Featured Articles Archive - Page 220

Keven Stammen wins WPT World Championship

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Keven Stammen only briefly relinquished his day-long chip lead en route to winning the World Poker Tour (WPT) Season XII World Championship at the Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa on Saturday night.Stammen bested a field of 328 players in the $15,400 buy-in, six-day event to take home the title and the $1.35 million first-place prize."I feel like a million bucks!" Stammen exclaimed on the WPT stage following the win.The Celina, Ohio native entered heads-up play with a nearly 2-to-1 chip lead against runner-up Byron Kaverman, who won $727,860 for second place.Stammen and Kaverman battled heads-up for roughly 90 minutes before the final hand saw Kaverman shoving all-in from the button with 4s4d and Stammen calling with Ac8s...read more

Deal Me In: Chasing champagne wishes and caviar dreams

Dear Mark: My wife plays slots only one way. She chases a high-end jackpot. If that does not happen - which it has not in over 20 years since she last won $20,000 - she always ends up going home broke. Any chance you can write a column on her playing style...read more

Genting submits bid for upstate New York casino license

Malaysia-based Genting, which is planning to build the $4 billion Resorts World Las Vegas, submitted a bid Wednesday for an upstate New York casino license.Through the company’s Americas division, Genting said it paid the $1 million application fee to the New York State Gaming Commission as part of an application for one of four casino licenses for the Hudson Valley and Catskill regions.The company does not yet have a site selected, but is in talks with potential land owners, local town officials and countywide leaders about site possibilities...read more

Penn National Gaming again views expansion on Strip

LAS VEGAS -- Penn National Gaming, Inc., which owns M Resort, is again looking at the Strip for possible expansion opportunities.During a conference call Thursday with analysts to discuss the casino operator’s first quarter earnings, Penn National CEO Tim Wilmott was asked about reports that Australian casino company Crown International was interested in buying the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas for $2 billion.Wilmott said he thought the figure “sounded high.”If Penn were to get into the bidding for the Strip resort, which owner Deutsche Bank reportedly wants to sell, it would probably be with a partner...read more

Driven by Macau, Las Vegas Sands Corp. earnings rise 36 percent

LAS VEGAS -- Las Vegas Sands Corp. grew profits 36 percent in the first quarter, driven by the success of the company’s casino holdings in Macau.And, in response to a conference call question from an analyst, Chairman Sheldon Adelson said there is no reason to believe the market — China’s only legal gambling jurisdiction — will slow down any time soon.Investors have worried over the past few months that visitation to Macau might diminish over Chinese economic concerns...read more

IGT earnings tumble 66 percent

LAS VEGAS -- Slot machine manufacturer IGT - International Game Technology said Tuesday it experienced a 66 percent decline in earnings during the second quarter.The company, considered the world’s largest maker of gaming equipment, said its net income in the quarter that ended March 31 fell to $25.7 million, compared with $78.2 million in the same three-month period a year ago.The figures translated in earnings of 10 cents per share, compared with 29 cents per share in the 2013 second quarter.IGT, which has corporate headquarters in both Las Vegas and Reno, said its net revenue of $512.8 million in the quarter was a 15 percent decrease compared with a year ago.At the end of March, IGT told investors it was laying off 7 percent of its global workforce — roughly 350 to 375 positions...read more

Caesars to bid on one of four New York gaming licenses

LAS VEGAS -- Caesars Entertainment Corporation will bid on one of four gaming licenses available in New York with the hopes of building a $750 million hotel-casino complex 50 miles north of Midtown Manhattan.Caesars Senior Vice President Jan Jones Blackhurst confirmed Tuesday the casino giant submitted a $1 million application fee that is due by today.The development is planned for a 120-acre parcel in Orange County, N.Y., one of the destinations designated by Gov...read more

Return on investment for Internet gaming operations in three states no windfall

Apparently, the only folks making money from the United States’ fledgling Internet gaming market are lobbyists.That won’t change anytime soon. Bills for and against Internet gaming continue to surface in statehouses and Congress, which means more billable hours for the lobbying sector.So far, the return on investment for casino operators who have launched Internet gaming in three states hasn’t been the billion-dollar windfall some predicted.Deutsche Bank gaming analyst Andrew Zarnett, in a presentation to the Annual Forum on U.S...read more

SLS Las Vegas has begun hiring to fill 2,700 jobs

LAS VEGAS -- The $415 million SLS Las Vegas Hotel Casino has begun hiring to fill 2,700 jobs at the 1,600-room Strip resort that is expected to open Labor Day Weekend.Operated by Los Angeles-based SBE Entertainment Group, LLC, the employment process is the second phase for SLS, which recently hired managers and department directors...read more

Report: Billionaire Packer plans to make offer for Cosmopolitan

LAS VEGAS -- A spokeswoman for Deutsche Bank in New York wouldn’t discuss an Australian press report Monday that The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas could be sold to a company controlled by billionaire James Packer.Germany’s largest bank, which opened the 3,000-room Cosmopolitan in December 2010 after it foreclosed on the project’s original developer, is reportedly seeking a buyer for the resort...read more