Featured Articles Archive - Page 329

Former WSOP champion Greg Raymer wins Heartland Poker Tour's 200th event

Former World Series of Poker champion Greg Raymer captured the Heartland Poker Tour’s 200th nationally televised event over the weekend. The first place prize of $71,875 earned from the tournament at the Route 66 Casino Hotel in Albuquerque, N.M., was much smaller than the $5 million Raymer collected in 2004 when he won the World Series of Poker’s Main Event at Binion’s Horseshoe. Raymer has often played on the Heartland Poker Tour, which was recently acquired by casino operator Pinnacle Entertainment...read more

Michael Jackson comes to the rescue of slot makers

We've heard this one before. The slot machine industry has been anticipating a comeback since the recession depressed new-game sales. Casino operators shunned new and more expensive technology and remained loyal to older machines in order to avoid spending money on updating gambling equipment. That attitude is changing, according to a survey by Fantini Research and Roth Capital Partners. Through new casino openings this year -- primarily in Ohio -- slot machine sales and game leases have increased...read more

Investors can't wait to gamble on Florida

Maybe February was just a speed trap on Alligator Alley or a jack-knifed trailer on the Turnpike. Florida's gambling proponents are not going to be deterred by a temporary slowdown and continue to push casino expansion in the southern part of the state, a market some analysts predict could exceed the Strip's annual $6 billion in gaming revenues. South Florida provides the gaming industry another access into an affluent Latin American customer base, a market that is way too lucrative to give up on...read more

Maryland governor backs plan for casino

Maryland's governor said Friday that expanded gaming in the state - including a Las Vegas-style hotel-casino development roughly 10 miles from the nation's capital operated by MGM Resorts International - could be worth more than $100 million annually in tax revenue for the state's school system. In calling for a special session of the General Assembly to start Aug...read more

Investors drub shares of Las Vegas Sands

Shares of Las Vegas Sands Corp. took a beating Thursday, a day after the company missed second-quarter earnings projections by 27 percent. The stock price decline wasn't a surprise, especially to Wall Street. The company's properties in Macau grew revenues 22.3 percent, but suffered a 40 percent decline in profits...read more

Caesars fined $100,000 for under-21 gambling

Caesars Entertainment Inc. is paying the state a $100,000 fine to settle underage gambling charges, but may face a stiffer penalty if it happens again. "This is not an isolated incident, but a pattern of abuse," Nevada Gaming Commissioner Randolph Townsend said Thursday as the regulatory panel voted to accept the settlement with Caesars over multiple charges of gambling and alcohol consumption by underage customers at several of the company's Strip resorts between 2010 and May of this year. Townsend, whose comments were echoed by fellow commissioners John Moran Jr...read more

Pinnacle reverses second-quarter loss, will open Louisiana casino in August

Regional casino operator Pinnacle Entertainment, Inc. reversed its second-quarter net loss from a year ago while increasing revenues 3.1 percent.The Las Vegas-based company also said it was pushing the planned opening of its fourth casino in Louisiana to the end of August.Pinnacle said Wednesday its overall revenues in the quarter that ended June 30 were $298.3 million, mainly due to the company's flagship L'Auberge du Lac resort in Lake Charles, La., and its two St...read more

Shuffle up and deal: Online poker in Nevada may only be months away

Gamblers could be playing Internet poker in Nevada even before the Legislature has a chance to act on several Gaming Policy Committee recommendations to tweak current state regulations covering interactive gambling.Gov. Brian Sandoval, following the committee's final meeting Wednesday before the Legislature convenes in February, said he's comfortable state gaming regulators are taking appropriate steps to license reputable casino operators and technology providers while protecting players' interests.Nevada gaming regulators licensed slot machine makers Bally Technologies and International Game Technology in June to provide interactive gaming products to casino operators...read more

Las Vegas Sands earnings miss expectations, but revenue rises

Las Vegas Sands Corp. didn't dance around bad news over the company's second-quarter earnings. "Our quarterly results did not meet my expectations," company Chairman Sheldon Adelson said Wednesday. The casino operator blamed lower hold on table games play, higher provisions for accounts receivable at the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, and unspecified elevated legal expenses for a 34.6 percent decline in net income and a 35.6 percent decrease in earnings per share for the three-month period ended June 30. Still, Las Vegas Sands, which operates casinos on the Strip, and in Macau, Singapore and Pennsylvania, had net revenues of $2.58 billion in the quarter, an increase of 10.1 percent compared with $2.35 billion in the second quarter of 2011. "Our financial results reflected solid revenue growth overall and significant cash flow in both Macau and Singapore, as well as the continued steady execution of our Cotai Strip development plan in Macau," Adelson said. The company's net income for the quarter was $240.6 million, compared with $367.6 million in the second quarter of 2011...read more

Regional gaming slowdown reduces Penn National's second-quarter results

Slowing gaming trends in several U.S. regional markets diminished second-quarter earnings for Penn National Gaming, Inc. The company, which owns the M Resort, said Tuesday its net income for the quarter that ended June 30 was $66.7 million, down 12 percent from $76 million in the same quarter a year ago...read more