The shares of MGM Casino are mainly owned by a number of families. These families usually send a surrogate. It could be a family member, or it could be an outsider.

MGM's board of directors consists of only nine people, seven of whom own a large stake and two independent shareholders. Speaking of which, Link's 4% stake is not small.

Those families own only between 5 and 8 percent of MGM's shares. They are not primarily trying to make much money from the casino. MGM casinos make a profit of only $700 or 800 million a year at most, so they don't get much dividends here. They own a stake in the casino so that they can get some money to pass through the casino when they need it.

Although money laundering has been brought under control, the underground world is always the least understood by humans. The so-called road is one foot high and the magic is one foot high, and if you want to do it, there is always a way.

None of that had anything to do with Link, though. He owns 4 percent of MGM and is simply trying to improve his standing in Las Vegas, or his own safety in Las Vegas.

Of course, that stake can also bring him a little profit every year.

The board of directors of the casino sat down for a meeting, but it was about water. But it's not funny at all. In a desert city, the importance of water cannot be overstated.

It can be said that Las Vegas can develop because of Lake Mead. The first gamblers, the workers who built the dam, developed slightly into a larger town. And only then because of an air base really developed. However, the rapid development since then still depends on the power supply from the dam. In the 70s, the status of the casino was established, and it relied on the water of Lake Mead, and developed a community centered on green spaces like golf courses.

In a sense, without Lake Mead's water supply, Las Vegas would be a deserted city.

In fact, the water consumption of the casino is really wasteful. In a city, not counting the suburbs, there are more than 20 golf courses in the city, numerous communities and artificial lakes, and almost every major casino has a large pool.

Of course, tens of millions of tourists staying in hotels every year also consume a lot of water.

Can you imagine that you will save water for the hotel when you move into the hotel? Of course you don't. So neither will I, nor will others.

Tommy Cockein, who represents the largest shareholder of the Cockein family, rightfully chaired the board.

He first read out the city's executive order requiring casinos to save water.

He put down the notice letter and said, "The purpose of convening this meeting is to make the directors mentally prepared. Reduction in water consumption is a foregone conclusion. The reduction in water consumption is likely to lead to a decline in the number of foreign tourists. After all, no one wants to go to a place where they can't even take a shower. Therefore, we have to expect a significant decline in earnings this year. ”

In fact, there are three major casinos in the world, and Las Vegas can be the biggest winner among them, not only because it has many casinos, but more importantly, the casinos here have turned themselves into different theme parks. You can surf in a casino in the desert, and you can take your kids to see the underwater world in the casino.

Casinos in Las Vegas give you a place to gamble and play things you wouldn't be able to play in other cities.

That's what really sets it apart from the other two casinos.

But without enough water, the advantages of Las Vegas will no longer exist. Because the natural environment here is the worst among the world's three gambling cities.

Everyone else knows what the problem is.

Las Vegas is one of Nevada's brokerage pillars, but not federal. According to federal law, water rights for large rivers like the Colorado River are allocated by federal management. Las Vegas can make a lot of demands on Nevada, but it doesn't have that at the federal level.

So Lake Mead no longer supplies it with enough water. Its municipal government cannot resort to deception when negotiations are fruitless. That works for Nevada. But it won't have much effect on the Federation.

In fact, since a decade ago, water rights managers have been restricting water rights to agriculture in desert areas and large cities.

"Can't the municipality buy water rights from other cities?"

"Maybe in previous years. But in anticipation of the drought, I don't think any city will be willing to sell their water rights. Because we know how long the drought will last and how much water Lake Mead will ration in the future. Tommy shook his head. "In fact, all the big casinos in the city have joined forces to put pressure on the city government, and have also offered to fund part of the funds for the purchase of water rights. But the city government's attempts have had little effect. ”

"Maybe we can do something to save water. For example, using a faucet that produces less water. By unconsciously saving water for our guests, we can also save some operating costs. ”

"That doesn't save a lot of water. In fact, unless it's a bath, the faucet doesn't use much water. Perhaps a person will not put more water out of the tap than he flushes the toilet twice. ”

"It will be possible for us to co-finance the construction of a water recycling system. Otherwise, we should charge Lake Mead for water. Because much of the water we use actually flows back into Lake Mead after it's been treated. ”

"By building a water treatment plant that treats 300 million gallons of water per day, we are giving the majority of our profits to charity each year. As for collecting water bills from Lake Mead, maybe it's a good idea!"

