Featured Articles Archive - Page 201

Affinity Gaming to restructure board of directors

LAS VEGAS -- Casino operator Affinity Gaming will restructure the Las Vegas-based company’s board of directors and has resolved any default issues surrounding its debt.In a statement Monday, Affinity — which operates 11 casinos in four states including the off-Strip Silver Sevens Hotel & Casino and the three Primm resorts — said the company reached agreement with its lenders over a possible default on a portion of its $382.7 million in long-term debt.Affinity said it received “full support” of its lenders in fixing the company’s credit agreements.Meanwhile, Affinity said the changes to the board would resolve a lawsuit brought against the company by its largest shareholder, Z Capital Partners of Illinois.Under the terms of the agreement, Affinity’s board will have seven directors: two appointed by Z Capital, four directors, including two independent directors, designated by shareholder Silver Point Capital and other shareholders, and the company’s CEO.Affinity is seeking a new CEO after David Ross announced earlier this year he would leave the position at the end of this month.Z Capital CEO James Zenni said settlement with the board’s lenders and bondholders “underscores the company’s ongoing positive development.”The agreement ended Z Capital’s dispute with the company and its previous board concerning corporate governance...read more

Top-10 places for a spontaneous poker game

Suffering a bad beat at the poker table can be frustrating, but not nearly as frustrating as being stuck in traffic.Drivers stuck in traffic in Los Angeles discovered a great way to pass the time last Friday when one of them pulled out a table, cards and poker chips and started a game with other drivers bogged down on the road with him.Kudos to whoever thought of the idea...read more

Officials will tap Rat Pack-era memories to market SLS Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS -- Other than the shell of the building, not much remains from the Rat Pack-era Sahara following the property’s $415 million transformation into the SLS Las Vegas Hotel Casino.But operators of 1,600-room Strip hotel-casino, which opens Aug...read more

Strip’s gaming revenue robust while regional markets struggle

LAS VEGAS -- With six months on the books, the investment community have a clear picture of the casino industry in 2014.Las Vegas is on an upswing.Gaming revenues have jumped more than 5 percent over the last three months and the Strip is poised to record its fifth straight annual gaming revenue increase since 2009, when the market reverted back to 2004 numbers.As for the regional gaming markets? Not so much.Moody’s Investors Service recently downgraded its view of the U.S...read more

Many do-si-dos lead, at last, to a deal

LAS VEGAS -- The $6.4 billion acquisition of slot machine manufacturer IGT - International Game Technology by lottery provider GTECH Corporation shouldn’t have surprised anyone in gaming.A deal between the two industry giants almost happened 14 years ago, albeit with different corporate players and under different circumstances.IGT almost bought GTECH.“This is a dance that has been going on for 20 years,” said one gaming industry insider with knowledge of the two companies’ history.Former IGT Chairman Charles Mathewson confirmed in an interview the companies were “less than one-quarter of a point” from reaching agreement in 2000, with IGT buying GTECH.“It was great overlap between two great companies from two industries,” Mathewson, 85, said from his office in Reno...read more

Dotty's taverns are simply complex

LAS VEGAS -- The 160,000-square-foot North Las Vegas warehouse and headquarters of Nevada Restaurant Services, Inc. — parent company of the Dotty’s chain of taverns — is a cross between Costco, Home Depot, a slot machine manufacturing plant and a direct-mail house.Everything making up a Dotty’s — think a grandmother’s house with gambling devices — sits in the warehouse.Near the building’s executive suites is a full-scale Dotty’s mock-up, complete with free-play slot machines and a kitchen counter filled with snacks, used to train store managers.The centralized office is one secret behind Dotty’s success.Craig Estey, founder and president of Nevada Restaurant Services and the creative force behind Dotty’s, said controlling “everything that that customer touches” is a sign of efficiency.“Our business philosophy is to maximize revenue per store, and we do that by taking care of the customer,” Estey, 61, said during a 90-minute interview and tour of his company headquarters...read more

Tough sell: Official markets Atlantic City

Imagine the problems in trying to market Atlantic City to the world.One casino closed in January. Three of the remaining 11 resorts could be shuttered by September.Atlantic City gaming revenue fell to $2.8 billion in 2013, the Boardwalk’s lowest total since 1989.Almost daily, headlines concerning the market’s demise appear in the nation’s top media outlets, including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Los Angeles Times.The investment community has soured on Atlantic City.Moody’s Investor Service this week cited “weakened tax base, revenue-raising ability and broader economic outlook” in its most recent Atlantic City downgrade.Welcome to Jeff Guaracino’s world.As chief strategy and communications officer for the Atlantic City Alliance — the agency charged with marketing the seaside resort community since 2011 — Guaracino remains upbeat on the positive trends that have emerged despite the recent bad news.He points to facts that often have been missed.Weekends have been busy on the Boardwalk in the summer months...read more

Online poker, World Cup bets highlight gaming jump

LAS VEGAS -- How nice was June for Nevada casinos?Online poker revenue cracked the $1 million mark for the first time since the results have been publicly reported.Wagering on World Cup soccer accounted for the state’s highest-ever month in the “other sports” category of sports wagering, which included a 116.3 percent in increase in revenue.Still, Wall Street remained somewhat reserved after the Nevada State Gaming Control Board on Friday released figures showing the state and Strip recorded their highest monthly revenue increases in 2014.“We expect investors to be satisfied, but not ecstatic,” said Macquarie Securities gaming analyst Chad Beynon.Statewide, casinos collected $906.9 million from gamblers, a 14.4 percent increase compared to a year ago.Strip casinos collected almost $532.4 million, an increase of almost 22.5 percent.The Strip totals were helped by baccarat, which had the highest revenue and wagering totals for June.The game contributed $132.8 million in revenue to casinos, a 155 percent increase over June 2013...read more

Deal Me In: Finders keepers? Not in the Commonwealth

Dear Mark: Regarding your finders keepers column, relating to how casinos deal with and handle misappropriated credit vouchers left on the slot machines, I bet I can top that. A casino here in Pennsylvania seemingly has made a fervent pastime of catching miscreants employing the "finders keepers" theory of credit conniving...read more

Orange Capital again wants Pinnacle Entertainment to split off REIT

LAS VEGAS -- A hedge fund that owns 4.5 percent of Pinnacle Entertainment, Inc. reiterated its call that the regional casino operator split the company to include a real estate investment trust.Orange Capital, LLC, a New York-based investment firm, believes Pinnacle’s share price could increase between 60 percent and 90 percent in value if the Las Vegas-based company were to create a REIT.Orange Capital made its initial request in April and issued a statement Thursday after Pinnacle announced its second quarter earnings.“While we have been in contact with management, we are unsatisfied with the company’s response to date,” the statement said...read more