before the hearing on December 1, in a press briefing produced by Spectrum Gaming Group and law firm Becker & Poliakoff.

Famed attorney Theodore B. Olson of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher—who will argue New Jersey’s case before the Supreme Court—will join U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., two Spectrum executives and six other experts to share insights on the legal, economic and operational aspects of sports betting in the United States at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.

The free event is open to credentialed media. Other attendance is limited. For more information or to register, contact info@spectrumgaming.com.

The agenda is as follows:

• 12:15 p.m. Welcome: Daniel Wallach, Shareholder, Becker & Poliakoff

• 12:20 p.m., The Argument for Christie: Ted Olson, Partner, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, and Elbert Lin, Partner, Hunton & Williams LLP

• 12:45 p.m., The View from Congress: Hon. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), Ranking Member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee

• 1:00 p.m., Panel Discussion: Sports Betting in a Post-Christie World – Legalization and Regulation:

Andrew Brandt, Executive Director, Jeffrey S. Moorad Center for the Study of Sports Law at Villanova University

Michael Pollock, Managing Director, Spectrum Gaming Group

Sara Slane, Senior VP of Public Affairs, American Gaming Association

Daniel Wallach, Shareholder, Becker & Poliakoff

• 1:45 p.m., Panel Discussion: Sports Betting Today and Tomorrow – Scope and Operations:

Daniel Shapiro, VP of Strategy & Business Development, William Hill US; Adam Steinberg, Executive VP, Spectrum Gaming Group

Jake Williams, Director of Legal, Sportradar

• 2:30-4:00 p.m., Interviews, networking

Skill-based gaming got a tryout in Atlantic City this year, and for the most part, it flunked the audition.

Caesars Entertainment introduced 21 skill-based games—video game slot machines that reward gameplay—but had to pull them after six months as they were not generating enough revenue to cover their rights fees.

Despite the setback, however, Blaine Graboyes, co-founder and CEO of GameCo, a skill-based gaming developer that supplied the games to Caesars, says the games can succeed if marketed correctly.

Analysts also point to skill-based gaming as a way of attracting younger players to casinos.

“Casinos thrive on new gaming content, and the skill-based products will definitely be increasing their footprint long-term as more of the customer base is exposed to the products,” gaming consultant Robert Ambrose told the Press of Atlantic City. “I think with the skill-based product, the industry needs to take a long-term view. Right now it is something new to the casino floor. Some players I have talked to have met it with both skepticism as well as an opportunity to challenge a game.”

The games could also fit in with a growing trend of casinos hosting eSports contests.

“This game product will draw the skilled video player—and yes, they will be younger,” Ambrose told the Press. “If the game only provides an illusion of skill, the knowledgeable player will not be playing it for long.”

Graboyes, co-founder and CEO of GameCo said that while his company and Caesars mutually decided to remove the skill-based games, the six months they were in action taught them a lot about introducing and marketing the games.

“The big thing that we took away was how to market the machines,” Graboyes told the Press. “How do you get the non-slot player to the machine?”

Ambrose agreed that the games have to be marketed in a way in which video gamers will respond.

“This is where marketing comes in. The players of these games are part of the social network generation,” Ambrose said. “So, some clever strategies via the various social platforms should be part of the plan of introduction. Just dropping the product on the casino floor and seeing what happens will doom it before it starts.”

Meanwhile, some skill-based games are still being offered at another Atlantic City casino—the Tropicana.

Steve Callender, Tropicana Atlantic City general manager, told the Press that skill-based gaming machines are gaining popularity.

“Tropicana Atlantic City continues to offer guests skill-based games on the casino floor. Although they don’t perform to the level of our traditional slot machines,” Callender said. “We’re generating incremental revenue from this new demographic.”

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has appointed a new chairman for the state’s Casino Control Commission leading to charges that the current chair, Matthew Levinson, is being ousted for political reasons.

Levenson is the son of Atlantic County Executive Dennis Levinson—an elected position as the head of the county’s government administration. The county is currently suing the state over its payment in lieu of taxes legislation for Atlantic City casinos. The county wants a larger share of the PILOT money.

Dennis Levinson charged that Christie’s appointment of former Cape May County Sheriff James Plousis as chairman to replace Matt Levinson was political payback for the county filing the legal challenge.

“This is how it works, and it’s not a big surprise,” Dennis Levinson told the Press of Atlantic City. “If you go along with everything they want, they take care of you.”

Matt Levinson and Christie did not comment on the report.

The dispute between the county and state revolves around the percentage of PILOT tax money the county receives for its taxes on casinos. Levinson has said Christie made an informal deal to give Atlantic County 13.5 percent of the PILOT revenue, but the state later backed off that figure. The county has received 10.4 percent of the payments, which is $4 million less than what the county expected, according to the Press.

