Featured Articles Archive - Page 346

IGT CEO Hart will not stand for re-election to Yahoo board

International Game Technology Chief Executive Officer Patti Hart said Tuesday she would not stand for re-election to her outside board position with Internet giant Yahoo after her board performance and academic credentials were questioned. Hart, CEO of the slot machine giant since April 2009, headed the search committee that selected new CEO Scott Thompson...read more

World Series of Poker expects record prize pool

World Series of Poker officials expect this summer's Series to award a record prize pool of over $200 million to thousands of players.A good chunk of that prize pool will come as a result of just two events: the $10,000 Main Event, which drew 6,865 players for a prize pool of $64.5 million in 2011, and The Big One for One Drop, a $1 million buy-in event new to the series this year, which will be capped at a maximum of 48 players."I actually believe that we'll hit the cap at this point," said WSOP Executive Director Ty Stewart in a conference call with reporters today...read more

Heard It on the River: Glitz on the Mississippi

Trop Casino is a pretty exotic name for a casino situated on the banks of the Mississippi in Delta country but it’s a name that gets your attention in a landscape where some glitz is a good thing. The name and upgraded facility is the replacement for Lighthouse Casino and Jubilee Casino in Greenville."The new name is a big difference from previously but so is the casino," said Chris Strobbe, the energetic general manager who is getting the casino ready for its grand opening on Friday May 4...read more

Wynn Resorts sees quarterly profits drop

The decision by Wynn Resorts Ltd. to toss former majority shareholder Kazuo Okada out of the company in February sliced into the casino operator's first-quarter profits. But as far as Wynn Resorts Chairman Steve Wynn is concerned, the matter in which the Japanese billionaire's 20 percent stake in the company was redeemed at an almost $800 million discount is closed. Wynn, at the outset of the company's quarterly earnings conference call Monday, wasn't going to address the Okada matter. "There isn't any new news in the Okada legal issues that we need to report," Wynn said. During the question-and-answer session, however, Wynn aimed more pointed remarks at Okada, his one-time business partner who was found unsuitable by the company's board of directors over payments of $110,000 in cash and gifts to Philippine gaming regulators...read more

Sands has hot quarter, but some analysts annoyed after call

Sometimes, there's just no pleasing the investment community. Las Vegas Sands Corp. announced April 25 it had blown apart Wall Street's first-quarter earnings projections. Buoyed by its holdings in Asia, the company became the first casino operator to ever report more than $1 billion in quarterly cash flow while collecting more than $2.76 billion in net revenues. Two weeks earlier, Las Vegas Sands opened the first phase of its $4.4 Sands Cotai Central in Macau...read more

Caesars selling St. Louis property to Penn National

Caesars Entertainment Inc. announced a deal Monday to sell its Harrah's St. Louis Casino & Hotel to regional rival Penn National Gaming, Inc. for $610 million, leading one analyst to speculate if the transaction would kick-off sales of other properties.In separate statements, Las Vegas-based Caesars and Penn National - which owns M Resort - gave differing reasons for the all-cash transaction, which could close later this year.Caesars Entertainment Chairman Gary Loveman said the company is continuing to look at other growth markets...read more

Top-10 things poker players can learn from runners

Over the weekend I ran my second half-marathon, covering the distance in 1:42:54. The race got me thinking about my other hobby – poker – and how the two pursuits share a lot in common.Here are the top-10 things that running has taught me about poker.10...read more

How far has Vegas fallen? $300 million buys you admiration

We've fallen to a new low, it seems. A few years ago, $300 million was the cost of remodeling a lounge in Las Vegas. Pocket change in a city binging on multibillion-dollar resort-hotel-casino projects. Today, $300 million buys you an entire hotel-casino - and the unbridled admiration of the state's most powerful politicians. Gov...read more

Why the slot machine return percentage you pay for isn't what you get

Payouts on slots for various results are emblazoned on the belly glasses or video screens of the machines. However, other than at video poker, the associated probabilities are normally kept under wraps. They’re assigned arbitrarily then stored in the internal computer chips...read more

MGM Resorts sees "imminent" approval for Cotai Strip

MGM Resorts International told investors Thursday that government approval was "imminent" for the company's plans to develop a hotel-casino on Macau's Cotai Strip. The language used by company executives during a quarterly earnings conference call surprised analysts because MGM Resorts officials have normally been somewhat reserved in their thoughts about Cotai...read more