The Nation's First "Racino" Is Bankrupt

I find it difficult to shut off my journalistic sensors while I travel. For one thing, these tough economic times require me to do as much work as I can generate. For another, from the start of my full-blown freelance life when I lived in China, there's always been a rush that came with finding a story where I'm not expected to do so and then selling it. And yes, Miles has a love-hate relationship with this; it helps provide for us and we end up meeting interesting people and seeing unusual things that ordinary tourists never do. But it also means less time to just bump around and power down.

But, anyhow, this explains how I came to write about the Swiss effort to outlaw cat fur in garments last year, why I witnessed the opening of Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem last month and why, over this weekend on our Boston-Rhode Island-Connecticut swing for a family wedding, I covered the turmoil related to the nation's first "racino," Twin River in Lincoln, R.I., for the New York Times.

Here's the lowdown: Twin River opened 61 years ago as a horse track in this bucolic town 15 miles north of Providence. By the 1980s, it was a greyhound track with betting available as well on simulcast races occurring elsewhere. And in 1992, the state and the then-owners, Wembly LLC, agreed to add slot machines. Thus, the advent of the "racino," a word Miles had never heard of before but now finds quite a bit of fun. (?)

The casino part looks like every other casino floor of this sort, see?


There is an itty bitty difference, though. Those 4,700 slot machines are actually known as "video lottery terminals" and are owned by the state. They're administered by the Rhode Island division of Lottery, which keeps 60.08 percent of the revenue and doles out the rest to the owners and other governmental entities.

As I understand it, a VLT is the same as a slot machine except that all of their outcomes are determined by one large central computer for the whole casino which generates random numbers to determine wins. Slot machines, by contrast, are individualized units with their own computerized chips; their outcomes are usually unrelated to other machines. The VLT thing was a way for Rhode Island to add slot machines and call them a form of the lottery without having to get approval of the town of Lincoln to "expand gambling," per state law. The VLT is seen as an addition of an existing gambling practice -- the lottery, y'see.

Oh, and the revenue from these slot-machines-by-another-name now amounts to the third largest source of revenue for Rhode Island behind income and sales taxes.

In 2005, BLB, an investment group that includes the Kerzner folks who own the gigantic Mohegan Sun in Connecticut, bought the joint for $465 million, renamed it Twin River and spent $225 million expanding it. Now it has a larger casino, much more parking, a range of restaurants, a comedy club and a concert venue.


Also, some cute design features:


Oh, yeah. And a greyhound track.


A word about the track before we continue: It's a very weird deal. Twin River is currently obligated by law to have 125 days of live races in order to also have the slot machines. They're also required to give $9 million to the Rhode Island Greyhound Owners Association to fund the entire dog-racing industry and spend about $2 million to operate the track even though it only generates about $1.5 million in revenue. Why? Because Rhode Island is a heavily unionized state and the General Assembly feels it's important to force the casino to keep the 225ish jobs associated with the dog races intact.

But Twin River has bigger trouble. BLB overspent on its upgrades and can't afford its debt, so last week they struck a voluntary bankruptcy deal with their lenders and the Rhode Island governor's office. The lenders will forgive nearly $300 million if the debt, BLB will find another operator for the facility and the state will let the casino stay open 24/7 and dump the dog racing.

This solution has made lots of folks mad. Folks like Hal Perry...


...who lives in this house directly across from Twin River:


He put up that sign himself, by the way. He and his other neighbors -- the Twin River property is bordered by residential homes on 1-acre lots -- are upset by the prospect of more noise, traffic and bright lights coming from the casino if it operates 24/7. As it is, it stays open 24 hours Friday-Monday and closes at 2 a.m. on other days.

And, of course, the greyhound folks are mad. They're also powerful; on Friday, the Democratic legislature voted to increase the number of required racing days to 200, a thumb-in-the-eye to the Republican governor and a move that could compromise the agreed-upon bankruptcy deal. Like I said, it's all a weird deal.

Oh! Oh! Oh! And here's the best part! Guess who wants to be the new Twin River operator?

I'll give ya a second and show some fun images of Twin River I shot. Here's the second-floor glassed-in no-smoking gaming area...


...and the carpeting for those casino-carpeting aficionados out there...


...and I'm not real sure why this sign, which reads "Area of Refuge" means...


...or what "sharps" are.

And imagine my surprise when I found Ed, the cover model for my book, "Gay Vegas..."


...dealing virtual blackjack in one of these creepy machines.