That shortfall has increased the chances of a county tax hike, officials said, but reports still say the county will receive more in total revenue this year than in 2016.

Still, the county and state have sparred over the extent of the county’s efforts to help the city reduce its massive debt caused largely by successful casino tax appeals that have taken millions off the city’s tax rolls. State officials have said the county could have done more to reduce the city’s costs, but county officials said many of their proposals to do that were rejected by the state.

 “Matt was collateral damage in this, and we expected it,” Levinson told the newspaper. “But Matt told me before the lawsuit was filed that he would be disappointed in me if I didn’t do what I believed was right for the county.”

Plousis, is head of the state’s parole board and has served as the U.S. marshal of New Jersey. He also did not comment for the Press story.

Matt Levinson’s term as chairman expired in August, but he has remained in the seat while a new chairman was appointed. Levinson was re-nominated by the late Sen. Jim Whelan in February, but was not re-appointed by Christie.

The New Jersey Casino Reinvestment Development Authority has approved a $10 million renovation of the city’s Boardwalk Hall lobby.

The funding comes from a $253 million bond issued in 2014. The bond set aside more than $100 million for upgrades to Boardwalk Hall and the Atlantic City Convention Center, according to the Press of Atlantic City.

“The lobby is outdated,” CRDA Executive Director Chris Howard said. “It’s 33 years old and looks every bit of it. It’s the first thing that people see, and it’s not welcoming. It doesn’t look world class.

“There is a ton of space that is unused,” Howard said. “We hope to have a space that will be able to host events like holiday parties, pre- and post-show parties, after it’s completed. Right now, no one wants to do that with the current lobby.”

Expert: Satellite casinos will cannibalize business

Pennsylvania’s new gaming expansion law contains many unprecedented entries, from online gaming to tablet gaming at airports. No provision of the new law, though, has caused more consternation among local governments and current land-based casino licensee than the provision creating licenses for up to 10 satellite casinos up for bid.

Mini-casinos are satellite casinos of up to 750 slots and 10 table games, to be bid on by current gaming licensees and operated outside of a 25-mile radius of any current casino. Local municipalities have until December 31 to vote to opt out of the mini-casino provision, banning the small casinos in their jurisdictions. Bids will begin January 15.

As the details of the law sunk in, current operators and municipalities with no current casinos aligned their forces to either bid on licenses or, in some cases, planned to sue to block the provision, which will create clear winners and losers, owing mainly to the geography of the state and the locations of current licensees. Clear winners include Mount Airy Resort, which benefits from a last-minute amendment that essentially creates a four-county buffer zone protecting the casino from new competition in the form of satellite casinos.

On the opposite side is Penn National Gaming, which is isolated and depends on a customer base mostly from beyond the 25-mile buffer zone. Penn is threatening to sue to block the provision, saying it puts the operator at an unfair competitive disadvantage.

Some analysts agree with Penn National’s assessment that mini-casinos will, in general, take revenues from existing casino licensees. “These satellite casinos will likely cannibalize business from the current operations, depending on where they are located,” said Colin Mansfield, a gaming analyst with Fitch Ratings, the New York-based credit rating agency, in an interview with the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

Mansfield added that most operators are considering mini-casinos “as a defensive play rather than an offensive play,” a means to keep competition away from their territory. That means they will yield little in the way of incremental revenue for the state, Mansfield told the newspaper. “It could just shift the same amount of revenues,” he said.

Meanwhile, local jurisdictions around the state are beginning to make decisions on whether or not they want the mini-casinos in their areas. Spots such as Westmoreland County in Western Pennsylvania are planning to court bids to host the satellite facilities. As noted in the Tribune-Review report, the portion of the county north of New Stanton and east of Jeannette, including Greensburg, Latrobe and Ligonier, falls outside the protected territories of the Rivers, Meadows and Lady Luck casinos, and would all be considered as satellite casino locations.

Meanwhile, jurisdictions such as Bucks County in Eastern Pennsylvania are on the other side. Bucks representatives voted against the bill. State Rep. Craig Staats released a statement last week saying he did not support the bill because he thought expanded gambling would “do more harm than good.”

“It is widely believed that gambling expansion will not bring the level of revenue the new law anticipates, and could actually cost local governments more in enforcement costs should crime increase,” said Staats. “It could also change the nature and character of our communities.”

Former state Rep. Paul Clymer appeared before the Bucks County Commissioners last week to ask for a resolution to ban mini-casinos in the county. “This new gambling bill is a fraud and a disgrace,” Clymer said. “It’s corporate welfare, and the taxpayers are getting ripped off.”

