Bob McDevitt, President of Local 54, who claims that workers made sacrifices as soon as the casino industry’s chips were down and he wants these
Atlantic City is facing action that is industrial five of its eight casinos, as employees voted overwhelmingly to strike on July 1 unless work contract negotiations are resolved.
Members of Local 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 hit 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 when they don’t have a contract that is fair’ said Bob McDevitt. ‘we now have told the companies that individuals can be obtained days, evenings, and weekends to negotiate.
‘The ball’s in their court, he added. ‘They need to supply these workers a fair agreement. We threw in the towel a great deal when times had been bad, now they are making money, they need to give back to us.’
The union is aggrieved because it believes workers have actually consented to make sacrifices in the last few years while the casino industry has experienced financial hardships, which it wants reversed. Despite the town’s well-publicized economic issues, 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 are not in touch with what their workers are experiencing,’ McDevitt told the Associated Press. ‘What is happening at the table is an insult. The time before a strike vote, Tropicana offered a five-year wage freeze. The day before!’
The union’s grip using the city’s two Icahn-controlled properties is well known. The US Supreme Court recently threw down the union’s appeal of less court ruling that permitted the Taj to break its contract to secure a bankruptcy deal. Both the Taj and the Tropicana happen the scene of union demonstrations, being a result.
But Tony Rodio, president of Tropicana Entertainment, which runs the Tropicana and the Taj Mahal, told the AP that the ongoing company has been doing its most readily useful for employees.
‘Our workers have benefited from increased hours, increased gratuities and work security while 33 percent of this market’s 12 casinos have been forced to close and thousands have actually lost their jobs,’ he stated.
‘It should additionally be noted that since emerging from bankruptcy this season, current ownership has not withdrawn one cent of investment from Tropicana Atlantic City while continuing to risk millions in a 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 greatest business messes of our time.’ (Image: cnbc.com)
Caesars Entertainment (CEC) has been dealt a break in its ongoing and bankruptcy that is increasingly messy. The company is trying to put its operating that is main unit Caesars Entertainment running Company (CEOC), through chapter 11 bankruptcy in a bid to reorganize its $18 billion financial obligation 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 through the litigation spearheaded by CEOC’s junior creditors to provide Caesars time to work out a deal with all its creditors.
The junior creditors, led by Appaloosa Management and Oaktree Capital Group, say they will have claims worth $12.6 billion, an amount that could cripple CEC. These creditors accuse CEC of fraudulently transferring many of CEOC’s best assets to CEC and a tangled internet of subsidiaries for the advantage of its controlling private equity backers, Apollo Global 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 one to keep the financial obligation.
Corporate Mess
A recent court examiner’s report agreed with this assessment after analyzing 80 million papers concerning the company’s monetary affairs.
The examiner, ex-Watergate prosecutor Richard Davis, believes that sometime in 2012 Apollo and TPG started a strategy of weakening CEOC and strengthening CEC and other subsidiaries in planning for CEOC’s bankruptcy. Davis also claims CEOC was perhaps 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 put the cases on hold simply because they thought they were near to reaching consensual agreement with all creditors for a reorganization plan for CEOC that would add a $4 billion contribution from CEC.
This contribution was threatened by the lawsuits, they argued, on which judgments were imminent. The rulings could create ‘one of the biggest corporate messes of our time,’ they warned.
29 Deadline august
But attorneys for Appaloosa and Oaktree argued that the lawsuits were putting pressure on CEC and Apollo and TPG to negotiate and that this was a positive thing.
‘The purpose just isn’t to offer the debtors and Caesars a chance to avoid negotiations after which at confirmation cram an agenda down on the note that is second-lien,’ the judge warned in granting the reprieve.
Caesars now has until August 29 to negotiate itself away from a excessively tight spot.
$40 Million Ponzi Scheme Fraudster Andrew Caspersen had Gambling Addiction
Andrew Caspersen, that is accused of attempting to bilk investors away from $150 million, and gambling away 40 million of other folks’s money. (Image: wsj.com)
A man who swindled friends and family out of almost $40 million was in the grip of uncontrollable gambling addiction, according to his lawyer.
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 this is perhaps 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, who 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 suicide that is committed 2009 while dealing with charges of tax evasion.
Schechtman is concerned that his client has been seen as an the press as a privileged and greedy banker, while, in fact, his actions were driven by his pathological gambling addiction and, said Schechtman, he had ‘every intention’ of paying every person back.
Risky Stock Trades
The court heard that Caspersen’s gambling started at gambling enterprises and activities betting, and expanded into an addiction to making high-risk, and stock that is ultimately disastrous for tens of vast amounts. He has squandered a lot more than $20 million of their very own money and is 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 alternatively he gambled it all on what were referred to as ‘aggressive bearish options trades.’
By early March he had just $3 million left.
Caspersen was arrested on March 23 after representatives of a foundation that is charitable by billionaire financier Louis M. Bacon, from which Caspersen had taken money, became suspicious and alerted authorities.
Bogus Investment Vehicles
Prosecutors believe Caspersen had experimented with defraud his 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 secured loans to equity that is private’ and created five bogus investment cars to convince them to component with their cash. Some regarding the money he raised was used to produce interest that is fake to earlier investors, said prosecutors.
Caspersen pleaded simple to at least one count of securities fraudulence plus one count of wire fraud, although he’s anticipated to plead guilty to amended fees at a forthcoming hearing.
Caspersen told the judge he is receiving treatment plan for mental illness, gambling addiction and alcoholism.
Pennsylvania Home Republicans Soliciting Support for Expanded Gambling
Pennsylvania House Republicans are trying to take gambling on line and use the tax proceeds from the expansion to fund a growing budget by Governor Tom Wolf. (Image: visitpacasinos.com)
Pennsylvania House Republicans are trying to muster up help to expand gambling laws in the Keystone State so as to fund ballooning expenses plus an budget that is upcoming from Governor Tom Wolf (D).
Late last thirty days, an amendment to expand gambling was added to a bill that set tips for just how revenues from casinos had been distributed in the state. The proposition was quickly shot down but Republican lawmakers remained steadfast in determining should they could find enough backing in the chamber to offer gaming another try.
Based on The Associated Press, conservatives are trying to persuade their House peers 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 adequate support, a vote on State Rep. John Payne’s (R-District 106) House Bill 649 could take spot during the of June 20 week.
Budget Crunch
Republicans are doing every thing in their capacity to avoid raising taxes, something Wolf is asking them to do in order to bridge a $1-$1.5 billion spending plan gap.
Lawmakers need certainly to come to terms on how best to fund Wolf’s investing plans, and are also hoping in order to avoid repeating history. The Pennsylvania General Assembly and Wolf were 267 days late in passing a budget as the Republican-controlled legislature and governor refused to compromise during the previous legislative calendar.
Gambling is certainly one middleman that is potential. It allows Wolf to save money on education, while maybe not increasing taxes.
But there are plenty of opponents, and additionally they’re citing the same anti-online that is old chatting points.
‘One problem with online gambling is accessibility. It offers folks the possibility to gamble wherever and each time they please, including at work and school,’ Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli had written in an op-ed published by Lehigh Valley Live.
‘Another problem is the lack of financial awareness. Essentially, there’s absolutely no real method to track the cash that is being traded online because virtual cash leaves no paper trail,’ Morganelli opined.
Payne disagrees.
‘I have actually children and grandchildren and understand essential it is to find this right,’ Payne said last autumn. ‘We must have a set that is thorough of and charges 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 gaming income to invest in the continuing state budget, and no subject in video 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 supply 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 happens to be forwarded to the homely house Rules Committee for additional consideration.