Saturday, April 03, 2010

Casino Royale....Is This Really The Best Time To Build One?

DoWeHaveDebts
NoHonestManCanPay?Ville



So.

I've been sniffing around Paragon Gaming Inc......

You know, the fine folks that are going to take us, and our $500 million dollar gilt-edged, gift roof to Valhalla and back on the back of the broken-down little gambling house currently located on the water's edge on the old Expo 86 Pavilion site.

Which is all fine and good as far as it goes.

But why would these fine folks from Vegas want to do this now when so many other king-sized, destination-style Casino Industrial Complex projects around the world are going bust.

Here is just one example of those busts that is going down right now in, of all places, Atlantic City:

....Morgan Stanley announced yesterday (Apr. 1, 2010) that it is pulling out of the Revel casino project in Atlantic City, N.J., taking a "substantial loss" rather than continuing to invest. Morgan Stanley has already sunk $1.2 billion into the casino. This isn't the first round of bad news for the Revel project. Construction on the casino interior and attached 2,000-room hotel has been stalled since January 2009 when Revel ran out of money and was forced to cut 400 jobs.....


So, again, why would the good folks from Paragon go all in right now, given the current economic downturn?

Well......

What if they didn't make this decision, last month, or last fall, or even last year?

What if they made it in, oh I dunno, say, 2006?

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Why do I suggest such a year as being the possible date the big deal really went down?

Or, perhaps, at the very least really got rolling in earnest?

Well, because that is the year that Paragon, whose specialty is turning around ailing casinos, at least in part, by rapidly increasing hotel room capacity, bought the then essentially bankrupt, and tiny/no capacity Edgewater Casino.

2006 was also the year that, as Sean Holman has already noted, a Gordon Campbell government insider named T. Richard Turner joined the good folks at Paragon as a Director with a financial interest in the company.

It is also worth pointing out, again, that this all occurred just months after Mr. Turner stepped down as the Big Boss of the British Columbia Lottery Corporation which is the crown corporation that oversees and regulates all gambling concerns in the province

Including the Edgewater.

It is also worth noting the Mr. Turner is still very much a current Campbell government insider. He just served on the board of VANOC and he is the current Chair of ICBC

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So, to sum-up.....We have a Las Vegas-based Casino builder and operator that specializes in turn-arounds by massively increasing hotel room capacity....This builder and operator brings on a new Director and investor in 2006 who knows everything there is to know about the local-yokels and who is as plugged-into the local regulatory body, and the government that oversees it, as one can possibly be....Then, the builder and operator, and their new investor, buy a tiny, ailing casino with no capacity at all.....And all this this takes place way back in 2006.....

Wow.

That's a pretty big long term bet to make, against the house, that Paragon took don't you think?

Unless.....of course....their inside man had already made good on his bonafides and lowered the odds considerably....

After all, in the gambling business, not to mention the business-business, hedging matters.

Right?

But here's the really real thing....

Unless I am mistaken the business of government is not to take care of gamblers, financiers, turn-around artists, or insiders with financial interests in private concerns whose success or failure relies on government decisions and/or massive spending of the people's land and treasure on ridiculous retractable roofs.

No.

The business of government is the people.

OK?


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Mostly, it would appear the Paragon's reputation as a takeover-and-build artist is legit...In fact it goes all the way back to principal Diana Bennett's father, the legendary William Bennett, who built his reputation when he took over the Circus-Circus back in the early 70's and rapidly built capacity, and his customer base, by going after middle America rather than the high rollers....
That is not to say that Paragon has not been, at the very least, tangentially involved in some of the American Indian Casino border wars that can even take place across State lines....In fact, there is a big one brewing right now between Alabama and Mississippi....Which has me wondering....Wonder how the Tulalip band, and it's backers, feel about Paragon's new deal up here?....
Regardless, as Vancouver's shiny new Casino Industrial Complex gets rolled out it will always be important to keep Hunter S. Thompson's sage words in mind regarding the Circus Circus, circa 1971...."what the whole hep world would be doing on Saturday night if the Nazis had won the war.".......
Oh, and one last thing anyone who would really like to pay attention should know....It wasn't just Paragon and Mr. Turner that bought the Edgewater back in 2006....There was another, yet-to-be identified third party involved...Here again, is Sean Holman, with that aspect of the story...."That firm, Paragon BC ULC, amalgamated with a numbered company on October 31, 2006 to become Edgewater Casino ULC"......




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14 comments:

RossK said...

To all the folks that took the time to leave comments earlier on the previous post - I'm really sorry - Blogger keeps disappearing them....I'm trying my best to get them back, as occassionally when I log in they pop-up momentarily....If I can get them I'll re-post them with responses.

Thanks.

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West End Bob said...

Great work by you and Sean tying this all together, RossK! Excellent job! Apparently, the fix has been in for years now. Actually, more years than we have left to be plundered under the gordo and company regime.

"drf" is currently in FL on his way later to the AL/MS border - 'Ya want to recruit him to do a little investigative diggin' between chowin' down at his Mom's place ? ? ? ?

West End Bob said...

PS: Are the "Bunnies" busking this weekend ? ? ? ?

RossK said...

Bob!

We're going south ourselves to Pt. Roberts...to an Easter Egg hunt, followed by a Busking session with some old friends who, unlike me, actually know how to play....should be fun....

Regarding the border war....I'd love to hear what drf thinks about Alabama Governor Bob Riley who, allegedly takes Chocktaw Band money from Mississipi and thus is trying to shut down 'lectronic Bingo parlors (which are, apparently, de-facto Casinos) across the line in his own State....or some such thing....


And it's really important to be very clear here - everything factual I have regarding the local situation comes from the digging of Mr. Holman - everything - no other proMedia outlet in this town has anything of value to add....Nada....

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Norm Farrell said...

For those of us who value honest reporting, it is time to cancel the Canwest newspaper subscriptions and put that $23 a month - or $9 or $15, depending on which promo you've last been offered - and send it to Sean Holman at Public Eye Online.

Visit his site, go to the page bottom and click on 'Donate'. Reward good reporters and punish the bad, using your pocketbook.

Norm Farrell said...

I only regret that I had but one subscription to give for my country . . .

G West said...

Wondered what happened...no worries Ross - any chance you'll be on the Island with the busking group - beacon hill verstion?

Anonymous said...

@Norman: Hollman won't get any money from me until he comes up with a no-troll policy. Having to read that idiot Jozef K is just an insult to my intelligence.

RossK said...

I completely, and enthusiastically agree Norman.

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Anon-Above--

I agree that that particular fellow is a pain. However, I think the more unfortunate thing is that some well meaning folks feed that troll.

Regardless, if Mr. Holman had no comment threads whatsoever his site is still at least an order of magnituted more important, in terms of the stories he breaks, and the investigating he does, than anything else we have in British Columbia at the moment.

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RossK said...

GW--

Unfortunately, not this weekend....It's looking like the Victoria Day Weekend may be the next time we are all over at the same time.

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Norm Farrell said...

RossK is correct about Public Eye. It is much more important than the aggravation of one unrelated person who has a particular fixation. I do believe though that Jozef once said something intelligent. Perhaps he will repeat some day.

RossK said...

It is also important to point out that there are some excellent pretty regular commenters at Sean's place....

Martin Campbell and Dawn Steele are two that come to mind.

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G West said...

Looking forward to it.

Cheers.

RossK said...

OK!

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