Other jurisdictions coming out in opposition to the mini-casinos include Cheswick, a borough outside of Pittsburgh in Allegheny County; and Muncy, in the north-central region of the state.

According to a report in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, the Cheswick Borough Council is scheduled to act on a resolution, perhaps as soon as December 13, to opt out of the mini-casino provision. Cheswick is within the 25-mile buffer zone to Pittsburgh’s Rivers Casino, but under the new law, Rivers can open up a satellite facility in its own zone.

“Cheswick isn’t suited to have a casino,” Councilwoman Chris Schramm told the newspaper. “I don’t want to see us change from a family atmosphere to a different atmosphere.”

In the eastern part of the state, Muncy Borough Council members discussed whether the borough should opt out of allowing satellite casinos. The council will discuss the issue at next month’s meeting.

The Allentown Morning Call is maintaining a list of communities which have completed the two-step process of opting out of the mini-casino provision. Opting out requires a resolution passed after a public meeting, with the resolution sent to the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board by December 31.

The communities opting out so far, according to the newspaper, are:

• Heath Township in Jefferson County

• Limestone Township in Lycoming County

• Lower Makefield Township in Bucks County

• Strasburg and West Earl townships in Lancaster County

• Washington Township in Lycoming County

• Westfield Township in Tioga County

State College Borough, near Penn State University, passed a resolution last week banning the mini-casinos, and will be added to the opt-out list as soon as the gaming board verifies the resolution. Other municipalities are being added to the list every week.

And then there is Penn National, which is still considering a lawsuit to block the current rules for mini-casinos, spokesman Eric Schippers told the Allentown Morning Call. “We’re the only ones where 25 miles will not protect us,” he said. “We don’t have any of the protection of the overlapping casinos.”

In a white paper prepared last month, Penn National officials drew a straight line on a map from the Chester County border to the northern boundary of the Mohegan Sun Casino’s zone around Susquehanna County. Exclusion zones, including the buffer around the Sands Bethlehem casino, created a continuous vertical protection area 127 miles long, the paper says.

The paper says a similar exclusion zone protects casinos in a 95-mile zone in Western Pennsylvania, and even the Presque Isle Downs & Casino has a natural border of Lake Erie and the New York and Ohio borders. Meanwhile, Penn National prime feeder markets like Reading, Lancaster, York and Gettysburg all are in unprotected areas, opening Penn up to new competition.

In its first big move since its largest operating division emerged from bankruptcy reorganization last month, Caesars Entertainment has agreed to pay $1.7 billion in cash to buy two Indianapolis-area racinos.

The deal will see the Las Vegas-based gaming giant acquire Centaur Gaming and its Hoosier Park and Indiana Grand racetracks and their 4,000 machine games and electronic table game positions, plus three off-track betting parlors.

Centaur also owns the land under the tracks, leading to speculation that Caesars’ newly spun-off VICI Properties REIT could be a partner in the acquisition and could end up owning both properties.

Another plus is that the tracks could be eligible for live table games in 2021, according to a Bloomberg report cited by SunTrust Robinson analyst Patrick Scholes.

Macquarie gaming analyst Chad Beynon said the addition of live tables could boost EBITDA at the racinos a combined $15 million to $25 million a year. The two posted $400.7 million in combined slot revenue in 2016. Beynon estimated trailing 12-month EBITDA on that at an aggregate $120 million-$150 million.

Caesars already owns two of Indiana’s 13 casinos, the Horseshoe Hammond and Horseshoe Southern Indiana in Elizabeth, and Indianapolis could prove a valuable third feeder market for the company’s Las Vegas resorts. The city currently is connected to Las Vegas by three direct flights daily.

“We believe Centaur Gaming and Caesars Entertainment will be a great combination,” said Caesars President and CEO Mark Frissora.

Centaur Chairman and CEO Rod Ratcliff said the merger “will further build on the successes and contributions of the properties for the benefit of our customers, team members, horsemen, community partners and financial stakeholders.”

The transaction, which requires approvals from the Indiana Gaming and Racing commissions, is expected to close in the first half of 2018.

The American Gaming Association (AGA) is part of a coalition of business calling for full interest deductibility to be preserved in the tax reform legislation being hammered out by both houses of Congress. It recently joined the Businesses United for Interest and Loan Deductibility Coalition.

Among those targeted by letters are Senator Orrin Hatch, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and ranking member Senator Ron Wyden.

The already passed House bill would limit such deductions. The letter says, “In addition to having a negative impact on economic growth, limits to interest deductibility amount to a harmful new tax on businesses that borrow to invest and grow. To avoid this new tax, the appropriate solution is to maintain full interest deductibility for all businesses across all sectors.”

