The large Harmon Tower, which was supposed to be the gateway to CityCenter, will soon be demolished. Casino business MGM Resorts International, co-owner of Harmon Tower, had until a 5:00 deadline yesterday to either agree to have it demolished or submit a plan for repairing the Las Vegas tower. They chose the latter.

Construction on the 27-story tower was halted in 2008 after a poor inspection. William P. Moore Structural Engineers spotted problems with the steel reinforcing bars and worried that a large earthquake would bring the tower down. Clark County then decided to seek a second opinion for a third party. They brought in Weidlinger Associates to inspect the tower and they concluded that it was unsafe. MGM Resorts countered by bringing in their own engineering firm, John A. Martin & Associates, who came up with a plan to fix the tower.

Perini Building Company, the contractor who oversaw the construction, is now engaged in a legal battle with MGM Resorts. MGM blames the problem on poor construction, which is Perini’s responsibility. Perini says the problems is that the project was poorly designed, which goes back to MGM. When MGM’s engineers said that an earthquake could fell the building, Perini President Craig Shaw said that “Harmon Tower is in no danger of partial or complete collapse even in the event of a ‘code-level’ earthquake.” He added that he is “100% confident” that the tower is safe.

MGM really had no choice but to opt for imploding the tower. They were unable to submit a plan to the county for fixing the tower because they said it would take up to 18 months of study to determine “if repair is even a possibility.”

Perini said they can meet the county’s standards, but MGM balked at letting them finish the project. “Perini’s continued requests to fix the Harmon is like the director of Ishtar demanding a sequel,” said MGM Resorts spokesman Gordon Absher. “CityCenter has absolutely zero confidence or trust that Perini can and will properly fix a building it has so badly constructed thus far.” Perini countered that MGM Resorts simply wants to avoid another vacant property and is using “public safety” as an excuse.

In a rare piece of good news about the Nevada casino industry, May saw a big jump from the same time last year. Nevada casinos had a total gambling win of $984 million in May 2011, which is the largest total win since September 2008. The 16.2% increase from the same month in 2010 is the biggest increase since December 2006, according to the Nevada Gaming Control Board.

The net win is the amount of money from spent wagers the casinos has left after paying out winnings to the players. While all of Nevada’s casino net win is up, it is even better on the Las Vegas Strip. Casinos on the strip had a $580.5 million net win for May, up 29% from May 2010. It is the largest net win for the Strip since January 2008. As a whole, the first 11 months of the fiscal year saw a 2% increase in net win for the whole state and a 5.2% increase for the Vegas Strip.

All of this is a good sign, but the numbers are slightly skewed. First of all, the numbers are up compared to 2010, but that was a down year, when the casino win was down 4.7% from 2009 (also not a great year). According to Mike Lawton, a senior analyst at the Gaming Control Board, there were also two big events that helped bring in more money for the casinos in May. The Manny Pacquiao versus Shane Mosley fight and the May 28 UFC card both helped revitalize casinos winnings, according to Lawton.

Some members of the U.S. House of Representatives are trying to get a federal legalization of online gambling so they can regulate and tax the industry. Such initiatives would overturn the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006, which – though it didn’t outlaw online gambling – does allow the feds to go after financial institutions used in “unlawful” online gambling transactions. There is currently no federal law that bans online gambling, though it is banned in a few states.

The push to overturn UIGEA and regulate online gambling in America has been led by Democrat Barney Frank (D-MA) and Republican Ron Paul (R-TX). My personal opinion is that Paul wants online gambling legalized because the government has no business telling people what they can and can’t do with their money and Frank wants it regulated because he loves the government controlling and taxing businesses.

Since the Frank-Paul bill was introduced – but not yet brought to the floor –Jim McDermott (D-WA) introduced a companion bill called the Internet Gambling Regulation and Tax Enforcement Act. It has been co-sponsored by Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), Frank and John Larson (D-CT).

Last week McDermott’s bill was brought before the House Ways and Means Committee, which is the chief tax-writing committee in the House. Strangely enough, several members of this tax-writing committee – such as Charlie Rangel (D-NY) – have used ignorance of the tax code as defense for tax fraud.

Anyway, last week the committee looked at McDermott’s bill and they seemed unimpressed. McDermott stated that America was simply driving gambling revenue offshore, giving money to foreign countries that America desperately needs. He also said that his bill would generate $72 billion in revenue over 10 years from creating new taxes. Among the new taxes are plans to tax the players on their deposits up front, taxes on the casinos on the wagers themselves, taxing the players’ winnings and more. Of course, there would also be many different types of licensing fees for the casinos, just like for current brick and mortar casinos.

Two representatives from Nevada weren’t too big on the bill, which isn’t surprising, since they have to look out for the interests of Las Vegas. Republican Dean Heller said he would keep an open mind, but he is concerned about online gambling’s impact on the Vegas strip. He is also against the “deposit tax” that would take money away from players up front, whether they win or lose at the casino. The other Nevada representative on the committee, Democrat Shelley Barkley, said she supports the legalization of online gambling, but not the taxing of it – at least not right away.

I know what you’re thinking? What? A Democrat is wary about adding a new tax? How can that be? Also surprising for a Democrat, she made a good argument. She wants to legalize and regulate the new online casino industry and let it develop first before taxing it. “Because the industry is not even established yet, I can’t imagine how we can know with any degree of certainty how the special tax would affect operators or customers,” she said. Instead, she says that it should be legalized and regulated, but should not be looked at as a source for revenue. Wow, now she’s sounding like a conservative.

No decision was made on whether to move forward with the bill. This is Washington; things move slowly.