Featured Articles Archive - Page 304

Survey: Top gaming companies have distinctive Asian ties

LAS VEGAS -- A recent ranking of the top 20 gaming companies based on market capitalization had one distinctive flavor.The top 10 companies have either a direct investment or control of Asian gaming assets.Global Betting & Gaming Consultants - GBGC, which is based in the United Kingdom, ranked the worldwide companies according to U.S...read more

Top-10 events at the 2013 World Series of Poker

The 2013 World Series of Poker schedule was released last week, and poker players and fans around the globe immediately started drooling at the prospect of playing in the 62 events that make up this year's slate.The news got me so excited I went right to YouTube and put SrslySirius' "WSOP Song – I Can't Wait to Go!" on repeat...read more

World Series of Poker ensures the Ladies Only championship includes just women players

Among the planned 62 bracelet events scheduled for the 2013 World Series of Poker is the Ladies Only No-Limit Hold’em Championship.This year, tournament officials have taken steps to ensure the event on June 28 really is a women-only tournament.In the past, several men have entered the women’s event, paying the $1,000 entry fee and citing gender equality, since women are allowed to enter every other World Series of Poker bracelet events.This year, however, there is a twist.The tournament has a $10,000 buy-in – for men...read more

Professor was valued, respected in gaming industry

Bill Eadington never built a billion-dollar Strip resort. He never managed a riverboat casino or a gambling hall of any size. Eadington never created a new table game. He never developed an innovative slot machine.Yet, the influence Eadington carried inside and outside gaming circles during his 44-year academic career as an economics professor at the University of Nevada, Reno, went beyond measure...read more

Link not disclosed in IGT deal

A Silicon Valley-based investment bank where the husband of International Game Technology CEO Patti Hart is a top executive oversaw the slot machine maker's purchase of a small social gaming technology company last year.Under the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's Regulation Fair Disclosure, commonly called Reg FD in the investment community, public companies are required to disclose material information to all investors at the same time.Yet IGT did not disclose the $10 million purchase of San Francisco-based BringIt Inc., when the deal was completed in February 2012...read more

How do you identify the slots that are scheduled for big payoffs?

Question: I've heard two conflicting theories about finding slots scheduled for big payoffs. The first is a machine that's been cold and holding back is getting full and due for a big hit. The second is a machine that's been hot and paying is in a winning cycle and building up to a big jackpot...read more

Regional casino operator Pinnacle suffers fourth-quarter net loss

LAS VEGAS -- Several one-time charges and costs associated with the opening of a hotel-casino in Baton Rouge, La., caused regional gaming operator Pinnacle Entertainment, Inc. to suffer a net loss in the fourth quarter.The Las Vegas-based company said Wednesday its net loss in the quarter that ended Dec...read more

SBE Entertainment secures last of $415 million in financing for Sahara

LAS VEGAS -- Nearly two years after closing, the Sahara is finally getting its long-awaited face-lift.Los Angeles-based SBE Entertainment Group, LLC has secured the last piece of the $415 million in financing needed to transform the Strip resort into the SLS Las Vegas.Groundbreaking - for work such as interior construction and exterior design - is scheduled to begin today...read more

Infinity World chief joining MGM Resorts company board

LAS VEGAS -- The president of MGM Resorts International's partner in CityCenter has been elected to serve on the casino company's board of directors.In a statement Tuesday, MGM Resorts officials said William Grounds, director and president of Infinity World Development Corp., will join the company's board.Infinity World is an affiliate of Dubai World, the investment arm of the Persian Gulf Emirate, which owns approximately 5.3 percent MGM Resorts' outstanding stock...read more

MGM Resorts seeks return to Atlantic City gaming market

LAS VEGAS -- MGM Resorts International, which gave up its ties to Atlantic City's casino market nearly three years ago to settle a dispute with New Jersey gaming regulators, is seeking to regain a piece of the action.The Las Vegas casino giant, which still owns 50 percent of Atlantic City's market-leading Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa, petitioned the New Jersey Casino Control Commission on Monday to reinstate the company's gaming license in Atlantic City.In a statement, MGM Resorts officials said the company "would welcome the opportunity to once again be an active, contributing member of the New Jersey gaming marketplace."MGM Resorts placed its Borgata ownership in trust in 2010 following settlement of a complaint filed by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement.The agency said MGM Resorts' joint-venture partner in Macau, Hong Kong businesswoman Pansy Ho, was unsuitable because international law enforcement alleged casinos controlled by her father, billionaire Stanley Ho, were influenced by Chinese organized-crime triads.Casino Control Commission Chairman Matthew Levinson said in a statement Monday that the panel will review MGM Resorts' request at a meeting Wednesday."If the amendment is approved, MGM indicated it will promptly file for a statement of compliance," Levinson said.MGM Resorts has been unable to find a buyer for its Borgata stake...read more