AGA President and CEO Geoff Freeman, in an interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal, points out that Congress has not seriously taken up tax reform in many decades, and that “The gaming industry is so vastly different than it was in 1986 in terms of our big-business nature and in terms of our omnipresence around the country. These issues will have a much more significant effect on us today than they would have in 1986 and it’s good for the AGA to be able to work with other allies on this issue.”

He added, “In the absence of finding other ways to pay for this, they’re now looking at eliminating interest deductibility, which is something that unites the gaming industry with the real estate industry, with the private equity community and a host of others.”

A Nevada Supreme Court ruling issued just days after the October 1 mass shooting on the Las Vegas Strip appears to expose MGM Resorts International to significant liability for the massacre, which left 58 dead and more than 500 injured.

The case stemmed from an assault in 2010 on a California couple inside MGM’s New York-New York casino hotel. The couple sued the resort, but a lower court dismissed their lawsuit on the grounds that the property had no knowledge the attack would occur.

But a three-member panel of the high court overturned that order in a 2-1 ruling that says New York-New York should have known the attack was foreseeable because there had been similar incidents of violence there. Evidence in the case showed there were three fights a week at the resort.

“You no longer have to show the exact circumstance was foreseeable,” said Craig Drummond, a lawyer for the couple. “I think it makes it difficult for MGM Resorts to get the Mandalay Bay case dismissed by arguing it’s a lone shooter and they couldn’t have ever foreseen that.”

Attorney Robert Eglet, a former president of the Nevada Trial Lawyers Association, agrees, telling the Las Vegas Review-Journal the decision opens the door for plaintiffs to question whether MGM had sufficient security measures to protect its guests and those at the Sunday evening outdoor concert that was riddled with automatic weapons fire by a lone gunman firing from a suite on the 32nd floor of the company’s Mandalay Bay in the worst mass shooting in U.S. history.

“I think it broadens the scope of the things a judge has to look at to determine whether this event was foreseeable,” Eglet said. “In other words, it’s no longer, ‘Has anything like this ever happened at Mandalay Bay?’ It’s, ‘Has anything happened like this anywhere?’”

But Jean Sternlight, director of the Saltman Center for Conflict Resolution at UNLV’s Boyd School of Law, said Mandalay Bay still has a strong defense under state law.

It’s expected that MGM and Mandalay Bay will be bombarded with lawsuits stemming from the massacre, and their lawyers are already preparing a defense, which Sternlight says will likely argue that it was unforeseeable that a guest would bring a large number of high-powered rifles into the resort and shoot at a concert across the street.

“I think the victims will have a challenging time trying to prove that Mandalay Bay failed to exercise due care in protecting the concertgoers.”

The company, however, isn’t so sure, and has already asked the entire Supreme Court to review the New York-New York ruling. Its lawyers say the ruling “eviscerates” a state law that protects businesses” and has “significant implications beyond just these litigants.”

But reversing it could spark criticism that the court is trying to protect the powerful casino industry, Eglet said.

“I don’t think it would pass the smell test,” he said.

But Steve Morris, who defended MGM in the 1980 MGM Grand fire in which 87 died and more than 700 were injured, said it may still be more difficult for victims to blame the company in the mass shooting case.

“Here you have an abhorrent actor who just happened to be in the hotel,” Morris said. “The guy took a hammer, knocked the windows out and started shooting people. It’s not an act by the hotel.”

Will Kemp, a veteran lawyer on the plaintiffs’ side in the fire litigation, agreed it’s an argument that’s hard to ignore.

“They’ve got the shooter committing an intentional act that they can argue was not foreseeable,” he said.

Eglet, however, believes there is a point where the comparisons break down. “This wasn’t just an accidental fire because of negligence or product defect that hurt a lot of people. This was a direct attack on our city. And so I think everybody collectively feels that anxiousness, that anxiety and that distress over this happening to us.”

Certainly with the approach of the holiday season security is uppermost in the minds of the gaming industry and government both.

The Nevada Division of Emergency Management-Homeland Security has requested $340,000 in funding, nearly triple the usual allotment, to protect tourists during the popular New Year’s Eve celebrations, which drew more than 350,000 visitors to the city. Plans are to deploy busses as roadblocks to deter potential terrorist attacks and 348 National Guard troops will man 22 separate locations. Normally, around 160 are dispatched.

“After October 1, we all agreed we needed to relook at that and give it a different look based on new analysis from that (shooting) event,” said division head Caleb Cage.

In addition, soldiers will be in place longer.

