Featured Articles Archive - Page 343

Caesars CFO leaving post to join NV Energy

Caesars Entertainment Inc. Chief Financial Officer Jonathan Halkyard is leaving the company to join local power utility NV Energy. Caesars and NV Energy made separate statements Wednesday announcing Halkyard's job change. In a statement, Caesars said Halkyard was leaving to "pursue an opportunity outside of the gaming industry." The casino operator didn't identify Halkyard's new position. Moments later, NV Energy said in a statement that Halkyard would join the utility as chief financial officer and executive vice president. Halkyard replaces Dilek Samil, who was promoted from NV Energy's senior vice president, treasurer and chief financial officer to executive vice president and chief operating officer. "We have transformed NV Energy over the last decade and we are reshaping our organization to match the direction we're taking in coming years," said Michael Yackira, NV Energy's president and CEO. "Dilek's leadership within the company and her prior experience in operations made her a great fit for this new position...read more

Ohio judge's ruling opens door for 17,500 VLT games

Nevada's slot machine manufacturing industry received some good news from a courtroom some 2,100 miles to the east. An Ohio judge Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit blocking the state's racetracks from operating slot machinelike video lottery terminals...read more

Ado over IGT chief's resume brings shrug from analysts

The dust-up over International Game Technology CEO Patti Hart's resume discrepancy lasted all of a 24-hour news cycle. The financial community's confidence in the slot machine manufacturing giant wasn't shaken. With sales of newer slot machines to replace older games showing a bit of an upswing and international business continuing to flourish, Wall Street had little concern that Hart's resume showed she graduated from Illinois State University with a degree in marketing and economics, rather than a degree in business administration with an emphasis in marketing and economics. Other than the financial website message board junkies, the analyst community let out a collective "who cares?" Stifel Nicolaus Capital Markets gaming analyst Steven Wieczynski told investors recently that he was impressed with the company's direction. "Several encouraging trends support our favorable long-term view on IGT shares," Wieczynski said. Following a series of meetings with new company Chief Financial Officer John Vandemore, whose background had been criticized as being long on Disney theme park familiarity but lacking in gaming experience, Wieczynski told investors the new executive would help position IGT to outperform its counterparts in the manufacturing sector. "His diverse financial background, outside of gaming, could help IGT take a fresh look at their financial analysis platform, which has been recently criticized by some investors," Wieczynski said. Much could have been lost following revelations earlier this month that Hart's resume was in error. Hart, 54, had been an outside director at Internet giant Yahoo...read more

Nevada's richest list includes many with casino ties

In the age of the "Occupy Wall Street" movement amidst reverberating cries of the "99 percent versus the 1 percent," one has to wonder whether inclusion on the annual Forbes 400 list of the Richest People in America is actually a good thing. At a time when the superwealthy are under a microscope, the Forbes 400 list, which yearly chronicles the ups and downs of America's billionaires, might bring some unwanted attention. Two University of Nevada Las Vegas sociology professors, however, said Americans are enamored with the wealthy, which often outweighs jealousy. The U.S...read more

Has gaming reached a saturation point? An oddly self-serving cry of "Enough"

It's not shocking when anti-gaming zealots or those opposed to gambling for moral reasons argue that America has too many casinos. Imagine the surprise, however, when the developer of Maryland's largest casino suggests the U.S. has reached a saturation point. The statement seemed a bit self-serving. During the East Coast Gaming Congress in Atlantic City last week, Cordish Company Chairman David Cordish suggested casino expansion needs a respite...read more

Gaming companies place bets on social gaming sites

Strip casino giant MGM Resorts International isn't planning to open more multibillion-dollar integrated casino-resort complexes anytime soon. Instead, MGM Resorts will in June launch myVegas, a free-to-play social gaming casino where only virtual money is bet to win only virtual prizes. Think of Farmville meets Bellagio. MGM Resorts Chairman Jim Murren told an audience at the Southern Gaming Summit earlier this month in Biloxi, Miss., that a convergence of casino gaming and social media will be "the next big thing in our industry." He's not a voice in the virtual wilderness. Caesars Entertainment Inc...read more

Casino companies, slot makers not the only gambling businesses launching free-play casinos

Casino companies MGM Resorts and Caesars Entertainment Corp. and slot machine giant International Game Technology are investing in a growing number of free-for-play casinos, as detailed in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Some of the new free-play casinos are not connected with any land-based casino or a Nevada gaming licensee. RocketFrog was developed by a team headed by Los Angeles-based Brett Calapp, who co-founded Centaurus Games, a subscription-based gaming network that was sold to PartyGaming in 2010...read more

Slot makers IGT and Bally win contracts to provide games to Canadian lotteries

Canadian lotteries are providing Nevada’s slot machine industry with some much-needed sales opportunities. International Game Technology signed a deal recently with Loto-Québec to supply its online gaming site, Espace Jeux, with interactive versions of the slot machine maker’s top-performing games. During the first phase, IGT will provide Loto-Québec access to Cleopatra, Wheel of Fortune – Hollywood Edition, Monopoly with Pass Go Bonus and Clue...read more

World Series of Poker returns with 61 bracelet events

by Howard Stutz LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- If the World Series of Poker holds true to form, the final table of this year's Main Event will include nine unknown players resembling a cross-section of the United Nations. That's pretty much how the tournament has played out in the three of the past four years...read more

Top-10 tips for newcomers to the WSOP

The 43rd World Series of Poker began on Sunday with the $500 Casino Employees No-Limit Hold'em Event. This year's series is sure to bring plenty of new players to Las Vegas for the first time.While I've never played in a WSOP bracelet event, this year will mark the fifth that I will have spent time in Sin City to write about the Series...read more