Tony Alamo Jr. new chairman of Nevada Gaming Commission

Gov. Brian Sandoval’s appointment of Las Vegas physician Tony Alamo Jr. to the chairmanship of the Nevada Gaming Commission has already jump-started speculation about the shape of things to come when lawmakers get to Carson City for the 2015 session of the Nevada Legislature.
Peter Bernhard said he is leaving the chairman’s post June 30, to give his successor time to consider gaming’s legislative needs.
People familiar with some of the issues that are sure to get close attention tell me the Nevada Resort Association will probably again be used as the vehicle to finish putting restricted licensees “in their place,” that is, into the smallest possible space in terms of their use of technology to compete with larger licensees such as Boyd Gaming and Station Casinos.
Convenience is a great marketing tool. However, some major resort strategists see a problem with the kind of convenience that discourages customers from even walking in the front door of a bricks and mortar casino with all the bright and shiny attractions that prompt spending.
There was a time when casinos marketing to tourists and those looking to embrace the interests of locals seldom got in the way of each other. But the recurring disputes in Carson City and before local officials about issues such as the so-called Dottie’s business model make the point that times have definitely changed.
NRA spokesmen reminded legislators in 2013 that the millions necessary to create a resort worthy of unrestricted status has for years been rewarded with access to more gaming than a neighborhood sports bar might offer. That’s the way it has been since the beginning of time, so to speak.
The myriad forces that have shaped the NRA’s point of view and then help sell it to regulators and policy makers want all the legislative action they can get to help shape statewide limitations on the business strategy of restricted licensees.
As for other matters of interest, there will probably not be a renewal of efforts to open the door to registered private groups that want to make sports bets. “That’s pretty much already possible now without getting gaming regulators involved,” sources close to this subject confided.
Sports betting will get added attention if the U.S. Supreme Court agrees to hear New Jersey’s appeal of federal court rulings that bar sports wagering in the state. The High Court’s decision may come in the next week or so. (Editor’s Note: On Monday, after Mr. Hevener filed his story, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case and let the lower court ruling stand.) Legislators would almost certainly be tempted to update Nevada’s approach, if sports betting becomes legal elsewhere.
And it will become legal elsewhere if the court reverses the prohibition included in 1992 legislation.
Former Control Board member Randy Sayre has previously urged the legislature to exploit Nevada’s uniqueness as the only state offering a mostly unrestricted approach to sports bets. Lawmakers fell short of doing that last session when Control Board Chairman A.G. Burnett warned of waving “red flags” in the faces of federal investigators.
The expanded sports betting proposal got a lot of attention in 2013 because of the interest expressed by out of state funds intrigued by the notion of wagering on sports the way they might bet on commodity futures or whatever.
Neither is there any sign of a renewed interest in pushing for racebook rebates. The influences that know how to make things happen have apparently spoken. They see rebates as an effort to prop up a dying industry. But so many things can happen before the next session begins.
Not made in Japan? The slow progress toward legal casinos has all the twists and turns of a mystery novel…a very slow-moving novel.
The Diet (legislature) has adjourned but people familiar with what’s happening say the discussion of casinos began just in time last week to guarantee the issue will get further attention when the Diet’s fall session begins in October.
Opening anything in time for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics is another story, unless there is a willingness to use temporary facilities, a not uncommon practice in some U.S. markets.
As recently as a week or two ago many followers of the casino issue were convinced it was too late to guarantee the necessary first step toward legalization could be completed this year.
When the recipe for change includes liberal doses of back room politics, the passion of special interests and a lot of money just about anything can be expected.
Major Las Vegas-based companies have been spending a lot of time in Japan as the issue’s evolution continues. Japan has been described as the last major untapped Pacific Rim market.
Mainland China would be nice but that is not going to happen any time soon. Sheldon Adelson and Steve Wynn are generally seen as favorites to get approval – if legislation is in place, but MGM and even Caesars Entertainment (despite its debt issues) have been projecting optimism for whatever it is worth.
A Caesars insider confided, “We have some good friends for whom money is no issue and this is an opportunity that’s worth an all-out effort.”
But wait a minute…is there any guarantee Japan might not slam the door in the face of all this non-Japanese casino expertise? Unlike Macau and China, there are a number of wealthy Japanese for whom casino operations is not exactly a foreign concept.
As one Japanese insider told an interviewer, “We don’t need them (foreign interests), we can do this ourselves.”
It’s an attitude that may produce some interesting partnerships once legislation and regulations are in place.