“Instead of being there the day before, the day of and the day after New Year’s, which has been the case in the past, they’ve got the request staggered over about a five-day period,” Cage said.

The five-day presence will cover the entire long weekend as well as the start of the huge CES 2018 convention.

Last week, construction crews started installing hundreds of steel posts along the Strip, aimed at protecting pedestrians from vehicle-ramming attacks and traffic accidents.

Clark County Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani wants to entirely ban private vehicles from the Strip from Mandalay Bay to the Stratosphere, claiming the processions of cars, a hallowed Strip tradition going back decades, cause traffic jams that make it difficult for police, fire and paramedic vehicles to quickly respond to emergencies.

She suggests that only pedestrians, buses, taxicabs and ride-hailing companies like Uber and Lyft be permitted on the neon roadway.

Meanwhile, the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada will spend nearly $2.3 million to examine transit options that would link the Strip, McCarran International Airport and Downtown Las Vegas.

Giunchigliani, an RTC board member, said she hopes her idea will be included in the study.

Kazuo Okada has won his bid to force a jury trial over Wynn Resorts’ decision five years ago to forcibly redeem his sizable shareholding in the company.

The case is scheduled to go to trial in April following a ruling by Nevada District Judge Elizabeth Gonzalez rejecting Wynn’s claim that the state’s “business judgment” rule shields decisions by boards of directors from legal challenges as long as they are made in accordance with proper procedures.

Wynn’s lawyers argued that a July 27 Nevada Supreme Court decision denying Okada and co-litigant Universal Entertainment access to the board’s communications with its legal advisers made it clear that the rule applies.

Gonzalez, however, said in her decision that the rule protects Wynn’s directors as individuals but not the company itself and not Chairman and CEO Steve Wynn and his ex-wife and former director Elaine Wynn, who may also have to stand trial.

The history is tangled. At stake are more than 24 million shares. They were held indirectly by Universal, a leading machine gaming manufacturer in Japan, through its Aruze USA slot subsidiary. Okada, a Japanese pachinko tycoon, founded Universal and was its chairman and controlling shareholder at the turn of the century when he helped launch Wynn Resorts with a $380 million investment and was named vice chairman. His shares represented 20 percent of the company, the largest individual holding after Steve and Elaine Wynn’s.

But then Okada and Wynn fell out, reputedly over Okada’s desire to bring the company into the Philippines as the developer of a gaming megaresort in Manila. Wynn has said he opposed the investment from the start, and the company passed on it. Okada decided to pursue it independently through his own Philippines-based Universal subsidiary.

Then, in 2011, an explosive Reuters report implicated employees of Universal in an alleged pattern of bribery in the Philippines, prompting Wynn’s board to launch an internal investigation into gifts bestowed on Philippine officials at Wynn Macau on Okada’s orders and which the probe concluded were improper. In 2012, the board voted to take back Okada’s shares at a massive discount as a prelude to ousting him from the board and the board of its Hong Kong-listed Macau parent. The shares, worth around US$2.8 billion at the time, were redeemed in exchange for a promissory note for $1.9 billion.

Okada sued, claiming the redemption and ouster were ordered by Steve Wynn, who resented his influence as an independent force on the board. The company has denied this, claiming Okada’s involvement in the Philippines threatened its Nevada gaming license and the board had no choice.

In the midst of this an equally bitter court fight erupted between Steve and Elaine Wynn, who was fired from the board in 2015 after she sued for control of her 10 million shares. The shares effectively were placed in her ex-husband’s control under the terms of their 2009 divorce settlement. She claims Wynn feared an Okada takeover of the company and wanted their combined shares voted as a bloc to prevent it.

“The Wynn board will pull out all the stops to go after, to attack anyone opposed to Mr. Wynn, like Mr. Okada and Ms. Wynn,” Universal lawyer David Krakoff argued before Judge Gonzalez. “But when it comes to Mr. Wynn and his friends, the board does nothing.”

Okada and Universal are seeking to reclaim the shares along with more than $1 billion in damages.

According to press reports, a spokesman for Wynn Resorts said the company had no comment on Gonzalez’s ruling.

Caesars Entertainment has completed a $100 million renovation of all 2,496 rooms and suites at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino on the Las Vegas Strip, the gaming giant announced.

Caesars is in the process of remodeling its entire Vegas hotel portfolio―23,000 rooms and suites in all―a massive undertaking the company expects to have more than 50 percent complete by year end.

As the first to be finished, the Planet Hollywood project represents a “significant milestone” for the company, said Bob Morse, Caesars president of hospitality.