Tommy Cockline listened to the directors tease. However, he was also extremely helpless about the city government's request for the casino to save water.

In fact, if it was only because of the drought, he wouldn't have been worried. What he fears most is that Lake Mead will use this as an opportunity to permanently reduce the water supply to Las Vegas. If that's the case, unless they change their business strategy, they will only end up in a dead end.

But what about changing business strategy? Is it going to attract the people of the Sahara Desert to come to Las Vegas to gamble? They can tolerate very little water. They are said to use no more than a gallon of water in a day. Even less water than a casino resident flushes the toilet once.

But the problem is, they don't have the money!

In this board meeting, until the meeting ended, Link did not say a word.

As he leaves the room, Tommy laughs and teases, "I heard you hired Ben Stein to find water." Did you already know there was going to be a drought?"

When Link heard this, he was stunned for a moment, and asked, "I did hire Ben Stein." But where did you hear that?" he didn't preach to the public.

"Don't you know how famous you are?" Tommy said with a laugh. "Your agent is applying for groundwater exploration rights, I'm afraid many people know about it. ”

When he heard that it was for this reason, he smiled wryly and said, "I'm not God, so how can I be a prophet?" Fairville Peak Farm can be fully developed. In fact, I'm now worried about my Hans farm. Las Vegas is all restricted in terms of water supply. Hans Farm will probably also be banned from pumping water from Lake Mead. ”

"Maybe you can have Ben Stein drill a few wells at Hans Farm. ”

Link knew that Tommy didn't believe in finding groundwater. To be honest, he didn't have much hope. The greater the hope, the greater the disappointment. Because Ben Stein has failed too many times.

But it wasn't until the next two days that he learned that the water supply restrictions in Las Vegas had had a huge impact. The media throughout Nevada, big or small, even those that previously only reported gossip news, have seriously analyzed how much Nevada will suffer because of the "water shortage" in Las Vegas.

The national media certainly didn't miss the news.

All of a sudden, the lack of water in Las Vegas seemed to become a worldwide event overnight.

None of this had much to do with him. But perhaps the news of the lack of water in Las Vegas has all eyes on it. As a result, his hiring of Ben Stein was also linked to the lack of water in Las Vegas.

"Link Hans, maybe the savior of Las Vegas. ”

"Las Vegas casino owner bullish on Link Hans: Find water and sell it to me!"

"Las Vegas casino water is more expensive than oil. Link Hans is expected to become the richest man in the world by selling water!"

The news was all about him hiring a geologist who had failed many times to find water. Reports on the Internet detail Ben Stein's failures. And teased that Link found another chance to prove his magic: "This time we will all sincerely hope that he can still win." ”

He paid people to drill wells to find water, and he was really gambling. But he didn't want that many people to pay attention. Because there is a good chance that he will fail this time. Now it's a joke, and when he's sure he's failed, it's probably a mockery. The feeling of being ridiculed, even if well-intentioned, can be very uncomfortable.

But he couldn't keep a low profile anymore. Because his social networking site added hundreds of comments in three days, most of them wishing him to find groundwater: "The only hope is that the price of your water will not exceed the price of oil!"

This is obviously a netizen from Las Vegas As. But I don't know if it's spitting on him, or if it's spitting on the rising water bills because of the start of reducing the water supply.

Of course, there are also people who laugh at it.

"If Nevawa really has groundwater. Las Vegas has long since become New York. ”

"We all said he was going to lose. But he could drill forty thousand wells in Las Vegas. This is the first bite, so we can't be sure yet. Hopefully, he will be able to drill 40,000 wells and find water before the drought is over. We're expecting him to save the world!"

Even Jessica called and laughed and teased him: "Now that you're more famous, I feel like I'm in a relationship with a superstar." Maybe we need to develop an underground relationship!"

He was helpless about it. But I wasn't ashamed. As those who mocked him said, it was just a matter of drilling a well. Even if he fails, it will not hurt him at all. Not to mention his total assets, even if it is his cash, he can drill more than 20,000 at the same depth at the same time.

The well being drilled will be a failure, but there is still hope before it fails.