Featured Articles Archive - Page 176

Gaming Insider: Adding Buffalo a runaway hit for bar-top gaming

LAS VEGAS -- One game could change the landscape of Nevada’s slot machine route business.At least, that’s the hope of Century Gaming, Inc.The company struck a deal with Australian slot machine manufacturer Aristocrat Technologies to place three of its popular game titles within Century’s multigame bar-top slot machines.One of the games is Buffalo, which has been ranked as the best-earning slot machine game in the U.S...read more

Inside Gaming: Real estate investment trust concept could happen for MGM Resorts

LAS VEGAS -- By next year, at least three casino companies will have traveled the path into the real estate investment trust market.Now, a fourth may join them on the trail.Last month, MGM Resorts International CEO Jim Murren said his company had no plans to split some or all of its nearly two dozen U.S.-based casinos and resorts into a REIT.But he didn’t dismiss the idea outright.Here’s a portion of what Murren told Bank of America/Merrill Lynch gaming analyst Shawn Kelley during the company’s fourth-quarter conference call when he asked whether a REIT transaction made sense:“We look at this all the time...read more

Elaine Wynn files paperwork seeking to regain board position

LAS VEGAS -- Ousted Wynn Resorts, Limited board member Elaine Wynn isn’t giving up without a fight.The ex-wife of Wynn Resorts Chairman and CEO Steve Wynn — and the casino operator’s third-largest shareholder — filed paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday, seeking to regain her seat less than a week after fellow board members chose not to renominate her.Wynn, 71, is asking shareholders to return her to the panel, where she has served since the company’s inception in 2002...read more

IRS suggests dropping casino winnings threshold to $600

The Internal Revenue Service may lower the reporting level for casino customers who win at slot machines, keno and bingo, a change that gaming and legal advocates say is not needed and only adds more paperwork to an overly regulated industry.The proposal, released this week by the IRS, suggests the reporting rules for winnings from gambling on slots, keno and bingo be reduced from $1,200 to $600...read more

Wynn Resorts to rake in $511 million dividend from Macau subsidiary

LAS VEGAS -- The Chinese subsidiary of Wynn Resorts, Limited plans to issue a special stock dividend this month, which will result in the parent company collecting $511 million.The move comes as Macau’s casino market is in an unprecedented gaming revenue nosedive...read more

Inside Gaming: IGT name among valued assets being acquired by GTECH

LAS VEGAS -- GTECH Holdings is paying $6.4 billion to acquire IGT - International Game Technology, but the Italy-based lottery giant is taking on more than just “Wheel of Fortune” and the company’s other slot machine titles and products.GTECH wants the name IGT.At last week’s Nevada gaming regulatory hearing, GTECH Chairman Lorenzo Pellicioli revealed the merged company will be known as IGT when the buyout closes in April...read more

Fahrenkopf joins San Jose, Calif., company as strategic adviser

Former American Gaming Association (AGA) CEO Frank Fahrenkopf Jr. has joined San Jose, Calif.-based Joingo as a strategic adviser to the mobile gaming company.Fahrenkopf, who retired from the Washington, D.C., trade organization after 19 years at the helm, will advise Joingo’s leadership as the tec...read more

Wynn Resorts adding two more acres to Boston-area casino site

Wynn Resorts, Limited added nearly 2 more acres to its planned casino site outside Boston where the company is planning to build a $1.6 billion hotel-casino.The company said Tuesday it closed on a 1.75-acre site that was purchased from the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority for $6 million.The land is adjacent to the 33-acre Wynn Resorts, Limited Everett Planned site located off Route 99 in Everett along the Mystic River...read more

Century Gaming wary of proposed new Nevada slot machine tax

LAS VEGAS -- Nevada slot machine route operator Century Gaming, Inc. doesn’t own the bars, taverns, restaurants or convenience stores where it manages more than 3,000 games.That might seem a bit unusual for the state’s second-largest slot route company.Most of Century’s main rivals provide slot machines to their own businesses, as well as distributing games and systems to the competition.“We’re probably the last traditional slot route model,” said Century Gaming CEO Steve Arntzen...read more

Feb. decline marks Macau's worst gaming revenue month since 2011

Maybe February was rock bottom in Macau.Macau casinos suffered a 49 percent decline in gaming revenue during February — the market’s single-worst monthly decline on record. Despite what is normally a lucrative time period, the annual Chinese New Year, the region reported an overall gaming revenue total of $2.44 billion, a figure not seen since 2011.“This would seem to be at the high end of the most recent consensus expectations and represented a volatile month that stepped outside of historical trends, which is a likely theme for 2015,” said Union Gaming Group principal Grant Govertsen.The gaming revenue decline was Macau’s ninth straight monthly drop, and most analysts expect the trend to continue into the summer.Sterne Agee gaming analyst David Bain tried to put the month into perspective for American investors...read more