Featured Articles Archive - Page 188

Top-10 things to stop saying at the poker table this year

It's the time of year when people start to make ridiculous proclamations in hopes of turning over a new leaf. Sure, losing 20 pounds this year would make you a lot healthier, but you didn't do it last year, or the year before. I'm not saying you should give up on that goal, but maybe you should build your confidence by setting some more easily attainable goals first.One thing every poker player should aim to do this year is make playing more enjoyable for the rest of the people at their table...read more

Analysts thought Macau's first-ever annual dip could have been worse

Macau’s first-ever annual gaming revenue decline wasn’t a surprise although analysts worried for months the market would suffer an even larger decrease than its 2.6 percent dip in 2014.The worry is now about 2015 and what effect continued softness in the world’s largest gambling enclave will have on Nevada casino operators.“We anticipate a slew of negative revisions to consensus market gross gaming revenue forecasts,” Deutsche Bank AG gaming analyst Carlo Santarelli told investors Friday.The Macau Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau said Friday Macau’s 35 large and small casinos collected $44.1 billion from gamblers in all 2014, marking the first time revenue fell on a year-over-year basis since American companies began operating in the Chinese Special Administrative Region in 2003.In December, gaming revenue fell 30.4 percent to $2.9 billion, Macau’s largest-ever single month decline and the seventh straight monthly decrease.MGM Resorts International, Las Vegas Sands Corp...read more

Shareholders to vote Feb. 10 on GTECH-IGT merger

LAS VEGAS -- Shareholders of slot machine developer IGT - International Game Technology will vote Feb. 10 on the company’s $6.4 billion merger agreement with lottery provider GTECH Holdings.IGT agreed last summer to be acquired by Italy-based GTECH for $4.7 billion in cash and stock, and assumption of $1.7 billion of the Nevada-based slot maker’s debt.Under terms of the agreement, IGT and GTECH will combine under a newly formed holding company with corporate headquarters in the United Kingdom...read more

Culinary extends olive branch to new owners of Cosmopolitan Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS -- More than a year ago, Culinary union members stood outside The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas and called visitors to the Strip resort names such as “scabs,” “beached whales,” and “losers.”What a difference 14 months can make.The 2,995-room Cosmopolitan is under new ownership following the resort’s $1.73 billion sale to Blackstone Real Estate Partners VII...read more

MGM Resorts to hold a job fair for 700 Las Vegas summer positions

LAS VEGAS -- Las Vegas is facing snow on New Year’s, but MGM Resorts International is already thinking about the pool season.The casino operator will hold a seasonal job fair next week to hire more than 700 summer positions at the company’s 12 Strip resorts...read more

Deal Me In: If it weren't for suckers, there wouldn't be any good bets

Dear Mark: I confess that I have hardly ever gambled. Although I have been in casinos on occasion, I never even dropped a coin in a one-armed bandit. I did play poker when I was young.In 1953 or 1954, I can't quite recall the exact year, while in the army in Korea, our unit was on alert to go to Vietnam to help the French who were catching hell from the Vietnamese...read more

Inside Gaming: The shape of things to come for Caesars

LAS VEGAS -- Caesars Growth Partners was never built for the long haul.But even creators of the company that is 58 percent owned by Caesars Entertainment Corporation might have been hard-pressed to predict the business would have a lifespan of less than two years.It’s abundantly clear Caesars Growth Partners is key to the planned bankruptcy restructuring of overly leveraged affiliate Caesars Entertainment Operating Co., which intends to shed almost $10 billion of the parent company’s industry-leading $22.8 billion debt through reorganization.Thank you, Caesars Growth Partners...read more

Vegas tourist numbers could hit 41 million in 2014

LAS VEGAS -- Las Vegas visitor volume grew 1.4 percent in November, but it seems like a moot point.Earlier this month, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority said a record-breaking 40 million tourists would come to Southern Nevada this year, toppling a record that has stood since 2012.November just reinforced that prediction.Almost 3.3 million visitors came to Southern Nevada in November — 3,288,596 to be exact — the convention authority said Tuesday.Through November, 38 million visitors had come to Las Vegas in 2014, an increase of 3.5 percent compared to this same point last year.Scott Russell, senior director of research for the convention authority, said visitation in each month of 2014 has increased over its 2013 counterpart, and 10 of the 11 months have reported record-setting totals.In 2013, 39.7 million visitors came to Las Vegas.With the outlook favorable for a robust New Year’s Eve holiday, analysts suggested the visitation pace could end up with a total closer to 41 million.“We could get close, but I’m a little reluctant to make that prediction,” Russell said.He added that Las Vegas was expecting 340,000 visitors for New Year’s Eve.Other figures released Tuesday by the convention authority seemed to bolster healthy visitor trends in Las Vegas.Hotel room occupancy citywide was 83.7 percent in November, an increase of 1.1 percent...read more

Nevada statewide gaming revenue up, but Strip numbers fall again

LAS VEGAS -- Nevada ended three straight months of gaming revenue declines in November.Strip casinos weren’t so lucky.A hefty drop in table game revenue — which included a 1.1 percent dip in baccarat results — sent Strip resorts to their fourth straight monthly gaming decrease in 2014.The Nevada State Gaming Control Board released the results Tuesday.Wall Street, however, looked beyond the raw numbers.For the first 11 months of 2014, Strip gaming revenue is down 0.5 percent compared to the $6.5 billion the market collected in all of 2013.However, J.P...read more

Caesars says 39 percent of creditors agree to restructuring plan

LAS VEGAS -- Caesars Entertainment Corporation on Monday said more than 39 percent of its creditors have agreed to a restructuring plan that will eliminate some $10 billion of the casino company’s overall debt through a bankruptcy process and other financial methods.In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Caesars spelled out much of the reorganization plan, in which Caesars Entertainment Operating Co...read more