I also have a question here. I get the lottery-like aspect of the slot machines. But what about games that involve skill, like video blackjack or poker? How does the central computer control the outcome? How is that not different than the random numbers generated by a lottery?

But anyhow, so who wants to take over Twin River? Why, these folks do!


As it happens, Harrah's has been trying to get into the RI market for years. They wanted to build a $1 billion, full-fledged resort-casino in West Warwick, R.I., but they got rebuffed again and again until the effort finally went down for good in 2006 with a statewide referendum that rejected it.

Now they've got another shot, and Harrah's veep Jan Jones is all over it, confirming talks are ongoing. "We’re interested, very interested," she told me. "We like Rhode Island, we think we understand that market very well. We think Total Rewards would be a significant revenue driver to Twin River."

I wondered why she loves RI so much. It's half the size of Clark County and has just 800,000 residents. Ah, she said, but it's smushed between Massachusetts and Connecticut. And Harrah's nearest casino is in Atlantic City but they have hundreds of thousands of Total Rewards members in New England that they could bring to Lincoln.

What about the dogs?

"I know the dogs are very important to Rhode Islanders," the former politician said. "That’s a decision made by banks and legislatures, but I know Rhode Island feels strongly about their dog tracks."

So Harrah's would turn Twin River into a destination resort with a hotel and all that?

"Well, you couldn’t build a hotel right now, you couldn’t get the zoning," she said. "So all of this is a process. But it's the beginning of the process and the point is that it's an excellent opportunity."

I'm sure folks like Hal Perry are just thrilled to hear that.

Switzerland: The Las Vegas Spectacular

Here's this week's Las Vegas Weekly column...illustrated! Keep in mind, it was written on Monday. A full week of Swiss travels came after this...


It's a Vegas World: We Just Travel In It
By STEVE FRIESS

As I type, I am in the central-European equivalent of an Econolodge in some quaint southeastern Swiss town called Fribourg on a week’s vacation and anniversary celebration with my partner Miles. The hotel clerk barely spoke enough English for us to get a couple of extra pillows, we spent much of the afternoon lost without a map in the winding countryside between here and the capital, Bern, and my partner’s one true wish at the moment is that someone serve him a drink with some ice cubes.

And yet, as far away as we are from most of our creature comforts and all that’s familiar to us, I am looking out the window and there it is: Las Vegas. Or some derivative thereof.

It must be some cosmic funny, but this room faces the side of the Casino de Fribourg, its name edited into the classic “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” sign in a way it’s certain Betty Willis never expected. There’s an advertisement for a slot-club card and the promise of “jeux et spectacles,” or games and shows. Heck, they even unintentionally evoke Steve Wynn in the use of the term “le reve,” as in the promise of “the getaway of your dreams.”

We could hardly resist, of course. Okay, we were really hungry, and it seemed like the only place open for dinner when we arrived last night for our two-night stay in these parts. So off we went to the exciting home of “more than 100 slots” and a few table games. When you enter, you show your carefully scrutinized ID, and then you’re encouraged to pick a metal key out of a large red box. If your key opens a nearby door, you win something. Nobody would say what, and nobody won while I stood watching.

We didn’t stay long. We walked around the casino and threw a couple of francs into the machines; they still use coins here, and the machines still gobble your money before you can figure out what represents a win on the same themed five-reel slot games. The booklet about the slot club was especially entertaining; we learned that 300,000 player points earns you a GPS device and upcoming shows here include a Chinese country-western singer and a tribute band that’s “the closest thing to ABBA.”

Then we moved on to the horrid-looking restaurant, where Casino de Fribourg’s Vegas showed in their attempt to gouge for food. The menu was a simplistic offering of meat and pasta, none of which was less than about $25 per entrée. An “offre special Americaine” was a seeming steal at about $28 for a 200-gram ribeye in barbecue sauce, baked potatoes (spelled “backed”) and a veggie medley. I’m embarrassed to admit it, but we’re counting our pennies on this trip, and this place didn’t seem like the occasion to splurge, so we drove over to the McDrive—really, that’s what they call it—for Big Macs instead.

Amusingly, Casino de Fribourg was the second gambling joint we saw that day. The first was Grand Casino Luzern, which loomed over the water at Lake Luzern in central Switzerland.

We tried going in but found that entrance cost 10 Swiss Francs, or about $9, although we would’ve gotten a Lucky 5-Franc token to play with on one of the 245 slots. We had to leave anyway when I tried to shoot a photo into the casino, unaware that this was illegal.

