Featured Articles Archive - Page 315

MGM, Penn prepare for battle over sixth casino in Maryland

Two years ago, anti-gaming forces spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in a failed campaign to stop the Baltimore-based Cordish Cos. from winning voter approval for Maryland Live!, a $500 million slot machine-only casino in suburban Anne Arundel County. The opposition's advertising blitz employed images of organized crime, prostitution and corruption as examples of what happens when gaming moves into a neighborhood. Who provided the bulk of the funding for that anti-casino effort? Regional casino operator Penn National Gaming, Inc. Penn wanted to prevent competition for its Hollywood Casino Charles Town, one of its largest cash cows, just 73 miles away in West Virginia...read more

Louisiana gives Pinnacle tentative OK to open $368 million L'Auberge Baton Rouge

Louisiana gaming regulators approved the August 29 opening of the $368 million L’Auberge Casino Hotel Baton Rouge, pending a final inspection.The project, being built by Las Vegas-based Pinnacle Entertainment, Inc., is taking up a small portion of a 575-acre site in Baton Rouge along the Mississippi River.In Louisiana, gaming — other than at Harrah’s New Orleans — must be conducted over water...read more

Everything you need to or should know about soft blackjack hands

Soft hands at blackjack are those which total 13 or above when an ace is present and tabulated as 11. For instance, A-4 is a soft 15, A-2-5 is a soft 18, and A-9 is a soft 20. Technically, A-A could be viewed as a soft 12 but solid citizens normally treat it as a pair to be split; after a split, if one or both separated aces is topped with another ace, the new pair can be resplit on the increasingly rare occasions when it’s allowed, or the two aces add up to 12 with no further action permitted...read more

Spain eyes Sands' legal issues as project advances

LAS VEGAS -- Reports of various federal government investigations that have been launched against Las Vegas Sands Corp. have made their way to Spain, where the company plans to announce next month where it will build a $22 billion gaming destination. The New York Times reported Thursday that officials in Barcelona want Las Vegas Sands Chairman Sheldon Adelson to appear before the Catalan Parliament in Barcelona to explain his company's legal issues. The company's business dealings in China are reportedly being investigated by the U.S...read more

MGM Resorts has inside track for newly approved sixth Maryland casino

LAS VEGAS -- If Maryland's planned gaming expansion debate were the Olympics, MGM Resorts International has clearly won the gold medal. Lawmakers signed off on a bill late Tuesday night that gives the state a sixth casino. The measure, voted on during a special legislative session, also reduced the percentage of gaming taxes paid by existing casinos and allows the facilities to add table games. Maryland Gov...read more

Affinity Gaming suffers second quarter loss, but sees revenue growth

LAS VEGAS -- Casino operator Affinity Gaming suffered a $1.8 million loss in the second quarter, due primarily to the company debt refinancing. Las Vegas-based Affinity, which operates casinos in Nevada, Iowa and Missouri, said Tuesday the company's net revenues for the quarter that ended June 30 were $116.4 million, a 1.9 percent increase over the previous year. Affinity said it received $2.3 million in lease payments from three casinos the company acquired from Golden Gaming in Black Hawk, Colorado...read more

News report turns heads, but licensed gaming companies are always under investigation

LAS VEGAS -- In reality, Nevada's licensed casino companies are always under investigation. So an international media report Monday that Las Vegas Sands Corp. is being probed by the Nevada Gaming Commission and Control Board over bribe payment allegations in mainland China isn't much of a revelation. Nor is there much new in reports on the allegations, some of which are a decade old. Still, the Reuters news agency turned heads Monday with its report. On Tuesday, Control Board Chairman Mark Lipparelli would not directly comment on Las Vegas Sands, which reportedly is also being investigated by the U.S...read more

Top-10 moments in online poker history

Two weeks ago, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) released a long-awaited announcement that it had come to a $547 million settlement with PokerStars in its Black Friday case that would also result in the world's largest online poker room acquiring the assets of Full Tilt Poker...read more

Top Strip casino operators lay a dud

LAS VEGAS -- Within a span of 16 hours last week, the two casino companies that operate half of all the Strip's resorts told the investment community they had lost a combined $387.2 million during the second quarter. Don't expect to see that statement in the next "Come to Las Vegas" advertising blitz. In reality, the quarterly net losses reported by Caesars Entertainment Inc...read more

Do your chances of winning get better if you keep playing?

Casinos have an edge or advantage over players because bets are structured with offsets between payoffs and odds that must be overcome to win. With $10 on the nine at craps, for instance, solid citizens are paid $14 when the dice show a nine and lose $10 when a seven pops...read more