The completion comes as the resort is celebrating 10 years under the Planet Hollywood brand, and the remodeling was designed by Bergman, Walls & Associates to create surroundings “that encapsulate the celebrity lifestyle,” according to David Hoenemeyer, regional president of Bally’s, Paris and Planet Hollywood. Bright colors and bold imagery dominate, along with special touches such as suspended sofas and round beds.

The resort also is showcasing a new 24-hour restaurant, Café Hollywood, which opened earlier this month at the site of the former Planet Dailies. The 5,500 square-foot eatery features an expanded menu and multimedia presentations.

The Connecticut government says that the 100 electronic bingo machines sitting unused at the Foxwoods Resort Casino may violate the tribal state gaming compact with the Mashantucket Pequot tribe, which operates the casino.

The state asserts that the “Live Call Bingo” games are not covered by the compact and the revenue sharing section. Normally the tribes pay the state 25 percent of gaming revenues. This year the tribes paid $114 million to Connecticut.

The machines look and sound like typical slot machines, of which Foxwoods has more than 4,000. But they are Class III games, which have been held by the courts to be something that tribe can offer without a compact with the state.

Rodney Butler, chairman of the tribe, says he expects the dispute to be resolved without rancor. “We’re working with the state on an incredible partnership, in fact expanding our wonderful partnership that goes back 25 years,” he told the CT Mirror. “We would never put that in jeopardy.” Butler insists the tribe doesn’t intend to use the machines to go around revenue sharing.

The partnership he refers to is the Pequot and Mohegan tribes’ efforts to build a third, satellite casino in East Windsor to blunt the effects of the MGM Springfield that will open in Massachusetts in less than a year.

Some lawmakers are uneasy that the tribe is nevertheless testing the limits of the “partnership” with the state. Rep. Joe Verrengia, who co-chairs the legislature’s Public Safety and Security Committee, told the Mirror, “I find that the timing of this is very odd. It’s after the fact, after we just spent so much time debating the casino and the financial impact that a new casino would have on the state.” It’s also odd, he says, because the tribes still need help from the state before they can begin building the new casino. At this point the Department of the Interior hasn’t yet issued the endorsement of the amended compact that reflects the new casino, and which makes clear that it would not violate the existing exclusivity clause that protects the two tribes from a commercial casino—which the East Windsor casino would be.

The CT Mirror obtained correspondence that showed that the state Department of Consumer Protection was caught napping by the deployment of the machines until they were on the verge of being deployed on the casino floor. Once the department became aware, it sent a letter to Foxwoods warning that the machines were made by a manufacturer, Video Gaming Technologies, that was not licensed to operate in the state.

The department also asked the tribe to confirm that the machines came under the 1993 compact—which the tribal gaming commission refused to do, claiming that Class III gaming is not covered by the compact.

A state official replied a week ago, “The question of whether these devices are electronic facsimiles of a game of chance or an electronic aid to bingo for purposes of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act is nuanced and technical in nature.” She added, “I request that you please continue to withhold turning the Live Call Bingo machines on until such time as this issue can be resolved.”

One wrinkle of this situation that doesn’t benefit the tribe: If it is found that the machines are not covered by the compact, that would mean the state could allow commercial operators to offer them without affecting the exclusivity clause of the compact.

Last week 7News got an exclusive tour of the Wynn Boston Harbor construction zone, where on June 24, 2019 the $2.4 billion casino and resort will open. The builders are spending $2.5 million a day in what some have called the largest private development in the state’s history.

Bob DeSalvio, president of Wynn Boston Harbor, hosted the tour, showing reporters the ten thousand pieces of structural steel that are being used in the project, and using enough concrete to create a new Massachusetts Turnpike.

Each week another floor is finished on the 27-floor hotel tower.

The casino will house 3,000 slots and 145 gaming tables.

This is the first time Wynn has developed a casino in New England, which is his home state. He is working to employ features that are popular in the region, such as Italian dining, an oyster bar and craft beer vendor. The casino is rising in Everett, which DeSalvio says is become “a craft beer capital.”

To deal with the traffic issues that critics say are inevitable from such a large, new facility, DeSalvio said one of the things they are doing is “First of all—get people out of their cars,” and onto mass transit such as the MBTA and shuttles, including water shuttles that will run between Everett and Boston, whose skyline can be seen across the Mystic River. It will be a 19-minute trip, says DeSalvio.

Addressing those who fear the casino will raise crime figures, DeSalvio told 7News, “We’re going to run a very tight ship. We want to make sure that we provide a safe and sound environment for our guests.”

MGM Springfield

Meanwhile, the $960 million MGM Springfield, which will open in less than a year, has opened a career center to process the 3,000 hires it expects to make in the coming months.

All of the hiring processes and screenings will be centered in the center, which is next to the casino project. Members of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission last week got a tour of the facility just hours before it opened.

