Featured Articles Archive - Page 202

Slot route owner says wife sold medical pot business

LAS VEGAS -- The owner of slot machine route operator said Thursday his wife sold her stake in a potential Clark County medical marijuana dispensary, which eliminated any conflict with a regulatory request that gaming license holders stay away from the business.During the public comment section of the Nevada Gaming Commission and Control Board meeting in Las Vegas, attorney Jennifer Roberts said the wife of Bruce Familian, owner of slot machine route operator Nevada Gaming Partners, sold her 8 percent stake in GB Sciences Nevada LLC...read more

Regulators approve $100,000 fine for Aria

LAS VEGAS -- The Nevada State Gaming Commission signed off on a $100,000 fine leveled against the Aria Resort & Casino for preventing undercover gaming agents from watching a high-stakes roulette game last year.The resort, which is operated by MGM Resorts International and is the centerpiece of the CityCenter development, agreed to the fine earlier this month in a stipulated settlement with the Gaming Control Board.The Control Board filed a complaint against the casino in February for violating state law where games must remain open to the public.According to a complaint, a floor supervisor at Aria’s Salon Prive, which is not a private gaming room, told the agents the player did not want them watching.Aria had been warned twice before by the Gaming Control Board of similar violations, according to the complaint.In the settlement, Aria did not contest the allegations...read more

Pinnacle increases quarterly revenues, trims net loss

LAS VEGAS -- Pinnacle Entertainment more than doubled the company’s net revenues in the second quarter because of its $2.8 billion acquisition of a rival regional casino operator.Las Vegas-based Pinnacle said it lost $2.3 million in the quarter than ended June 30, or 4 cents per share...read more

Penn National reverses second quarter net loss

Regional casino operator Penn National Gaming, Inc. has five development projects underway in four states and continues to toss its hat in the ring as new markets open.This, despite sluggish gaming revenue results from many Southern and Midwestern states in recent months.The numbers don’t faze the company, which owns M Resort in Henderson.During a Thursday conference call with analysts to discuss Penn’s second quarter earning, CEO Tim Wilmott said the casino operator has a “good handle” on business trends where the number of casino visits and spending habits by customers have declined.Penn National’s answer is to consider expanding and enhancing entertainment and nongaming offerings to entice customers back into its more than two-dozen properties...read more

Attorney: California real-money online poker site legal

When the Iipay Nation of Santa Ysabel announced last week that it was launching an online poker room that would take real-money play from California residents, shockwaves rolled through the online gaming industry.California is online poker’s “whale.” With a population of more than 38.3 million, the state has almost as many people the Netherlands, Belgium and Greece combined...read more

Four tapped for induction to Gaming Hall of Fame

LAS VEGAS -- The casino industry’s first female gaming regulator, a former Las Vegas mayor turned gaming executive, an American Indian gaming pioneer and a late gaming law expert will be inducted into the Gaming Hall of Fame in September.The American Gaming Association (AGA) announced the 2014 inductees Monday.The class includes Patricia Becker, who served on the Nevada State Gaming Control Board in the 1980s, Caesars Entertainment Corporation Executive Vice President Jan Jones Blackhurst, NIGA - National Indian Gaming Association Chairman Ernie Stevens, and longtime gaming attorney Bob Faiss.They will be honored at a ceremony on Sept...read more

Board not wavering on medical pot stance

LAS VEGAS -- A regulatory mandate that Nevada gaming license holders stay away from the state’s neophyte medical marijuana business could be challenged again Thursday at the Nevada Gaming Commission and Control Board.But the outcome is inevitable.The Gaming Control Board’s May 6 industry notice to gaming license holders — saying they must choose between medicinal pot and gambling — won’t be altered.Possession and distribution of marijuana is a felony...read more

Top-10 observations from Poker Night in America

In case you haven't heard, there's a new poker show in town. If you haven't had a chance to tune in to Poker Night in America yet, I highly encourage it.At the beginning of the first episode, host Chris Hanson promised that the show wouldn't be a typical poker show, and in the first eight episodes, the show has made good on that promise...read more

Ashes to ashes: Strip smoking could end

LAS VEGAS -- The idea of a full-scale smoking ban in Nevada casinos seems out of place.The “No Smoking” concept doesn’t fit the Strip’s “do anything” reputation.Of the 23 states with commercial casinos, 18 outlaw smoking in casinos.In Nevada, a voter referendum in 2006 banned smoking in all public places — excluding casino floors.One gaming analyst, however, has warned investors that a Strip smoking ban could become reality in the next 24 months — or sooner.Deutsche Bank gaming analyst Andrew Zarnett, who follows the industry’s high-yield bond markets, said the idea is likelier to happen now that Macau plans to ban smoking on gaming floors in October.What happens in Macau may not stay in Macau.But is a smoking ban in Nevada imminent?Gaming regulators, lawmakers and lobbyists said they haven’t heard any groundswell of support to change the state’s smoking laws.Wynn Resorts Ltd., Las Vegas Sands Corp...read more

Deal Me In: Winning will come at a steep price

Dear Mark: I love your column in the Biloxi Sun Herald. It is the No. 1 reason I get the paper. Keep up the great work. Anyway, I was curious, when you hit a mega-jackpot, are you paid the full amount all at once, or does it come in yearly installments...read more