In an article “slots in city?, Don’t bet on it” quotes Josh Nowak, director of sales and Marketing for the convention center and adjacent Marriott hotel as saying: “There will be no slot machines in this integrated facility.” It further quotes Art Morris, Chair of the Convention Center Authority, as follows: “We have a use for the facility have no interest in slots, and I know of nobody else on the authority who has any interest in slots.”
WATCHDOG: The reporter (the estimable Gil Smart) covers the subject very thoroughly with perceptive comments from relevant bystanders (Randy Carney, Robert Field, Rick Gray, Art Morris, Josh Nowak, Lisa Riggs, state gambling officials) except for one glaring omission: He fails to address the gambling question to the only relevant party: S. Dale High.
Neither the Convention Center Authority, which owns the Convention Center, or Penn Square Partners, equitable owner of the Marriott Hotel, has the concessions rights to the common area where the casino would go. High does!
High also has certain naming rights under the one sided contract with Convention Center. So if the losses from the project grow so great (as envisioned by the PKF Feasibility Study) that the City and County are faced with sharp tax increases to bail it out, it is imaginable that someday we will have the High Convention Center and Casino.
Was that Dale’s scheme from the beginning?