MGM Springfield CEO Michael Mathis told the commissioners, “The career center will be the hub of our hiring activity in the community. It’s a one-stop shop facility for people to come learn about opportunities at the resort, to fill out applications, to meet with our different HR professionals, to do panel interviews, private interviews, drug testing, as well as to meet the regulators and fill out licensing paperwork.” It includes a 20-seat computer lab for applicants to use.

Commissioner Bruce Stebbins commented, “This career center is a great way for them to understand all the career opportunities available to them as well as our licensing for certain employees. It’s a great resource for the community and we’re just happy to be here to applaud this opening.”

Besides applying for jobs, applicants will also be able to learn what casino training is available from the two local community colleges that are working with the center.

Next June the casino will have a hiring event at the MassMutual Center, a few blocks from the casino. The almost 5,000 people who have applied will be invited.

Florida state Senator Travis Hutson, chairman of the Senate Regulated Industries Committee, recently introduced SB 840, which addresses daily fantasy sports contests, decoupling greyhound and horse racing, slot machine taxes and designated player games at parimutuel card rooms. “I am excited to take the lead on gaming for the 2018 session and grateful for the opportunity to build on the efforts of previous leaders on this issue, in particular Senator Bill Galvano. Thanks to the solid foundation left by him and others, I am able to offer a gaming bill more narrow in scope than in the past but no less thorough in detail.”

The bill states daily fantasy sports contests are based on player rather than team performance. Also, individual participants would be exempt from regulation as long as they are not “commissioners” of more than 10 leagues.

The bill also would allow racetrack operators to decouple live racing from other forms of gambling, such as lucrative card rooms. Under Hutson’s proposal, if a track has held a “full schedule of live racing” for 10 consecutive years since fiscal 1996-1997, it can specify in its application for an operating license that it wants to stop offering racing.

In addition, the legislation would lower slot-machine taxes from 35 percent of revenue to 25 percent by July 2020. The bill also would allow

controversial “designated player games” at parimutuel card rooms, as long as they are not more than half of the card room’s offerings.

Hutson stated, “I am confident this bill offers a focused starting point on a limited number of issues from which attainable reform can be enacted and look forward to working with the House of Representatives, the governor, stakeholders and the citizens of Florida to achieve that goal.”

The Seminole Tribe of Florida, which holds exclusive rights to offer blackjack at its casinos, has stated its opposition to designated player games and others it considers similar to blackjack. The issue led to a federal lawsuit that was settled earlier this year. Asked for a comment on Hutson’s proposal, Seminole tribal spokesman Gary Bitner replied, “Thanks for asking, but the tribe doesn’t comment on bills that may or may not become law.”

Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) last week announced an $8 million civil money penalty against California’s Artichoke Joe’s Casino (AJC). AJC, one of the largest card clubs in California, willfully violated U.S. anti-money laundering (AML) laws from October 2009 to November 2017. During this eight-year period, AJC failed to implement and maintain an effective AML program, and failed to detect, deter, and timely report many suspicious transactions.

“For years, Artichoke Joe’s turned a blind eye to loan sharking, suspicious transfers of high-value gaming chips, and flagrant criminal activity that occurred in plain sight. FinCEN’s $8 million civil penalty results from the card club’s failure to establish adequate internal controls and its willful violations of the Bank Secrecy Act,” said Jamal El-Hindi, acting director of FinCEN. “Casinos, card clubs and others in the gaming industry should consider their risk of exploitation by criminal elements, and understand that they will be held accountable if they disregard anti-money laundering and illicit finance laws. This significant action highlights the need for all entities, including those in the gaming industry, to build a robust culture of compliance into their policies and procedures to ensure they are not facilitating illicit activities.”

AJC, a card club located in San Bruno, California, has been in operation since 1916. In March 2011, AJC was the subject of a raid by state and federal law enforcement which led to the racketeering indictment and conviction of two AJC customers for loan-sharking and other illicit activities conducted at AJC. AJC senior-level employees knew that loan-sharks were conducting criminal activity through the card club and using AJC gaming chips to facilitate illegal transactions. Nonetheless, AJC failed to file any Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) on this activity. For example, there were several instances in which loan-sharks provided AJC chips to customers on the gaming floor within plain sight of AJC employees.