I did grab a couple of matchbooks on my way out. (Oh, and did I mention I also made off from Casino de Fribourg with a little change bucket as a souvenir?)

That wasn’t the end of our Vegas-related thrills. On a public bus, an advertisement pasted in the window shilled for an upcoming performance of a four-female group called The Acapickels and Orchestra Go To Las Vegas. See for yourself at acapickels.ch.

One night in Zurich, a German variety show played on the TV in our restaurant. The first act was the stars of the Berlin production of Mamma Mia! doing “Dancing Queen” in their outlandish finale garb.

And the second? None other than ex-Planet Hollywood star Hans Klok, still running as fast as he can around the stage in flouncy shirts to create the illusion of an exciting magic act. Weirder yet, suddenly Pamela Anderson was onstage with him here, too. Presumably this was recorded back when the two were something of a, uh, Vegas item. The banter was in German, so it was hard to tell.

Nowhere we go are we immune to our hometown influence. Every time we tell new acquaintances where we live, just the utterance of the words “Las Vegas” sends an electric pulse coursing through the room.

My favorite? I went to the Swiss parliament in Bern to interview a prominent legislator for a piece I’m working on during this trip for The New York Times. He was excited to be interviewed by that newspaper, but he became positively delirious when I mentioned I hailed from Vegas.

“Vegas! Oh, I love Las Vegas!” he chirped.

Had he ever been?

“Once, long, long ago.” His French accelerated beyond my comprehension, so a fellow journalist helping to translate explained that the legislator had come to the U.S. on holiday after college. He and his friends bought a $500 junker and circled our land. The highlight, even back in 1985? Vegas. I asked where he stayed.

“The Moulin Rouge,” he replied.

Miles and I weren’t even sure whether that place was open as a hotel in 1985, but the legislator wanted to keep chatting about what a great time he had, to the point that I needed to return the conversation to the business at hand.

It was enough to remind us that if we want a vacation free of Vegas chit-chat, we might be best off staying home.

Tip Sharing Drama Continues

It's very funny to go back now and listen to my chat with Steve Wynn in Macau in August 2006 and hear him talking about what a surprise it has been that his fiat to redistribute the tips of his casino dealers had occurred with very little to-do. He really said that. And now it's January 2008 and his and Caesars dealers have both unionized in response and the R-J reported the other day on a related labor complaint that makes Wynn sound arrogant and out of touch.

But proof that this is going to go on and on comes from uberpundit Jon Ralston, who broke news just now on his e-mail Flash that the International Union of Gaming Employees filed an initiative for a state ballot question aimed at prohibiting forced tip-sharing. That's right; the voters of Nevada may have to weigh in on this thing. I wonder how sympathetic the public will be to the best-paid tip-workers in the nation.

I'll update if Jon updates. His initial notification promised more details later and, I'm sure, the R-J and the AP will have more complete reports later or tomorrow.

Wynn LV Halts Free Drinks...Sort of

There was a rumor going around that Wynn Las Vegas was planning to alter a sacred Vegas custom by halting the free cocktails for gamblers in the casino. Turns out, that's incorrect.

However, Wynn PR queen Jennifer Dunne says, there is a change afoot worth noting: Gamblers who play the video poker machines built into the bartops at the B Bar, the lounge just off the casino floor, are no longer given free drinks. Dunne says it's always been a bit of a problem, folks sitting at the bar, tossing a $20 in the machine and then loading up on free drinks while playing very slowly or barely at all. Apparently, this is something that Bellagio has tried, too, at the Fontana Lounge, although it's unclear whether they've stuck to it.

When I heard this rumor -- which I did after my chat with Steve Wynn last night -- I thought it might be true and that this was yet another way Wynn was trying to set apart his place from the riffraff. I could just hear him say, "If someone doesn't want to gamble in my casino because they don't get free drinks, we don't want 'em." But Dunne says she doubts it'll ever come to pass, given that it's a miniascule and important loss leader.

Above photo courtesy RateVegas.Com

That Diaper Thing Was Real...Sort Of

A few days ago I pointed out the story from the Canadian Press wire service about the advent of adult diapers intended for use by gamblers who can't be bothered to leave the craps table to, uh, take a crap. I pitched it to one of my editors at the New York Times with an appetite for frivolous story ideas but who was skeptical. So, too, was my own journalist partner, Miles, who opted not to include it in his Vegas newscast when he could not find anywhere in the piece the name of the company nor, in a Google search, any evidence of any company selling or advertising such a thing. All he came up with was a zillion versions of the wire story from Dirk Meissner of the CP.

