Featured Articles Archive - Page 223

Top-10 WSOP final tables at the Rio

The 2014 World Series of Poker has already seen its share of impressive final tables (Razz, 2-7, etc.).In the scheme of things, however, this year is no different from any other. With dozens of bracelets to be won, and hundreds of grinders vying for titles, there are bound to be some legendary lineups each and every year.With the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino celebrating its 10th year hosting the WSOP, it seemed like a good time to rank the top-10 final tables held at the Rio...read more

Gambling and the Law: Culture clash

It is not easy to do business in Asia. Or in the U.S.This is especially true of heavily regulated businesses, like legal gaming. And the problems are compounded when an individual who is a product of one culture wants to expand into a foreign market.Sometimes, the barriers are structural...read more

Penn National sees trouble on the horizon

CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. -- The nearly empty poker room tells the story.Penn National Gaming’s Hollywood Casino - Charles Town Races is feeling the brunt of neighboring Maryland’s gaming expansion, even though the state’s two newest casinos have yet to open.In summer 2013, the two-year-old Maryland Live!, attached to a 250-store outlet mall in suburban Anne Arundel County, added a 52-table poker room...read more

Maryland looks to cash in on casino expansion

OXON HILL, Md. -- A few blocks up the road from a new 85-store outlet mall and across the street from the historical Oxon Hill Manor is Thomas Addison Elementary School.The building has seen better days.Plywood and graffiti cover the shattered windows of the school, which has sat unused for more than a decade...read more

At Maryland's National Harbor, MGM Resorts wants to fit in — and stand out

OXON HILL, Md. -- It was an easy sale for Jon Peterson to convince tenants of National Harbor that a $925 million hotel, casino and entertainment complex would be good for the 6-year-old multiuse development.All he needed was the development plan provided by MGM Resorts International, he said.“What MGM is bringing is not only complementary to what is already here, but it will create a destination attraction that will benefit all of our tenants,” said Peterson, whose family-owned Peterson Cos...read more

For Maryland Live! first in market means best in show

HANOVER, Md. -- On a Monday evening in mid-May, Maryland Live! Casino resembled the Strip on a busy weekend.The stand-alone casino’s banks of 4,300 slot machines were packed with customers. Not all of the 177 table games were in use, but those in service were filled...read more

Baltimore has high hopes for new Caesars casino

BALTIMORE -- If General Manager Chad Barnhill needs a case study to follow when the $442 million Horseshoe Casino Baltimore opens this summer, he can look a few states to the west.In the past two years, Caesars Entertainment Corp., in partnership with Detroit-based Rock Gaming, opened the Horseshoe Casino Cleveland and the Horseshoe Casino Cincinnati.The companies are bringing that same urban gaming concept to Maryland with a 122,000-square-foot free-standing casino.Like its counterparts in Ohio, the Horseshoe Baltimore won’t have a hotel and is seen as a tool for revitalizing a postindustrial inner city.In 2012, Baltimore-based Under Armour, a sports equipment manufacturer, moved its corporate headquarters to a south Baltimore location that was once a Procter &Gamble soap manufacturing plant.Caesars will follow suit in the building repurposing: The Horseshoe site was once a chemical factory.“It restores an old area and brings in another attraction that adds to the destination,” said Dominick Murray, secretary of Maryland’s Business and Economic Development Department.Caesars expects to benefit from the old factory area’s proximity to the city’s sports stadiums and other attractions, such as the Inner Harbor.For Barnhill, a 20-year Caesars veteran, the operating model is mindful of the company’s Harrah’s New Orleans at the edge of the French Quarter, or the Horseshoe Hammond, about 18 miles from Chicago.“Much like we did in New Orleans, we have opportunity to capture everything this great city has to offer,” Barnhill said...read more

Caesars fires back after bondholders file notice of default

Caesars Entertainment Corp. struck back Friday against a group of 13 bondholders that filed a notice of default against the casino giant, calling the claims “baseless” and vowing to defend itself.The company, which controls 10 Strip resorts and carries a gaming industry-high $23 billion in long-term debt, revealed the default notice in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.Caesars said the investment group oversees at least 30 percent of $3.7 billion in second lien 10 percent bonds due in 2018.The collection of companies, which according to Bloomberg News includes Oaktree Capital and Appaloosa Management, have objected to various moves Caesars undertook in the past year to alleviate its debt...read more

Deal Me In: This rule offers a distinct advantage to the player

Dear Mark: Another player on blackjack game roundly chastised me because I “doubled for less.” It was a $20 bet, and I only put out $10. You would have thought I was responsible for all the bad luck he was having. What are your thoughts on doubling for less? Gary P.For starters, Gary, it’s your money on the layout, so you ought to be able to play your hand, and bet, any way you choose...read more

Widely respected gaming attorney Bob Faiss dies at 79

The word “retirement” never entered the vocabulary of gaming attorney Bob Faiss.A few years back, however, he told his wife, Linda, that maybe he would take two weeks away from the offices of Lionel Sawyer &Collins just to explore what the concept of being retired was like.“I said, ‘Honey, that’s what people call a vacation,’?” Linda Faiss said Thursday...read more