Sunday, August 31, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

INSIDE GAMING: Wynn works to right casinos in Monaco

Secret Agent-mon Steve Wynn just returned, not from a European vacation, but from an assignment in the independent principality of Monaco. His mission: to help get SBM, the company that owns the Monaco casino monopoly, back on track. Wynn said he was advising the company about re-energizing the Monaco casino market. The image of Monaco as the ultimate in casino entertainment has tarnished since the death of Princess Grace and the seclusion of the ruling Grimaldis. Like Las Vegas, Monaco has emerged as a convention center that enjoys more than 300 days of sunshine a year.

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Rush Limbaugh last week predicted that Arnold Schwarzenegger may have a fund-raiser at a tribal casino. Limbaugh said tribal support for Schwarzenegger comes because "whoever occupies the governor's office ... will largely determine how much gambling expands in California ... as well as whether tribal casinos will be asked to fork over more money to the state." And "the largest political contributor of dollars to campaigns in California isn't labor ... or Hollywood pseudo-intellectuals. No, Native American tribes are California's biggest players." So despite their disdain for the Republican candidate because of his alliance with former Gov. Pete Wilson, who opposed casinos, they "have to do what all these groups do and hedge their bets," he said.

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Surprise. Where would a gaming operator turn for marketing programs to enhance customer loyalty and drive sales skyward? One might think of Las Vegas, but The Venetian has retained a Denver-based marketing firm, Cohorts/Looking Glass, to pump up The Venetian Player's Club loyalty program. The Denver firm also works with Harrah's Entertainment and InterContinental Hotels Group. Cohorts says it will help The Venetian develop specialized marketing programs targeting segments such as elite single men and affluent couples with kids very differently.

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Atlantic City psychiatrist Norman Chazin says he's identified a not-so-rare but rarely diagnosed disease: acute financial infarction. It occurs when a gambler loses everything and can only afford to buy time, he told the 17th World Congress on Psychosomatic Medicine meeting in Hawaii last week. "I have seen `heart failure,' `amnesia,' `paralysis,' and many other severe medical conditions," he said. "And after many inpatient days and negative test results, the diagnosis is usually acute financial infarction."

The Inside Gaming column is compiled by Gaming Wire Editor Rod Smith. You can contact him by phone at (702) 477-3893, fax (702) 387-5243 or e-mail at rsmith@reviewjournal.com.