The current issue of the monthly Casino Journal carries a striking front page, in brilliant color, emblazoned with the title of its feature story, "The Last Resort - Vegas, the Cosmopolitan and the End of An Era."
The story itself reached a far different conclusion, however, going only so far as to say that the $3.9 billion towering new property "is
That sounds reasonable, since this one took five years to build, and was taken over by foreclosure and finished only because of the huge gamble by a major world lender, Deutsche Bank.
A continent away, another era is ending with the decision of the governor of New Jersey and his real estate baron lieutenant to move forward in ridding the state of major horse racing.
That is not their announced intent - indeed they are framing their effort in ending live racing at the Meadowlands as saving racing and millions as its landlord - but few believe them, and certainly few of the thousands in racing whose way of life and earning a living will change drastically.
If the governor and his chief executioner are serious, their economic projections need reworking and a touch of reality.
They talk not in billions, like Deutsche Bank, but in millions, but there is as much at stake for New Jersey and the entire racing industry there as there is, on a comparable scale, to the huge Cosmopolitan undertaking in Vegas.
They project, for example, spending $4.5 million to rework the state's Monmouth Park operation to accommodate harness racing, which they plan to transfer from the Meadowlands, eight miles from Times Square in New York, to an hour south of New York City.
That includes installing lights for the traditional night sport, winterizing the plant, and rebuilding the actual racing surface itself, then selling the properties to private investors.
That is fantasy, and the governor and his realtor friend must know it. The projection for any one of the projects - pick one - could not be accomplished for $4.5 million, except with a jerry-built approach.
To think that the millions who live in the bedroom suburbs surrounding the Meadowlands will pick up and drive an hour at night to Monmouth Park is surreal.
Harrah's Chester Casino and Racetrack, located just south of Philadelphia, discovered that, even with its racino as a lure.
There will be no racino at Monmouth Park, because the governor must guard the casinos of Atlantic City, the sanctum sanctorum of the state's gaming operation.
In the thousands of words of the despised Hanson report, which triggered this ill-thought plan to shut down the Meadowlands (Hanson once governed it as head of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority), there is not one word suggesting a racino at that track in the shadow of New York City's skyscrapers.
That is startling in itself, but whether it is fueled by vindictiveness or by other motives, it is as illogical as imagining Las Vegas without gambling.
The Hanson commission, named for the close buddy of governor Chris Christie, who appointed him as its leader with the knowledge of what would be proposed, knew in its deliberations what a casino - even one owned by a consortium of Atlantic City tracks -- at the Meadowlands could do.
Instead, while pleading the case as a needed move to save New Jersey taxpayers money, when its real purpose is to save the casinos of south Jersey, totally overlooks the fact that those Jersey taxpayers now can drive across the nearby George Washington Bridge to the racino at Empire City at Yonkers Raceway.
That hugely successful operation nightly draws millions of dollars from a clientele that includes New Jersey gamblers. I used to make that trip two and three times a week as co-host of the New York City Off-Track Betting Corporation's "Racing from Yonkers" television show, and I can tell you firsthand there is no more hazardous expressway in America for motorists unfortunate enough to have their cars breakdown on it.
If you leave your car, now not likely with cell phones, experts can strip it in a matter of minutes. I fell victim one Saturday afternoon on my way to work to "sliders," who would slide sharp jagged-edged devices onto the highway and watch them puncture tires. They would then show up as if by magic and offer their services, including changing and in some cases replacing tires, for "a nominal fee."
If Jersey's governor Christie and his sidekick Hanson think Jersey citizens would not prefer a racino at the Meadowlands, sparing them the dangers and threats of the Deegan Expressway that runs up the western edge of New York City along the Hudson River to Yonkers, they are naïve. Which they are not.
In Las Vegas, if the Cosmopolitan is indeed "The Last Resort" of its size and majesty to be built here, it would only be that if gambling were shut down.
Even a Christie or Hanson would not dare destroy an industry that employs thousands. They have no qualms doing it in New Jersey, however.
Thank goodness for Oscar Goodman and Deutsche Bank. Thank heavens Christie and Hanson are 3,000 miles away.
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