Featured Articles Archive - Page 238

Lawsuit takes aim at Mass. regulator who "personally asked" Wynn to stay in hunt

LAS VEGAS -- Caesars Entertainment Corporation claims Massachusetts’ top gaming regulator personally asked Wynn Resorts, Limited Chairman Steve Wynn to stay in the competition for a Boston-area casino license after the gaming executive expressed his displeasure with the process.However, in a statement late Thursday, Wynn denied that “any member of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission ever initiated contact with me and I have never been discouraged from withdrawing from the licensing process in Massachusetts.”In an amended complaint in a lawsuit Caesars filed last month in federal court against Massachusetts Gaming Commission Chairman Stephen Crosby, the casino operator said the regulator wanted to keep Wynn in the running for the gaming license.Wynn, whose company was competing with a partnership between Caesars and the Suffolk Downs Race Track for the sole casino license, became incensed with questions from gaming commissioners about Macau during a public hearing in October...read more

Analyzing a winning NFL season

Betting on sports is really, really hard. Beating the vig at a sportsbook over a large sample is nearly impossible.Each week on the Casino City Gang podcast, the editorial staff makes picks against the spread for every single NFL game, betting a fictional $10 per game...read more

Gaming revenues rise 22.6 percent on Strip, 11.9 percent statewide

LAS VEGAS -- Analysts expected Strip casinos to rebound following a lackluster October.But not to the extent of a 22.6 percent gaming revenue increase.Thanks to a 94 percent jump in baccarat results and a 53.5 percent hike in overall table game figures, Strip casinos paced Nevada’s second-largest gaming revenue increase of 2013 during November.The Nevada State Gaming Control Board Gaming Commission said Monday casinos statewide collected $875.9 million from gamblers during November, which was 11.9 percent more than the $782.7 million collected in November 2012...read more

Bally Technologies exec, gaming's "most investigated, licensed person," retires

LAS VEGAS -- Mark Lerner admits he didn’t know much about gaming when he moved to Las Vegas in 1980 to begin his legal career.Now, 34 years later, he considers himself “the most investigated and licensed person on planet Earth” by casino regulators worldwide.Lerner, 64, retired Tuesday as general counsel for Bally Technologies, Inc...read more

Spicing up my Featured Game duties

One of my duties as Associate Editor at Casino City is to write weekly reviews of online slot machines, which appear in our Online Casino City Times and Casino City Times newsletters.While it is interesting to see some of the new games online casinos are offering on their sites, playing online slot machines – in "free play" mode, no less – is not exactly my cup of tea.Each week, I play a new slot until I reach the game's bonus round...read more

Top-10 bets to keep your resolution to lose weight

As the New Year approaches, people around the world are making New Year's resolutions, planning to improve themselves in one way or another. Maybe you plan to quit smoking, read more or spend less money. Or maybe you're like me, and millions of other Americans, and plan on losing that weight you've gained over the last 10 years.If you do happen to be like me, it's not a lack of ability to lose weight, it's a lack of motivation and a bevy of excuses...read more

Deal Me In: 6 for 5 blackjack tweaks the casino advantage tenfold

Dear Mark: It truly amazes me how many players I saw this past weekend playing on a single-deck blackjack game that offered 6:5 for a blackjack instead of the customary 3:2. The $10 6:5 games were packed, while the standard 3:2 multi-deck games were half empty...read more

Affinity Gaming says credit card, debit card system hacked

LAS VEGAS -- Two days after national retailer Target said credit and debit card information for about 40 million customers was stolen in a security breach, casino operator Affinity Gaming said Friday it suffered a similar episode.The Las Vegas-based company said its system that processes customers’ credit and debit card transactions was hacked...read more

Inside Gaming: Customer panel praises IGT

Rather than having only IGT - International Game Technology executives tout the company’s products to the investment community, the company put its customers on the hot seat.The move could have backfired. But it didn’t.Several analysts attending IGT’s annual Investor Day presentation in New York City earlier this month said the customer panel — which included a Canadian gaming official, three American Indian casino executives, and an Illinois slot machine route operator — provided a fresh perspective on the slot machine giant’s games, systems and strategies.The panelists didn’t just say nice things about IGT...read more

Deal Me In: What's all the commotion about?

Dear Mark: I love the slot machine Wheel of Fortune. Surprisingly, I even get my fair share of bonus spins. My question is, does it matter when I press the Spin button, or is the outcome already predetermined? Kaye S.No matter what casino you play at, be it in Vegas, Atlantic City, or somewhere in between, you can’t help but hear the notorious “Wheeeeeel of Fortuuuune!” jingle identifying someone playing the bonus round.Okay, sure, I am not one to promote slot play in this column, but loads of players love this machine, so much so that the Wheel of Fortune progressive slot continues to be one of the most popular slot machines of all time...read more