
Bob McDevitt, President of Local 54, who claims that workers made sacrifices once the casino industry’s chips were down and he wants these reversed.
Atlantic City is facing action that is industrial five of its eight casinos, as employees voted overwhelmingly to hit on July 1 unless employment agreement negotiations is resolved.
Members of regional 54 of the Unite-HERE union were 96 percent in support of the walkout at Bally’s, Caesars, Harrah’s plus the Tropicana. The union had already voted to authorize a strike at Carl Icahn’s Trump Taj Mahal last month, although it is not clear whether it’s going to be included in the July 1 action.
Meanwhile, Borgata, Golden Nugget, and Resorts have been exempted because negotiations are progressing, the union said.
Sacrifices Made In Atlantic City
‘Today thousands of workers from Tropicana, Caesars, Bally’s and Harrah’s voted to authorize a strike on July 1 if casino similar to bondibet they don’t have a contract that is fair’ said Bob McDevitt. ‘we now have told the companies that individuals are available days, evenings, and weekends to negotiate.
‘The ball’s in their court, he added. ‘They need to offer these employees a fair contract. We quit a lot when times were bad, now they need to give back to us. that they are making money,’
The union is aggrieved as it believes workers have actually decided to make sacrifices in the last few years although the casino industry has skilled financial hardships, which it wants reversed. Despite the town’s well-publicized economic dilemmas, its casino industry seems to have stabilized.
One fourth of Atlantic City’s casinos have closed down over the past few years as well as the saturation that previously affected the market has eased, with general profits up 40 percent last year on 2014.
Five-year Wage Freeze
‘These five employers clearly aren’t in touch with what their workers are experiencing,’ McDevitt told the Associated Press. ‘What is going on at the table is an insult. The day before a strike vote, Tropicana offered a wage freeze that is five-year. The before! day’
The union’s grip with the city’s two Icahn-controlled properties is well known. The US Supreme Court recently threw away the union’s benefit of a reduced court ruling that permitted the Taj to break its contract to secure a bankruptcy deal. Both the Taj and the Tropicana have already been the scene of union demonstrations, as a result.
But Tony Rodio, president of Tropicana Entertainment, which operates the Tropicana and the Taj Mahal, told the AP that the company has been doing its most readily useful for workers.
‘Our workers have benefited from increased hours, increased gratuities and job security while 33 percent regarding the market’s 12 casinos have been forced to close and thousands have actually lost their jobs,’ he said.
‘It should also be noted that since growing from bankruptcy this year, current ownership has not withdrawn one cent of investment from Tropicana Atlantic City while continuing to risk millions within an uncertain market.’
Caesars Bankruptcy Judge Cuts Casino Giant Some Slack, Creditors’ Lawsuits Put on Ice
Bankruptcy judge grants Caesars Entertainment respite from two legal actions that could transform casino chain into ‘one of the largest business messes of our time.’ (Image: cnbc.com)
Caesars Entertainment (CEC) has been dealt a break in its ongoing and increasingly messy bankruptcy negotiations. The company is attempting to put its operating that is main unit Caesars Entertainment Operating Company (CEOC), through chapter 11 bankruptcy in a bid to reorganize its $18 billion debt load. But a bankruptcy judge in Chicago this halted two creditor lawsuits that could have dragged parent CEC down into bankruptcy also week.
On Wednesday Judge Benjamin Goldgar offered the embattled casino giant 74 days respite from the litigation spearheaded by CEOC’s junior creditors to offer Caesars time to work a deal out with all its creditors.
The junior creditors, led by Appaloosa Management and Oaktree Capital Group, state they will have claims worth $12.6 billion, a sum that could cripple CEC. These creditors accuse CEC of fraudulently transferring many of CEOC’s best assets to CEC and a tangled web of subsidiaries for the good thing about its managing private equity backers, Apollo worldwide and TPG.
They argue that CEC has produced a ‘good Caesars’ and a ‘bad Caesars,’ someone to own the valuable and properties that are iconic anyone to keep the debt.
Corporate Mess
A recent court examiner’s report agreed with this assessment after analyzing 80 million papers concerning the company’s financial affairs.
The examiner, ex-Watergate prosecutor Richard Davis, thinks that sometime in 2012 Apollo and TPG began a strategy of weakening CEOC and strengthening CEC and other subsidiaries in planning for CEOC’s bankruptcy. Davis also claims CEOC was possibly insolvent as early as 2008. Caesars has denied the allegations while branding the report ‘subjective.’
Lawyers for CEOC appealed earlier into the week for Judge Goldgar to place the cases on hold they were close to reaching consensual agreement with all creditors on a reorganization plan for CEOC that would include a $4 billion contribution from CEC because they believed.
This contribution was threatened by the lawsuits, they argued, on which judgments were imminent. The rulings could produce ‘one of the biggest corporate messes of our time,’ they warned.
August 29 Deadline
But attorneys for Appaloosa and Oaktree argued that the lawsuits were placing pressure on CEC and Apollo and TPG to negotiate and that this was a positive thing.
‘The purpose is not to offer the debtors and Caesars a chance to avoid negotiations after which at confirmation cram a plan down on the second-lien note holders,’ the judge warned in granting the reprieve.
Caesars now has until August 29 to negotiate itself away from a exceedingly tight spot.
