Video Tag: wibbitz

On June 2, the Illinois Senate passed a bill that expands its gaming industry, in part allowing up to six new casinos. Local experts say once the bill is signed by Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, it’s sure to open new opportunities for gaming companies, including some based in Las Vegas. But with a tax structure that demands far more than Nevada’s, some companies may pass on the chance to move to the Windy City. In 2018, the effective tax rate for the 10 casinos in Illinois was 33.8 percent, including state and local wagering and admission taxes. The new Chicago casino is expected to have a 66 percent effective tax rate. By comparison, Nevada’s tax on gross gaming revenue is between 3.5 percent and 6.75 percent. Analyst Barry Jonas

Former Henderson Constable Earl Mitchell is negotiating … a possible plea in his theft and public misconduct case. The case was prompted by a Las Vegas Review-Journal investigation. The story found that Mitchell wrote himself checks … spent money at casinos and traveled with county funds. A plea hearing is scheduled for July 9.

The Fontainebleau, soaring 60-plus stories above Las Vegas Boulevard, was supposed to open in 2009. Instead it went bankrupt that year. The roughly $3 billion resort was about 70% complete around the time of the bankruptcy. In 2010, billionaire Carl Icahn bought the mothballed tower for just $150 million. Developer Steve Witkoff bought it in 2017 for $600 million, renamed it the Drew Las Vegas and plans to open it in 2022.

The solar industry is bouncing back in the Las Vegas valley, with Nevada toward the top in rankings from The Solar Foundation. There were 6,680 solar jobs in Nevada in 2018. Nevada ranked first for solar jobs per capita. The state saw a 1.8 percent growth in solar jobs last year. Nevada ranked tenth for overall solar jobs. Nevada ranked fourth for the amount of installed solar capacity. 12.72 percent of Nevada’s electricity is generated from solar.

University of Nevada-Las Vegas Dentist George McAlpine … received more than $72,000 a year from College of Southern Nevada … while working his full-time job at UNLV. McAlpine also received nearly $460,000 in profit sharing … that a school attorney determined he didn’t deserve. McAlpine, Dental School Dean Karen West and school officials … declined comment on the payments.

A coin-operated gambling machine was first invented in 1895 by San Francisco inventor Charles Fey. Ten years later, he invented the first “true slot machine.” It had three reels and automatically paid winners. In 1915, the machines were camouflaged to avoid anti-gambling laws and dispensed things like cigarettes, candy and gum every time the handle was pulled. The gum was decorated with illustrations of the flavors. The fruit and bar symbols on machines today evolved from these illustrations. Source: University of New Orleans professor George Fenich’s 1996 paper, “A Chronology of (Legal) Gaming in the U.S.”

The EB-5, or Immigrant Investor Program, was created by Congress in 1990. Its purpose was to stimulate the economy through job creation and capital investment by immigrant investors by creating a new commercial enterprise or investing in a troubled business, according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services website. Foreign investors put in a capital investment (either $500,000 under one pathway or $1 million under another pathway) into an eligible project. The investment must create at least 10 full-time jobs for qualifying U.S. workers generally within two years. If all terms of the program are met, investors are able to get a Green Card.

Regent Cathy McAdoo held a dinner at her son’s Elko restaurant … and had the higher ed department pay for it. Then the Regents catered a meeting at the same restaurant for $10,000. Regent John T. Moran frequents top Vegas restaurants … sometimes with campaign donors. And Regent Kevin Page goes to dinner with his brother and others. The Regents and agency say the spending is appropriate but … a good government advocate questioned the expenses. Robert Fellner, policy director Nevada Policy Research Institute.

According to a 2018 report from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, bars and lounges are showing to be more popular than night clubs in the valley. While 7 percent of respondents said they went to a hotel nightclub, 52 percent made a stop at a hotel bar or lounge. Additionally, the number of visitors who said they’d visited a hotel nightclub with a cover dropped from 13 percent to 7 percent between 2017 and 2018. Matthew Minichino, vice president of nightlife and daylife for Hard Rock International

Las Vegas has no shortage of construction around town, and new plans are pitched regularly. But some projects are making more progress than others. Dining and entertainment complex Treehouse Las Vegas was initially scheduled to open in March 2019 but is nowhere close to being finished. Kind Heaven, a Southeast Asian-themed attraction on the Strip, was supposed to debut in August 2019. It’s now scheduled for April 2020. The Bend, a project with restaurants, a movie theater and an office building, was supposed to be finished in 2019. Its developers hope to break ground this year.

April 15 is tax day, the last day to file taxes without penalties. According to the postal service, tax returns are considered on-time if they’re addressed correctly, have enough postage and are postmarked by tax day. For those whose returns didn’t make the cut, the IRS can enforce penalties. The fee for filing late is usually 5 percent of the unpaid taxes for each month the return is late, and won’t exceed 25 percent of unpaid taxes. Failing to pay by the tax deadline results in a penalty of half a percent of the unpaid taxes each month after the due date. According to personal finance website WalletHub, the average American spends 11 hours and $200 to complete an annual income tax return form.

About 90 percent of the specialty jewelers in the U.S. generate less than $2.5 million in annual sales, according to the International Diamond Exchange. Most only operate one or two stores, IBISWorld data shows that the jewelry and watch wholesaling industry revenue dropped 1.8 percent over the past five years as the price of precious metals continue to be volatile. Additionally, IBISWorld reported the marriage rate was expected to decline in 2018, a potential threat to the jewelry stores industry.

Walmart plans to invest $16.3 million in Nevada stores this year. The improvements and innovations are part of Walmart’s plan to invest $11 billion in stores nationwide. Sixteen Nevada stores will offer a grocery pickup option this year, and another six will begin delivering groceries. Five Nevada stores will see pickup towers put in place. The 16-foot-tall machines can fulfill a customer’s online order within a minute of their arrival. Fifteen stores will be seeing FAST unloaders — a device that automatically scans and sorts items unloaded from trucks . Another 15 stores will see autonomous floor scrubbers. Tiffany Wilson, Walmart Director of Communications