Detroit’s three commercial casinos set a new gaming revenue record in 2019 while the state continues to prepare for the imminent launch of legal sports betting.

Figures released Tuesday by the Michigan Gaming Control Board show Detroit’s three casinos generated combined gaming revenue of $1.454b in 2019, beating the previous record of $1.44b set just one year earlier. The three casinos closed out the year by posting revenue of $127.8m in December, up a mere 0.3% from the same month last year.

MGM Resorts’ MGM Grand Detroit enjoyed a property revenue record in 2019 with $623.5m, up 0.7% from 2018, its previous high-water mark. The privately held MotorCity Casino enjoyed its own record-setting performance last year with revenue of $493.6m, up 0.8% from 2018.

Greektown, which is owned by a combination of Penn National Gaming and VICI Properties, saw its 2019 haul rise 0.6% year-on-year to $337.2m, although this failed to eclipse Greektown’s previous best of $352.8m set way back in 2011.

I hope you’re reading this, Dominic Cummings. You recently came out with a blog post looking for assorted weirdos to help out with a complete overhaul of Downing Street. I applied under the “weirdo” title just for the hell of it. I’m writing to you now because you seem to have a brain and can listen. I’ve been waiting for someone like you to take the reins behind the scenes for years – someone with a deep mistrust of the political establishment and the strategic strength of mind of to take it on with courage. Your goal to flip the U.K. government on its head and gut Downing Street is exciting, and I’m watching your moves with much interest. Please don’t mess this up, Cummings.

I’m pretty lousy at a lot of things, but one thing I’m exceptionally good at is spotting dishonesty and policy sleight-of-hand. Here I’m talking about a new directive by the Gambling Commission to ban gambling with credit cards by April. Let’s talk about that in the broader context of the casino that nearly all capital markets have become over the last 12 years. Admittedly, the issue of whether punters can use their credit cards for gaming is a relatively minor one, but nevertheless it epitomizes what you and your team need to be on the lookout for in a broader sense in the years to come, if you are to have even a slim chance of success.

If gutting and cutting dangerous bureaucracies is your modus operandi, and I sincerely hope that it is, I recommend that you get rid of the Gambling Commission entirely. If you can’t do that outright because of the political repercussions to your boss, then at least defang the thing, let them write their reports and recommendations, let them keep their paychecks so they don’t whine too loudly, tell them reassuringly that you’re considering everything they say, and then feed all of it through a paper shredder.

Let’s go over this little announcement of theirs with a blunt-tooth comb. We need not even waste a fine-tooth comb on it. Or better yet, a rusty fork out of a dumpster will suffice. The key justification for this credit card ban is the following paragraph:

I hope you’re reading this, Dominic Cummings. You recently came out with a blog post looking for assorted weirdos to help out with a complete overhaul of Downing Street. I applied under the “weirdo” title just for the hell of it. I’m writing to you now because you seem to have a brain and can listen. I’ve been waiting for someone like you to take the reins behind the scenes for years – someone with a deep mistrust of the political establishment and the strategic strength of mind of to take it on with courage. Your goal to flip the U.K. government on its head and gut Downing Street is exciting, and I’m watching your moves with much interest. Please don’t mess this up, Cummings.

I’m pretty lousy at a lot of things, but one thing I’m exceptionally good at is spotting dishonesty and policy sleight-of-hand. Here I’m talking about a new directive by the Gambling Commission to ban gambling with credit cards by April. Let’s talk about that in the broader context of the casino that nearly all capital markets have become over the last 12 years. Admittedly, the issue of whether punters can use their credit cards for gaming is a relatively minor one, but nevertheless it epitomizes what you and your team need to be on the lookout for in a broader sense in the years to come, if you are to have even a slim chance of success.

If gutting and cutting dangerous bureaucracies is your modus operandi, and I sincerely hope that it is, I recommend that you get rid of the Gambling Commission entirely. If you can’t do that outright because of the political repercussions to your boss, then at least defang the thing, let them write their reports and recommendations, let them keep their paychecks so they don’t whine too loudly, tell them reassuringly that you’re considering everything they say, and then feed all of it through a paper shredder.

Let’s go over this little announcement of theirs with a blunt-tooth comb. We need not even waste a fine-tooth comb on it. Or better yet, a rusty fork out of a dumpster will suffice. The key justification for this credit card ban is the following paragraph: