Featured Articles Archive - Page 286

$100 million Hakkasan to open at MGM Grand

LAS VEGAS -- One of the Strip’s most expensive nightclub projects will debut next month.Angel Management Group announced the opening schedule Tuesday for the Hakkasan Las Vegas at the MGM Grand Las Vegas.The $100 million construction project removed the location of Studio 54 at the front of the hotel-casino for the development of a five-level restaurant and nightclub, that will offer indoor and outdoor views of the Strip.The construction project expanded the space and redeveloped the front of the MGM Grand, which is owned by MGM Resorts International.The Hakkasan nightclub portion of the facility will open April 18...read more

Station Casinos back on track post-bankruptcy, CFO says

LAS VEGAS -- Mission accomplished.Station Casinos, Inc. Chief Financial Officer Marc Falcone said Tuesday the company accomplished its stated goals for 2012, which included growing revenues 4.4 percent in the casino operator’s first full year following completion of a bankruptcy court-administered reorganization.Falcone cited other accomplishments, including a $2.475 billion refinancing that was completed this month, and reducing the company’s long-term debt balance by $216.6 million.“We believe we are well positioned for 2013 to continue to focus on efficiently operating our core business,” Falcone said of the company, which operates 17 casinos in Southern Nevada and an Indian casino in Michigan.The refinancing, Falcone said, consolidated the company’s operating properties into a “simpler and more efficient organizational structure” under one borrower for the first time since 2007...read more

Proxy fight looms over control of Affinity Gaming

LAS VEGAS -- A potential proxy fight over control of Affinity Gaming involves the company’s two largest shareholders with separate proposals for changing the makeup of the casino operator’s board of directors.Illinois-based private equity firm Z Capital Partners, which controls 30.5 percent of Affinity, said late Thursday that it intends to nominate three candidates for election to the company’s five-person board.Meanwhile, Affinity announced earlier this week that company representatives met with members of Silver Point Capital, a Connecticut-based hedge fund that owns 24.9 percent of the company...read more

SLS, Resorts World projects bring new energy to Strip's north end

LAS VEGAS -- Now comes the easy part.Transforming the Rat Pack-era Sahara into the luxury-boutique SLS Las Vegas may be the smoothest aspect of this process started by Los Angeles-based SBE Entertainment Group, LLC in 2007.The company plans to unveil the 1,620-room SLS Las Vegas in fall 2014.Penta Building Group began the 18-month renovation of the old Sahara building last month...read more

New York hotel developer joins Caesars in Bill's Gamblin' Hall remodeling

LAS VEGAS -- Caesars Entertainment Inc. announced Monday it is partnering with a New York City-based luxury hotel operator in the $185 million redevelopment of the now-closed Bill’s Gamblin’ Hall and Saloon.Gansevoort Hotel Group, which operates boutique hotels in New York City’s Meatpacking District, on Park Avenue and in the Caribbean resort islands of the Turks and Caicos, is joining Caesars in renovating the small casino at the corner of the Strip and Flamingo Road.The property, which is expected to open in early 2014, will be renamed Gansevoort Las Vegas and will have 188 “Parisian apartment-style rooms,” including 19 suites...read more

American Casino reports more losses in fourth quarter

LAS VEGAS -- Stratosphere Casino Hotel and Tower owner American Casino & Entertainment Properties, LLC grew its net loss in the fourth quarter, blaming softness in hotel occupancy and a lower gaming revenues in the Las Vegas locals market.The company, which also owns the two Arizona Charlie’s casinos and the Aquarius Casino Resort in Laughlin, said Monday it lost $8.3 million in fourth quarter that ended Dec...read more

WMS investors will vote on proposed buyout on May 11

Shareholders of slot machine manufacturer WMS Industries Incorporated will vote May 10 whether to accept a $1.5 billion buyout offer from lottery equipment provider Scientific Games.WMS, which is has its corporate headquarters in Waukegan, Ill., said Monday the shareholder meeting will take place at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in Chicago.Scientific Games agreed in January to pay $26 a share for all outstanding shares of WMS and assume $85 million in debt.WMS shareholders and gaming regulators, need to approve the transaction...read more

Gaming's past, seen by someone who lived it

LAS VEGAS -- Bob Miller didn’t think much of the casino concept proposed to his father.The year was 1968. Miller was preparing to attend Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.Miller’s father, casino executive Ross Miller, allowed “a short, portly gentleman” to join the family’s traditional Sunday night dinner at the Riviera’s Hickory Room.Bob Miller considered the man’s casino plans “utterly ridiculous.”“My father, for one of the only times I could remember, solicited my opinion about business,” Miller wrote in his newly released autobiography, “Son of a Gambling Man,” which chronicles his rise to become Nevada’s longest-serving governor.“That’s the stupidest idea I’ve heard in my life,” Bob Miller told his father, which led to the next line in the book: “Bob Miller, gaming visionary.”The rotund gentleman was legendary casino developer Jay Sarno, who built Caesars Palace...read more

Top-10 places to fill out NCAA basketball brackets

It's the most wonderful time of the year for college basketball fans. The NCAA released its men's Division I basketball bracket last night and people across the country and beyond will be filling out their brackets for the next few days, hoping their Cinderella pick makes it to the Sweet Sixteen.If you're looking for a place to fill out a bracket, the options are nearly endless...read more

Why can't craps players take back their Pass and Come bets?

Question: Craps players may take any wagers they want out of action during a hand, except Pass and Come wagers. Why are these restricted?Answer: Bets on Pass and Come are two-stage wagers. The first stage is the "come-out." Bets win on the come-out if the shooter throws a seven or 11 and lose if the shooter throws a two, three, or 12...read more