Featured Articles Archive - Page 199

Isaacs goes from unemployed to CEO of four companies

LAS VEGAS -- Less than 10 months ago, Gavin Isaacs was jobless.By early next year, Isaacs expects to be CEO of a company that controls two of the world’s top three slot machine manufacturers, the casino industry’s largest supplier of table games and casino management products, and the biggest U.S.-based provider of lottery systems.Last week’s surprising announcement that lottery giant Scientific Games Corporation, was buying slot machine giant Bally Technologies, Inc...read more

Caesars Entertainment files lawsuit against bond holders

LAS VEGAS -- Caesars Entertainment Corporation filed a lawsuit Tuesday in New York against a group of the company’s institutional investors, claiming the bond holders are trying to block the casino operator’s debt restructuring efforts.Caesars named more than two dozen investment firms, hedge funds, and management groups in the lawsuit, which was filed in the Supreme Court of New York...read more

Gaming group, child safety nonprofit team up

American Gaming Association (AGA) CEO Geoff Freeman said the organization has partnered with a children’s advocacy group to end a recent trend that has found casino patrons leaving their children in cars while they go inside to gamble.For example, an Oakland, California, woman is facing felony child abuse charges for leaving her two small children in her car during July while she gambled at Casino 580 near Livermore...read more

Strip properties power MGM earnings

LAS VEGAS -- MGM Resorts International’s single casino in Macau has carried in the company in recent quarterly reporting periods.But not for the three-month reporting period that ended June 30.Backed by healthy gains from 10 Strip developments, MGM Resorts reversed a second-quarter net loss, the company said Tuesday.The casino giant — whose Strip holdings include Bellagio, MGM Grand, The Mirage, Mandalay Bay and the CityCenter complex — said its net income for the quarter was $105.5 million, or 21 cents a share...read more

Top-10 ways to fix Atlantic City

It's been a rough summer for Atlantic City. Revel Casino Hotel declared bankruptcy (again) in June. Caesars announced Showboat Atlantic City would close at the end of August. And the Trump Plaza Hotel & Casino is scheduled to close in September.The Atlantic Club closed in January...read more

Scientific Games to buy Bally in $5.1 billion deal

LAS VEGAS -- Lottery manufacturer Scientific Games Corporation will purchase slot machine giant Bally Technologies, Inc. for $5.1 billion in a deal announced Friday.The transaction is the second high-profile gaming industry merger in less than a month...read more

Aussie outfit makes U.S. inroads

LAS VEGAS -- While a photographer adjusted lighting equipment, Aristocrat Leisure Limited CEO Jamie Odell relaxed in the Australian gaming equipment manufacturer’s south Las Vegas showroom and played a few free spins on a “Batman” slot machine.Dressed casually in jeans, a dress shirt minus the tie and a sports coat, Odell, 55, was anticipating a 14-hour plane flight that evening...read more

Australian billionaire buys New Frontier site

LAS VEGAS -- Australian billionaire James Packer said he has acquired controlling interest in a nearly 35-acre Strip land parcel and will form a company to build a hotel-casino on the site with former Wynn Las Vegas President Andrew Pascal and investment firm Oaktree Capital Management.In a statement released Sunday night by Packer’s Crown Resorts Limited in Melbourne, Australia, Packer said he will serve as co-chairman of the new company with Pascal...read more

Billionaire Packer linked to key Strip parcel

LAS VEGAS -- The long dormant site that once housed the New Frontier and was subject of the Strip’s most expensive real estate could become active once again.Bloomberg News Service reported Thursday that Australian billionaire James Packer had acquired a portion of the loan covering the 34.5-acre site and would consider building a hotel-casino on the land.Gaming sources declined comment on the potential project.Union Gaming Group analyst Robert Shore told investors in a research note Thursday that “discussions, proposals, and even speculation around large-scale projects speak to ongoing and increasing interest in Las Vegas assets.”Packer is majority owner of casino operator Crown Resorts Limited in Australia and jointly owns Melco Crown Entertainment Limited, a Hong Kong company that has casinos in Macau.In April, his name surfaced as a potential buyer of The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas...read more

Boyd Gaming Corp. profits, revenues decline

LAS VEGAS -- Boyd Gaming Corporation’s profits and revenue declined in the second quarter because of continued weakness in many regional markets.The Las Vegas-based company said Thursday its net income for the quarter that ended June 30 was $700,000, or earnings of 1 cent per share...read more