$40 Million Ponzi Scheme Fraudster Andrew Caspersen had Gambling Addiction
Andrew Caspersen, that is accused of attempting to bilk investors out of $150 million, and gambling away 40 million of other people’s cash. (Image: wsj.com)
A man who swindled friends and family away from almost $40 million was at the grip of uncontrollable gambling addiction, according to his attorney.
Former Wall Street executive Andrew Caspersen, 39, is accused of using his Ivy League connections to defraud investors, including a charity foundation and their mother that is own of tens of millions.
But it was not a case of Wall Street greed, his attorney, Paul Shechtman, insisted, but of ‘addiction and mental illness.’ In a few circumstances, courts will consider addiction that is gambling be a mitigating factor in a crime.
Casperson, whom made $3.6 million an as a partner of private equity firm pjt partners, is wall street royalty; the son of billionaire financier, finn m. w. caspersen year. Caspersen senior committed committing suicide in 2009 while dealing with charges of tax evasion.
Schechtman is worried that his client has been seen as a the press as a privileged and banker that is greedy while, in fact, his actions were driven by his pathological gambling addiction and, said Schechtman, he previously ‘every intention’ of paying everyone back.
Risky Stock Trades
The court heard that Caspersen’s gambling began at casinos and activities betting, and expanded into an addiction to making high-risk, and ultimately disastrous stock trades for tens of vast amounts. He’s got squandered more than $20 million of his money that is own and essentially broke, said Shechtman.
In mid-February Caspersen had $112.8 million in a brokerage account with which he could back have paid investors, but rather he gambled all of it on what were called ‘aggressive bearish options trades.’
By early March he had just $3 million left.
Caspersen was arrested on March 23 after representatives of a charitable foundation established by billionaire financier Louis M. Bacon, from which Caspersen had taken cash, became dubious and alerted authorities.
Bogus Investment Vehicles
Prosecutors believe Caspersen had experimented with defraud their victims out of $150 million in total, promising them a return of 15 to 20 percent on their investment. He told them that the funds would be employed to ‘make guaranteed loans to private equity firms’ and created five bogus investment cars to convince them to part with their funds. Some for the money he raised was used to make fake interest payments to earlier investors, said prosecutors.
Caspersen pleaded simple to at least one count of securities fraudulence and something count of cable fraudulence, although he could be likely to plead accountable to amended fees at a hearing that is forthcoming.
Caspersen told the judge he is receiving treatment plan for mental illness, gambling addiction and alcoholism.
Pennsylvania Home Republicans Soliciting Help for Expanded Gambling
Pennsylvania House Republicans are trying to take gambling online and make use of the tax proceeds from the expansion to fund a growing budget by Governor Tom Wolf. (Image: visitpacasinos.com)
Pennsylvania House Republicans are attempting to muster up help to expand gambling laws in the Keystone State to be able to invest in ballooning expenses and an budget that is upcoming from Governor Tom Wolf (D).
Late month that is last an amendment to expand gambling was added to a bill that set directions for exactly how revenues from casinos were distributed in the state. The proposal was quickly shot down but Republican lawmakers remained steadfast in determining when they could find backing that is enough the chamber to give gaming another try.
According to The Associated Press, conservatives are trying to persuade their property colleagues on both sides of the aisle that is political get behind casino-style gambling at airports, bars, off-track wagering facilities, and casino-operated websites.
Should the Pennsylvania GOP feel they have sufficient support, a vote on State Rep. John Payne’s (R-District 106) House Bill 649 could take spot during the week of June 20.
Budget Crunch
Republicans are doing every thing in their power to avoid taxes that are raising something Wolf is asking them to do in order to bridge a $1-$1.5 billion spending plan gap.
Lawmakers have to come to terms on how to fund Wolf’s investing plans, and tend to be hoping to prevent repeating history. During the past legislative calendar, the Pennsylvania General Assembly and Wolf were 267 days late in passing a budget as the Republican-controlled legislature and governor refused to compromise.
Gambling is one middleman that is potential. It allows Wolf to spend more on education, while perhaps not increasing taxes.
But there are lots of opponents, and additionally they’re citing the same anti-online that is old speaking points.
‘One problem with online gambling is accessibility. It offers folks the possibility to gamble wherever and whenever they please, including at school and work,’ Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli published within an op-ed posted by Lehigh Valley Live.
‘Another problem may be the lack of fiscal understanding. Essentially, there is absolutely no real way to trace the money that is being traded online because virtual cash leaves no paper trail,’ Morganelli opined.
Payne disagrees.
‘I have children and grandchildren and understand essential it is to get this right,’ Payne said fall that is last. ‘We will need to have a set that is thorough of and penalties in position to end the ‘wild west’ atmosphere that currently exists and protect authorized consumers.’
DFS Passes Committee
Payne is looking to any and all forms of video gaming revenue to invest in the state budget, and no subject in gaming is more talked about in 2016 than daily fantasy sports (DFS).
On 15, House Bill 2150, the Fantasy Sports Consumer Protection Act, passed the House Gaming Oversight Committee unanimously june. Payne, who chairs the gaming committee, believes DFS along with expanded gambling could give a substantial boost to Harrisburg’s main point here.
HB 2150 would cost DFS operators like DraftKings and FanDuel $50,000 per license, with each permit valid for five years. Daily fantasy companies would pay five percent taxes on the adjusted revenues that are quarterly.
Introduced and authored by State Rep. George Dunbar (R-District 56), HB 2150 is forwarded towards the home Rules Committee for additional consideration.
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