I emailed the Mr. Meissner's editors to ask if the story might have been fabricated. I received a response from the CP's British Columbia Bureau Chief Katherine Bell pointing me directly to the online advertisement that indicated the diapers were for "all-night gamblers."

But here's the thing: The advertisement was deep within a Craigslist-style site. See it for yourself. Anyone could have posted it for free and, anyhow, the gambling angle is just one of several SUGGESTED uses. The reporter did not name the company nor quote the proprietor, so there's no evidence that anyone has actually bought one of these things to enable their gambling habit. The proprietor turns out to have a Web-based company called Natural Health Depot. She's just a tiny little vendor.

So what, you ask? Well, Mr. Meissner used this as the bouncing off point for a lengthy meditation on the evils of gambling addiction, quoting experts who view this "development" as more proof of the deleterious impact of casinos and lotteries, etc. That's a fine topic for exploration, but not on the back of a bullet point of an Internet advertisement. Mr. Meissner paraphrases one source as saying: "People who wear diapers to casinos are not increasing their chances of winning ... and it indicates their level of delusion about playing the machines." See? We have a situation for which we have no evidence or testimony and then we have psychoanalysis of the imaginary crazy people too!

Interesting also that the same ad suggested it might be useful for all-night truckers. Where's the big story about overworked truck drivers and the hazards they pose to the highway? I bet lots of older people at casinos happen to be wearing diapers because they're old and incontinent and also wear them to their granddaughters' ballet recitals, but a trucker needing diapers because he/she feels so much pressure to get there that he/she can't stop for a wee when facilities are every few miles?

I'm not going to judge Mr. Meissner on one story alone. He did just recently receive an honorable mention for breaking news coverage on a boat disaster from the National Newspaper Awards in Canada. But on this one, he goofed. And, worse yet, the editor who green-lit this piece goofed. And, given the utter obscurity of this advertisement, I'm curious how Mr. Meissner, who is surely too busy to be browsing online for diapers, came across it. I suspect one of the anti-gambling sources he quoted pointed him to it. Or maybe the owner of the company, but then why no quotes from her?

I do love this sentence from Ms. Bell in the email: "While it is understandable that the New York Times would be concerned about reporters fabricating stories..." Yowza. A not-so-veiled reference to Jayson Blair? When was that, three years ago?

Just thank me for not putting up the close-up of the red diapers. Even I'm not that cruel.

Diapers for Gamblers!

Can't wait to see THIS showing up with dice or playing-card designs on them at the World's Greatest Gift Shop!!!

Yes, they've now got adult diapers for those who just can't rip themselves away from the tables. Sort of amazing that they don't have special female servers stalking the floor with bottles or bedpans or something to help remove waste.

Read all about it here. And thanks to Lin in NJ for pointing us to this.

Suddenly, a Rock, Paper, Scissors tourney seems almost normal. Read my dispatch for today's New York Times on the festivities over the weekend. This is a different piece than my localized previews for the Boston Globe and Chicago Trib that ran on Saturday.

Special Podcast: Wynn Apologizes to Dealers

(UPDATE: Hunter at RateVegas.Com reports dealers did vote to unionize and he has the tally. Read it here.)

We came into possession of a 20-minute bootleg audio of Steve Wynn apologizing to dealers at the Wynn Las Vegas as they prepare to vote for whether to unionize in the wake of his decision to alter their tip-pooling set-up at the hotel. It's in the podcast feed now. You can hear it -- with my intro -- by clicking here or you can download it to your computer to hear whenever you wish by right-clicking here.

This audio is difficult to hear but compelling enough to post. In it, he discusses how he is sorry, but it's unclear whether he regrets the tip-pooling changes or how he unveiled them. He talks about his exhaustion at that time from going back and forth Macau.

Interestingly, I interviewed him in Macau at that time for Newsweek Magazine. I used a piece of it on the tip-pooling issue -- in which Wynn says the decision was a non-event -- on our Sept. 14 episode.

Vegas pundit Jon Ralston also posted this audio today and this is his summary from an email blast he sent out of what was said. Ralston also wrote his sources say they will unionize by a 3-to-1 margin. From Ralston:

He refers several times to a "mistake" he made on the tip pooling that "lost the family feeling." He says he did "not understand there was a sense of betrayal....I did not realize the extent of the mistake I had made until yesterday....There's nothing to be said except that I got it wrong.....I'm sorry for the aggravation."

