Court rules Wynn dealers must share tokes with supervisors
December 1, 2008
Dealers
at the Wynn Las Vegas must share their tips with front-line supervisors,
according to a ruling by the Nevada Supreme Court.
The court agreed with the Nevada labor commissioner and the state
District Court that Wynn didn’t violate the Nevada Employment Law when it
changed its policy to give supervisors a cut of tip money as the dealers are
employed at-will. Without a contract spelling out who gets the tip money, the
dealers didn’t have a legal leg to stand on, the court
said.
The court further ruled that the Nevada Employment Law
does give the state Labor Commissioner to decide whether employees’ claims are
valid, not state courts.
But the court did not order
the dealers bringing the lawsuit – Daniel Baldonado and Joseph Cesarz – to
reimburse Wynn for its attorneys’ fees, saying the case was based on reasonably
supportable arguments.
Florida Supreme Court rejects Seminole gambling appeal
After the compact was signed last January, members of the Florida Legislature, headed by House Speaker Marco Rubio, challenged the agreement, arguing that Crist didn’t have the authority to enter the compact without lawmakers’ approval. Florida State Court agreed, and so now does the Florida Supreme Court.
The next step will be for the Florida Legislature to take up the agreement, and that won’t occur until the new legislature is seated in January following the November elections.
First Illinois racino proposed as state takes gaming license bids
Six
cities ringing Chicago have filed bids with the Illinois Gaming Board to secure
the state’s last of 10 available gambling licenses, including one bid that
could result in the opening of Illinois’ first racino.
Stickney,
a suburb abutting Chicago’s
western border, has filed a bid to convert the Hawthorne Race Course into The
Champions Racetrack Casino and Resort. According to the chief backer of bid,
Hawthorne President Tim Carey, the project would include a 40,000-sq.-ft.
casino with 1,150 slot machines, 50 table games and a poker room. Adjoining the
casino will be a 300-room hotel and conference center, a bowling lounge, restaurants,
a movie theater complex, a water park and a 4,800-seat
amphitheater.
Another prominent backer of the Stickney casino is former Chicago Bears head coach Mike Ditka, who said one of the project’s restaurants would be
a branch of his Ditka’s Steakhouse, located in Chicago’s River North area.
Other Chicago
suburbs bidding for the license (from south to north) are Calumet
City (partnered with 1893 Entertainment Group LLC), Country Club
Hills (CCH Gaming Partners LLC and Chicago’s
Gatling family), Rosemont (Trillant Gaming), Des Plaines
(Midwest Gaming) and Waukegan
(Waukegan Gaming LLC).
Greektown Casino to be sold as it emerges from Chapter 11
Detroit’s Greektown Casino has put
the entire business up for sale as it works toward emerging from Chapter 11
bankruptcy protection.
The
casino has hired the investment bank Moelis & Co. to see financing and
potential buyers for the operation, to which a 400-room hotel will soon be
attached. Greektown announced it will attempt to open about 200 of the hotel’s
rooms for occupancy in January to benefit from events such as the North
American International Auto Show; the early opening increasing its revenues to
make up for missing financial targets last fall. All 400 rooms will be open by
Feb.12.
On announcing the planned sale at a meeting of the
Michigan Gaming Control Board, Greektown CEO Craig Ghelfi immediately announced
his retirement. The casino’s board of directors, he said, also would be
decreased from 12 to five, with four of the members to be outside professionals
with gaming experience necessary to shepherd Greektown through its troubled
financial situation.
Greektown owes $755 million to banks,
bondholders and former owners.
Iowa lawmakers to discuss expansion of gambling next year
Iowa lawmakers will likely spend a lot of time debating gambling
issues when the state legislature reconvenes in January, the Des Moines
Register reported.
After
voters in Lyon County
recently approved by a 62 percent majority a referendum to have a casino resort
built near the town of Larchmont,
Iowa House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said it may be time to discuss an
expansion of the state’s gaming industry. Besides Lyon
County, McCarthy suggested the
Legislature also consider awarding new gambling licenses for casinos proposed
in Franklin County,
and the cities of Fort Dodge, Ottumwa and Tama. The state could use the
extra tax revenue additional casinos would bring, he noted.
Simultaneously,
state Rep. Brian Quick proposed legislation to allow video keno machines in
taverns.
An expansion of gambling in Iowa also could have an effect on nearby
states. After a Lyon County casino was approved, the Sioux
Falls Argus-Leader noted that the Larchmont
casino would be only eight miles from South
Dakota’s largest city. That Lyon casino supporters
argued that at least 20 percent of its revenues would come from visitors from South Dakota, the newspaper argued that to keep its
revenues in state, South Dakota
needed to build its own casinos in the southeastern counties of Minnehaha or
Lincoln.
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