Featured Articles Archive - Page 300

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

Kerkorian may increase ownership stake in MGM Resorts

LAS VEGAS -- He’s back.Less than two years after saying it was exploring the sale of its stake in MGM Resorts International, the private investment arm of billionaire Kirk Kerkorian said in a regulatory filing Thursday it might reverse course.Los Angeles-based Tracinda Corp., which is the largest shareholder of the Strip casino giant with an 18.6 percent ownership stake, said in a 13-D filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it might increase its ownership to 25 percent.The announcement comes a little more than a year after Tracinda sold 20 million shares of MGM Resorts for $268 million.A year earlier, Kerkorian said Tracinda might divest itself of its entire MGM Resorts stake.Tracinda owns almost 91.2 million shares in the company that operates 10 Strip resorts — including the MGM Grand, Bellagio and The Mirage — and has a half-interest ownership in the CityCenter development.The company also is the majority owner of the MGM Grand Macau and is building a second hotel-casino in the Cotai Strip region.On Thursday, Tracinda said in the filing it might explore purchases of MGM Resorts shares either on the open market or directly from third parties.Tracinda said it would purchase the stock during “trading windows” established by MGM Resorts.The next such window is expected to open on the third day after the issuance of the company’s first quarter earnings, which wouldn’t take place until sometime in April at the earliest.“No decision has been made as to the number of shares which may be acquired,” Tracinda said in the filing.Kerkorian, 95, is the founder of MGM Grand Corp., the company that preceded MGM Resorts...read more

Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas begins player-sharing program with Hard Rock Biloxi

The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas and the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Biloxi in Mississippi have agreed on a player-sharing program in which top customers at each casino can visit the other property.According to the Sun Herald in Biloxi, Gulf Coast players can earn trips to the Las Vegas Strip while Cosmopolitan players can try their luck in southern Mississippi.Hard Rock Senior Vice President of Marketing Vince Lentini told the newspaper Gulf Coast customers have taken golf trips to Las Vegas and stayed at The Cosmopolitan.Players at both casinos can earn concert tickets, food credits and airfare based on their gambling...read more