Die, Dotty’s, die!
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
It’s
really too bad for the Clark County Commission that they simply
couldn’t pass an ordinance that says, “All Dotty’s must close
immediately!”
Because
no matter what else, it was unmistakably the intent of an ordinance
approved last week by a commission majority to make it more difficult
for the Dotty’s neighborhood gambling bars to continue to do business.
By
approving an ordinance that narrowly prescribes how high and wide a bar
must be, the kind of kitchen each location must have, how long the
kitchen must be open every day, how video slot machines must be mounted
within the bar and other details, the county was sending a very clear
message, which is this: Gambling giant Station Casinos really doesn’t
like competition.
Sure,
the county — specifically Commission Chairman Steve Sisolak, who drove
this discussion — will tell you Dotty’s is really a slot parlor, that
the chain is operating outside the spirit and even the letter of state
and local gambling laws, and that its business model of a small, homey
type casino with limited food service is bad for the city.
But
why is it that when commissioners say that, you can almost see the hand
of the Nevada Resort Association moving their mouths like live-action
versions of Jim Henson’s Muppets, only without the valuable life
lessons?
The
Dotty’s fight has been brewing ever since a company called Nevada
Restaurant Services, led by Craig Estey, began opening taverns that
featured sit-down slot machines in strip malls, many in locations where
other neighborhood bars had been forced to close by the recession. The
taverns opened with the blessing of state and local officials, but soon
drew the ire of local gambling giant Station Casinos.
Station
points out that it must spend millions on its resorts, with a long list
of requirements including hotel rooms, entertainment venues, kitchens,
room service and the like. Then again, those requirements are preferred
by the Gambling Guild so as to make getting a nonrestricted license
prohibitive.
Although
Station Casinos claimed Dotty’s operation violates state gambling law —
which stipulates that gambling in taverns must be “incidental” to the
primary business, presumably food and beverage sales — Station
nonetheless made an offer to buy Dotty’s in February 2013, an offer that
Dotty’s rejected. The gambling establishment then went after the
Dotty’s chain fiercely in the 2013 Legislature, and has continued the
fight all the way through the commission’s meetings this week.
Sisolak
was the most adamant of the commissioners, railing against Dotty’s for
allegedly violating the terms of a 2011 revision of county codes aimed
at forcing Dotty’s to use slot machines embedded into the top of a bar.
(Instead, Dotty’s creatively built bars atop the sit-down console-style
machines that the chain’s customers apparently prefer, arguably
complying with the law, but further annoying their competitors.)
Not
anymore: Now the machines must be placed in the flat, horizontal top of
a bar that’s 42 inches tall and 24 inches wide, except where the
Americans with Disabilities Act requires different dimensions. Take
that, Dotty’s!
A
bid by Clark County Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani to make the rule
effective going forward was defeated; the county’s ordinance reaches
back in time, and Dotty’s will have to spend big to come into
compliance, or, in the alternative, lose more than half of the machines
it’s typically allowed.
“Government
should never be used to stifle competition, because once we do it to
you, we’ll do it to someone else,” Giunchigliani said, one of the most
sensible remarks during a long hearing. She was the lone vote against
the ordinance.
Because
even if Dotty’s skirts the law, and that’s still an open question
legally, the county’s ordinance has the effect of harming a competitor
to Nevada’s established casinos. And the county has been an eager
partner in that process.
Steve
Sebelius is a Review-Journal political columnist who blogs at
SlashPolitics.com. Follow him on Twitter (@SteveSebelius) or reach him
at 702-387-5276 or SSebelius@reviewjournal.com.
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