Featured Articles Archive - Page 221

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

Stratosphere Tower welcomes 40 millionth visitor

LAS VEGAS -- The Stratosphere Casino Hotel and Tower welcomed its 40 millionth visitor Monday and the guest turned out to be a British tourist making his first ever trip to Las Vegas.Just after 10:30 a.m., James Kennedy of Birmingham, England, was greeted by Stratosphere General Manager Paul Hobson at the entrance to the 1,149-foot-tall tower with balloons, an entourage of Stratosphere employees and cameras.Hobson presented Kennedy with a Stay & Play Getaway at the hotel-casino valued at $2,500.The Stratosphere opened in April 1996, providing visitors with a panoramic view from the tallest freestanding observation tower in the country...read more

N.Y. investment fund proposes REIT for Pinnacle casino holdings

LAS VEGAS -- A New York-based investment fund, which owns 4.4 percent of Pinnacle Entertainment, Inc., wants the Las Vegas-based regional gaming operator to spin off its casinos into a real estate investment trust.In filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission Monday, Orange Capital said it believes Pinnacle could be more valuable to shareholders by splitting the company into a trust, referred to as a REIT.“Based upon management’s track record and its past communications with investors, we believe Pinnacle is open to ideas that enhance shareholder value,” Orange Capital managing partner Daniel Lewis said in a letter to Pinnacle CEO Anthony Sanfilippo and the company’s board members.Pinnacle operates 14 casinos in nine states, including two small Northern Nevada properties.Last year, Penn National Gaming, Inc...read more

Convicted slot cheat included in Black Book dies

LAS VEGAS -- Convicted slot machine cheat Roderick Dee had just a five-month stay on Nevada’s Excluded Person List, commonly referred to as the Black Book.Dee, who became the first new member of the list in almost four years when the Nevada State Gaming Commission made him the 34th entry last July, died in December.Earlier this month, the commission granted the control board’s request to remove Dee from the list.Death is the only way a person can be removed from the Black Book, which makes it a felony for that person to enter a Nevada casino.Dee had at least four felony convictions for attempting to use different devices to rig jackpots or change payouts on a slot machine...read more

Top-10 Twitter accounts Phil Ivey followed before mine

Last week, I wrote a top-10 column denouncing the Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa's lawsuit claiming Phil Ivey cheated to win $9.6 million at the baccarat tables. I tweeted out a link to the column, tagging Ivey, and I have to admit I was a bit surprised when he retweeted it...read more

Casino industry wrestles with issues surrounding medical marijuana

LAS VEGAS -- Like much of Nevada, the casino industry is grappling with issues surrounding medical marijuana.So much so that gaming companies and regulators have had little to say publicly about doctor-prescribed pot.Medical marijuana has been legal in Nevada since 2000, but it took state lawmakers 14 years to allow dispensaries to operate...read more

Deal Me In: Luck be a lady tonight

Dear Mark: I am glad that I didn’t purchase a season ski pass for the slopes at Tahoe last fall. I am taking what little I had saved and will try to grind out a kitty for a 14/15 pass. Sometimes a shooter will ask me to blow on the dice and even give me a chip, which automatically goes to a fund for next year’s pass...read more

Golden Gaming taverns in marketing agreement with Hard Rock

LAS VEGAS -- Golden Gaming, Inc.’s PT’s and Sierra Gold taverns are announcing a marketing agreement today with the Hard Rock Hotel where customers of the Southern Nevada locations can use their loyalty points for deals at the off-Strip hotel-casino.The partnership is the first of its kind between a traditional tavern operator — which operates a maximum of 15 slot machines per location — and a hotel-casino property.The 43 taverns are managed by PT’s Entertainment Group, a subsidiary of Golden Gaming.Under the plan, PT’s and Sierra Gold customers can use their loyalty points earned through the Golden Rewards system for different amenities at the Hard Rock, including the Reliquary Water Sanctuary Spa & Salon, Fú Asian Kitchen, 35 Steaks + Martinis, and Culinary Dropout.The arrangement also gives the Hard Rock a new customer base from the Las Vegas locals market.“We feel the program works both ways,” Hard Rock Chief Operating Officer Jody Lake said,“A lot of locals visit our property for shows and other reasons...read more

Merger ushers in leadership shuffle for WMS Industries

LAS VEGAS -- The ink was hardly dry on lottery giant Scientific Games Corporation’s $1.5 billion buyout of slot machine manufacturer WMS Industries Incorporated when the corporate management team was shaken up with a new CEO and chairman in November.Earlier this month, Scientific Games moved WMS’ longtime chief financial officer into the same role with the parent company.An even larger transition could come later this year.The bottom line: All this is good news for WMS, considered the casino industry’s third-largest slot machine producer behind IGT - International Game Technology and Bally Technologies, Inc.Stifel Nicolaus Capital Markets gaming analyst Steven Wieczynski said recently he was “more upbeat on the Scientific Games investment case, a feeling we expect to be shared by the investment community in the weeks and months ahead.”Scientific Games, which provides technology and slot machinelike video lottery terminals used for the operation and management of government-run lotteries, bought WMS as a way to break into the slot machine side of the gaming business.The deal, which closed in October, was expected to yield $600 million in pretax earnings this year.One of the ideas was to blend the WMS slot machine titles into the Scientific Games lottery products.A month after the deal closed, Scientific Games replaced Chairman and CEO Lorne Weil with two people...read more