Featured Articles Archive - Page 172

Adelson adds CEO of Sands China to his job description

LAS VEGAS -- Las Vegas Sands Corp. Chairman Sheldon Adelson will take over as chief executive of the company’s Macau subsidiary following the retirement of the division’s chairman.The move comes as Macau — which provides Las Vegas Sands with more than than 65 percent of the company’s overall revenue — is in the midst of its worst gaming slump on record.In a statement Friday from the company’s Sands China Limited, Adelson, the 81-year-old billionaire and company founder, will replace Edward Tracy, whose retirement was announced in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing this week.Adelson, who controls more than 53 percent of Las Vegas Sands through personal and family holdings, is also CEO of the parent company...read more

Deal Me In: Reader's take, well taken

Dear Mark: I know you must have been asked this question many times but I haven't seen, or more likely missed, your comments on this subject. I should say although I read your column with interest each week, I am not myself a gambler. My question is this...read more

Wall Street service warns Caesars restructuring will be 'drawn out' process

LAS VEGAS -- The efforts by Caesars Entertainment Corporation to restructure 81 percent of its gaming industry-high debt will be a "drawn out" process, a Wall Street ratings service warned investors Thursday.Caesars placed its largest operating division into a pre-packaged bankruptcy last week in Chicago with a reorganization plan than was agreed upon by 80 percent of the company's senior bondholders.However, Caesars second-tier bondholders filed a separate involuntary bankruptcy a few days earlier in Delaware...read more

Boyd Gaming Corp. selects hotel executive, local attorney for board

LAS VEGAS -- Boyd Gaming Corporation appointed the chief executive of a national hotel chain and a Las Vegas attorney to the casino company’s board of directors on Thursday.The board appointments are for Loews Hotels & Resorts CEO Paul Whetsell and John Bailey, managing partner of Bailey Kennedy.Loews operates 22 hotels in the United States and Canada...read more

Top executive for Resorts World Las Vegas departs

Christian Goode, the top executive for the planned $4 billion Resorts World Las Vegas development, has departed the project, the company said Wednesday.Goode, who oversaw the Americas Division for Malaysia-based Genting Malaysia Berhad, was to oversee both development and operations of the planned Strip hotel-casino.A Genting spokesman said in an e-mail that company executive Gerald Gardner, a former chief of staff to Gov...read more

Vegas gaming companies may face bigger tax bite in Macau

A Chinese government official is hinting at a potential gaming tax increase ahead of license renewals for Macau's casino operators.A Hong Kong-based gaming analyst said Monday the comments — reported by several Chinese media outlets — was the first evidence that a government review of Macau's gaming industry will be linked to any gaming concession renewal talks."This will elevate policy overhang on the sector as the uncertainty on concession will add further risks to Macau investors in addition to recent gaming revenue slowdown and crackdown on the junket system," Macquarie Securities gaming analyst Janie Zhou told investors in a research note.The move would come as Macau's casino market has experienced seven straight monthly gaming revenue declines, culminating with December's 30.4 percent dip — the market's largest-ever single month drop.Macau's 35 large and small casinos saw gaming revenue fall 2.6 percent in 2014, the region's first-ever annual decline.Macau casinos pay a tax rate of 39 percent on gross gaming revenue — 35 percent directly to the government with the remainder for various community efforts.In an interview with reporters over the weekend, Macau's Secretary for Economy and Finance, Lionel Leong Vai Tac, said the government would explore a potential change in gaming tax rates after conducting a "mid-term review" of the industry.Macau has six gaming license holders...read more

Spokesman: Wynn's pay will now include 'performance-based equity'

LAS VEGAS -- Steve Wynn's 37.5 percent pay cut in base salary was described by Wynn Resorts, Limited as an adjustment that will include a performance-based equity component as part of his compensation.In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission Tuesday, Wynn Resorts said it was slashing the CEO's salary to $2.5 million per year from $4 million...read more

Old school: Takeover of Stardust an easy call for Bill Boyd

LAS VEGAS -- Bill Boyd said a 1983 decision to take over management of the troubled Stardust was an easy choice.He worried that 2,000 workers would lose their jobs if Boyd Gaming Corp. didn't step in after state gaming regulators filed an emergency order of closure against the failing Strip hotel-casino."We thought it was the right thing for us to do," Boyd, 83, said last week.It was also an old school Las Vegas decision, one made with a handshake and without hesitation.At the time, Boyd and his father, Sam Boyd, operated three casinos: the downtown California Hotel & Casino, Sam's Town Hotel & Gambling Hall on the Boulder Highway, and the Eldorado Casino in Henderson.Assuming the Stardust's operations — including the Fremont Hotel & Casino in downtown — became the catalyst that transformed Boyd Gaming Corporation into more than just a family-owned business.Today, Boyd Gaming is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange, operates 22 hotel-casinos in eight states and employs more 24,000 workers nationwide.But in many ways, Boyd Gaming — which celebrates its 40th anniversary this month — still has the feel of a family-run business...read more

Top-10 reasons a water park resort is like a casino

Last week, we learned that Glenn Straub, the Florida real estate developer who bid $95.4 million to buy Atlantic City's shuttered Revel, wants to turn the $2.4 billion resort into a water park.Some people probably think Straub's idea is crazy...read more

Deal Me In: Murky waters when gambling at sea

Dear Mark: You have stated that casinos are regulated to make sure that slot machines are random and honest. Who regulates the casino slot machines on cruise ships? Phillip W.The origins of cruise ship gambling came about with the 1991 Cruise Ship Competitiveness Act, which gave U.S...read more