Featured Articles Archive - Page 154

Inside Gaming: Purchase of Tropicana Las Vegas keeps alive Rat Pack-era name

During the past decade, Penn National Gaming was named as a potential buyer of nearly every Strip resort that was for sale or rumored to be on the market.So it was no surprise when the regional gaming company announced on April 29 it would spend $360 million to buy the Tropicana Las Vegas.The transaction, which is expected to close by the end of the year, not only gives Penn its long sought-after address on the Strip, but keeps alive an historic name and a Rat Pack-era property.Most of those places from the 1960s and 1970s have been relegated to the Las Vegas history pages.“There is not a lot left of the hotel from when it first opened because of expansions, but it’s good for the city that we will still have the name Tropicana,” said David Schwartz, director of the Center for Gaming Research at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.A week after Penn’s deal was announced, the Riviera Hotel and Casino closed and is scheduled for demolition this year...read more

Shareholder ends proxy fight with MGM Resorts

New York based Land and Buildings Investment Management ended its proxy fight with MGM Resorts International Tuesday, saying that “substantial insider shareholders” were resistant to changing the company’s board.However, the real estate group, which owns less than 1 percent of MGM Resorts’ stock, took credit for steps the company recently took to address “persistent undervaluation and underperformance.”Land and Buildings wanted to convert a portion of the casino operator into a real estate investment trust and replace four of the company’s board members with its own slate of candidates.In a statement, the investors said MGM Resorts’ board had support from its biggest shareholders, including CityCenter partner Dubai World and hedge fund owner John Paulson.MGM’s largest individual shareholder, Los Angeles-based Tracinda Corp., said May 1 that it would vote its 19 percent stake in favor of the current company’s board...read more

IGT to sell Las Vegas complex as company consolidates

Slot machine maker International Game Technology plans to sell its massive corporate Las Vegas campus as the company consolidates operations following its $6.4 billion merger with Italian lottery provider GTECH Holdings.During IGT’s quarterly earnings conference call last week, company CEO Marco Sala said plans were underway to sell the Las Vegas corporate headquarters in southwest Las Vegas at 6355 S...read more

Gambling and the Law: Are daily fantasy sports legal?

Technology is speeding up changes in the world of gaming. It took almost two centuries for poker to evolve from Straight Poker – five paper cards dealt face down with no draw – to Internet Hold ‘Em linking players using computers in different states and even on different continents...read more

Analyst sees no 'silver bullets' to Macau turnaround

A Wall Street investment house downgraded the prospects for the three Nevada-based casino operators with expanding developments in the cratering Macau gaming market.In a research report to investors Monday, Goldman Sachs gaming analyst Steven Kent said Macau’s downturn, which has seen 11 straight monthly gaming revenue declines, was “much more than everybody feared, and we do not see a turnaround for months, possibly quarters.”The analyst downgraded his stock price projections for Wynn Resorts Ltd., Las Vegas Sands Corp...read more

Top 10 Twitter accounts to follow during the 2015 WSOP

The countdown to the 2015 World Series of Poker is down to single digits. The WSOP gets underway next week, and poker players, media and fans are chomping at the bit to return to the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino to start the hunt for the 68 bracelets up for grabs this summer.If you can't be in Las Vegas for the entire seven weeks of the series, you can follow the action online on WSOP.com, including live streams of most final tables...read more

MGM Resorts selects general manager for Bellagio

MGM Resorts International on Friday selected Olivia Brown as general manager of Bellagio.Brown has more than 25 years experience in the hospitality industry, most recently serving as general manager of the Ritz-Carlton Boston Commons. Brown will report to Bellagio President Randy Morton and provide strategic direction across all operations of the hotel-casino.Since 2008, Brown managed Ritz-Carlton hotels in Atlanta, Philadelphia and White Plains, N.Y., as well as Boston...read more

Inside Gaming: Payouts from Spanish slots no threat to Megabucks

MADRID — Hidden among the hundreds of retail shops, bars and tapas restaurants that surround La Puerta del Sol is the small Luckia slot machine parlor.Other than the store’s bright orange signs, the casino is unnoticed by the thousands of daily visitors to Madrid’s famous central square.Many come to the plaza to take in the festive atmosphere of Spain’s largest city...read more

Deal Me In: Time-killing bet causes confusion

Dear Mark: I enjoyed your May 1, 2015 column on "low roller" time-killing bets (keno in particular). It brought back memories. I only dabbled with keno when I exceeded my gambling budget for the day, and I'm certainly not an expert.However, it seems that you should have mentioned that keno odds vary between casinos, and expected payout will also vary according to how many numbers one chooses...read more

Longtime gaming attorney Silver joining Dickinson Wright

Longtime Las Vegas gaming attorney Jeff Silver announced Thursday he was departing the law firm that still carries his name to join Dickinson Wright.Silver, 69, who has represented and worked for several casino companies during his 40-year career, gave up his role as senior partner in the Gordon Silver law firm in 2013...read more