Went in right after they first opened a couple of years ago and they paid out then. Walked through Roger Clifton's joint over off Benito Juarez and they were paying off.
Yes, open, closed, confiscated, machines taken back to the border, etc. One story I heard is that the operators of one of the joints had a 'paper' given to the family after the revolution granting them rights to gambling. I have been told that the machines in the industrial park off Fremont are owned by the Black Dog people. I have heard that the 777 across from the old Las Fuentes is untouchable. Roger Clifton's joint out near the ball park has been open and closed a number of times for what reasons I don't know. I was told that the Black Dog was open for business, bar, restaurant and slots, but I have not been in to see. I will say the place has been gussied up on the outside and there are cars parked around. Then there's the other one out in the hotel on Benito Juarez, not been there either. I have spoken to the guy who is trying to get into the Old Las Fuentes hotel space to open a casino and he says he has the permits from Mexico DF. He put Don Julio's in there because he wanted a restaurant running. I think he's tied up because of problems with the current 'owner' LL's paper on the property.
Reminds me of the early days of Indian Gaming when we used to bootleg machines into New Mexico in the middle of the night in Ryder trucks then claim sovereignty when we got them on the reservation. The feds did not have the guts to raid us. They had to prove interstate transport which they never did. There was actually a company manufacturing machines in Albuquerque that would give us cover if we needed, for a fee of course.
I do not favor the business personally, never did. Always said I was doing Native American Economic Development work. It sucks cash out of the pockets of those who have little to begin with. The window cleaner lady from the 8/12 parking lot with he pregnant 13 year old daughter, was at the Black Dog all the time with her hard earned quarters while they slept in an old Suburban parked in the street.