AJC also failed to implement adequate internal controls, which exposed the card club to a heightened risk of money laundering and other criminal activity. In particular, AJC failed to adopt adequate policies and procedures to address risks associated with gaming practices that allow customers to pool or co-mingle their bets with relative anonymity. Further, AJC did not establish procedures for obtaining and incorporating information from propositional players (players paid by casinos or card clubs to wager at a game) or other employees who may have observed suspicious transactions. AJC also failed to file complete and timely reports on suspicious transactions involving potentially structured chip redemptions and purchases, and redemptions of large volumes of chips with no cash-in or gaming activity. FinCEN’s Assessment of $8 million recognizes the duration and severity of AJC’s violations, the size and sophistication of the card club, AJC’s awareness of criminal activity on its premises, and its deficient culture of compliance.

Acting Director El-Hindi expressed his appreciation to the Internal Revenue Service Small Business/Self-Employed Division, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the State of California Department of Justice’s Bureau of Gambling Control, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California for their support and strong partnerships with FinCEN. This is the third enforcement action against a card club for FinCEN, the only federal regulator with AML enforcement authority over card clubs.

As lawsuits spurred by the October 1 mass shooting on the Las Vegas Strip pile up and MGM Resorts International comes under mounting criticism for failing to prevent a lone madman from turning a suite at Mandalay Bay into an arsenal, the company has added to its public relations woes by announcing that it’s laying off workers at the hotel in response to the fall-off in business.

“We have disclosed publicly that occupancy this year at Mandalay Bay will be slightly lower than normal,” said Alan Feldman, the company’s executive vice president of Global Industry Affairs. “We are trying to handle this with the least possible interruption to our employee’s schedules, but in some cases, reduced schedules may not be sufficient. We are striving to impact as few employees as possible.”

Feldman’s second in command, Debra DeShong, said the layoffs will total “several hundred” of the property’s 7,400 employees.

Local news reports said the reductions were greeted with surprise in the wake of statements from MGM Chairman and CEO James Murren that the financial impacts of the tragedy had been limited.

“Cancellations progressively subsided by mid-October and our booking pace remarkably returned to normalized levels almost immediately thereafter, as soon as we turned on our marketing efforts,” he announced on the company’s most recent earnings call. “About half of our cancellations were isolated literally to the month of October. We’ve seen bookings improve, our business improve, here in November.”

Some of that discrepancy can be attributed to seasonal business cycles, the same reports noted. “As you know (staffing adjustments) are made seasonally,” said DeShong.

A representative for Culinary Union Local 226, which represents workers at MGM’s properties and across the Las Vegas resort industry, expressed concern.

“Contracts have seniority language which detail that layoffs must be done in a fair and impartial manner and ensures that when business improves, workers will return to work by seniority,” a spokeswoman said. “The union will be monitoring the situation closely and continue working with affected workers to ensure that the company follows the contract.”

Insurance experts, meanwhile, say the massacre could cost their industry more than $1 billion when all is said and done, with claims from life and health insurance and class-action lawsuits expected to continue for years.

“It doesn’t take long to get to a large number” in claims, said Heidi Lawson, a lawyer at Mintz Levin who specializes in insurance litigation and investigations. “There was a failure to oversee, a failure to supervise, a failure to set up internal security measures.”

MGM said in a recent filing that it expects its insurance to cover liabilities tied to the lawsuits.

The U.S. Treasury Department has a terrorism insurance program to help shield insurers from losses, but President Donald Trump and the Department of Homeland Security have not declared the Las Vegas shooting to be an act of terrorism. The Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, the first to be covered by the program, resulted in $43.6 billion of property, life and liability claims. It was the second-costliest insurance event after Hurricane Katrina, which totaled $49 billion.

Fifty-eight people were killed and around 500 injured when Stephen Paddock, a resident of nearby Mesquite, Nev., and a frequent visitor to Las Vegas, opened fire the evening of October 1 on an outdoor country music festival on the Strip from a suite near the top of Mandalay Bay.

The months ahead will see lawyers for the victims wondering how the hotel could allow Paddock’s room to go unchecked for days while he stockpiled it with 23 guns and how it failed to take note of the unusually large number of bags he brought in.

“Being in a room for three days in a ‘Do Not Disturb’ situation? That would’ve triggered an alarm here,” Wynn Resorts Chairman and CEO Steve Wynn recently told Fox News. “We’d go into the room. We’d want to know more about anybody who was sequestered in a room for more than 12 hours.”

Resorts up and down the Strip and across the city are re-evaluating these and other policies and procedures in the wake of the tragedy.

Boyd Gaming, for one, is now informing guests on check-in that “safety and welfare” checks will be conducted on any room posting a “Do Not Disturb” sign for more than two days in a row, a spokesman said.

Not surprisingly, MGM has declined to comment on its procedures, according to news reports, while other major operators, including Caesars Entertainment, Las Vegas Sands and Station Casinos, likewise have indicated they prefer to keep the wraps on measures they’ve instituted since the shooting to protect their guests and visitors.