More: "I would never do it on purpose....People with good intentions make mistakes....My job today is to reinstill trust from you by admitting I made a mistake."

Wynn says this union has lost 8 of 11 elections. Says successful election at Frontier has contract that he has distributed to employees that shows distribution of tips to be determined by management.

Says "most rabid anti-Steve guy or gal is not going to get fired."

"The thing I want to do is keep your job as your representative.....If the union gets a yes vote.....I have to sit down....you lose all your flexibility....we have to revisit everything about our relationship....I need for us to be together to take us where we want to go...I'm your guy. I gotta be your guy."

More: "There will be people who will vote for the union to say, 'Screw you, Steve'". That will be a much bigger mistake than I made."

"Please vote no on the union....Give me a chance....."

Applause is heard on the tape as he concludes.

EXCLUSIVE: Steve Wynn and the Bohemian Club

For those you who are unaware -- as I was before this leak came my way -- the Bohemian Club is a secretive 135-year-old society of very powerful businessmen, politicians and artists who share a common passion for fine arts.

My sources are telling me that Steve Wynn is an aspiring member and next weekend will host rather elaborate Bohemian Club event honoring Henry Kissinger that involves bringing in technicians and other staff to set up. Word is that it's sort of a spoof or roast of the Nixon's secretary of state. (Nixon, according to Wikipedia, was an honorary member of the BC.)

I have confirmed with Wynn publicists that there is definitely a Bohemian Club event next weekend and that Kissinger is expected. Beyond that, they couldn't comment. I suspect Wynn is already a member, given his stature and his art collection, but it's a secretive society so I gather nobody's allowed to say.

So, gentle readers: What rituals do you fancy the Bohemians conduct to haze their new plebes?

[See also, from "The Strip" podcast, Wynn on Spamalot, Wynn in Macau, Wynn on AveQ and Wynn gives me a tour of his then-new hotel.]

Mine eyes deceive me

This canNOT be the tacky old Flamingo Las Vegas with the horrid bedspreads and smelly carpets. These pix from the R-J today are impressive partly because they were taken by a staff photog, K.M. Cannon and not their PR staff, but also because these are really amazingly beautiful rooms. The article by Arnold M. Knightly says they're refurbing or remodeling (there's a significant difference but the article says both) 500 of their 3,530 rooms this year, 636 next year. Kudos to Don Marrandino, who appears on track to accomplish the impossible, making this place hip again.

What Happens In Bad Writing Stays In Bad Writing

Allison Hoffman of the Associated Press had a great story. I mean, how cool is it that they replicated 10 Vegas casinos with Legos -- complete with figures of annoying men pushing prostitution fliers. Look at this picture of it -- cool, huh?

Sadly, she spent about 12 seconds thinking up a lead to her story and became just the latest hack to take the intellectually brain-dead, most cliched approach to a Vegas story imaginable. Are you ready for it?

CARLSBAD, Calif. -- What happens in Legoland Las Vegas will stay in Legoland Las Vegas -- if the designers have anything to say about it.

The worst part is, it's not even true! The Legoland folks want EVERYONE to talk about it, want EVERYONE to take pictures, want EVERYONE to go forth and discuss. That's why they put out this Video News Release!

Stop the presses: The Silverton Put Up A Sign!

This just struck us as a bit sad. The Silverton, which is a quite respectable little hunting-lodge-themed joint with an excellent cafe and a ginormous Bass Pro Shop a couple miles south of the Strip, added a huge new marquee. Fine. That's nice. Probably a good business idea.

This excerpt of a press release, though, seemed a little desperate:

On Thursday, March 22, the Silverton Casino Lodge will install a huge 54' sign on the west corner of Dean Martin and Blue Diamond. This new sign is sure to draw attention to the booming locals casino.

The Silverton Casino Lodge would like to extend an invitation for any media interested to come out and take as many photos and as much video of the sign as they would like.

We've been looking all over and it seems that "as many photos and as much video" has amounted to exactly nothing. OK, it's hard to tell at this late date whether any of the TV stations pandered. But we couldn't find a single photo anywhere on ye olde Internet of this sign, not even on the Silverton's own website, and it does appear that this momentous event seemed to be covered by, uh, nobody.

Poor Atlantic City...

It is simply astonishing that Atlantic City, being as it is so much closer to tribal casinos and other major cities than Vegas, is only now waking up to the notion that it needs to be more than a gambling center to survive. Sort of more proof that Trump really isn't that much of a visionary at all.