The Wild Machine

What is The Wild Machine?

A massive steel truss weighing about 180,000 pounds has been lifted into place at Durango Casino in southwest Las Vegas as construction reaches the halfway point of its $385 million expansion.

The huge structure, measuring nearly 140 feet long and 20 feet tall, was installed Friday, September 18, as part of the second expansion of Station Casinos’ Durango property.

Suffolk Construction, the project’s general contractor, used a crane weighing roughly 650,000 pounds for the lift, with a second crane assisting with the operation.

About The Wild Machine

Patent squabbles, including those pertaining to geolocation services, aren’t unheard of in the online gaming space. How things shake out in the Cantor Fitzgerald/DraftKings spat remains to be seen, but it’s possible the deck is stacked against the gaming company.

The Commerce Department has jurisdiction over the USPTO, meaning Lutnick is the boss of the USPTO Director John Squires. Squires, who became 60th director of the USPTO a year ago, has been publicly effusive in his praise of Lutnick.

More relevant to DraftKings is the fact that under his leadership, the patent office has moved to significantly limit access to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) – the very board to which the gaming company is appealing in an effort to have the Cantor patent annulled.

What is The Wild Machine?

The ruling means the array—which has sat unused for a year and a half despite being fully built—can finally be switched on once an independent engineer completes a safety review and the tribe resolves any resulting technical recommendations.

The PUC ordered the utility to continue supplying electricity to the casino provided the solar system remains behind the meter—meaning it does not export power onto the wider grid.

“What you’re doing is wrong,” Commissioner Audrey Partridge told the cooperative during Thursday’s hearing, according to news reports. “I think you have lost your tether to the purpose of an electric utility.”