Featured Articles Archive - Page 356

Cleveland casino to open in May

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A project half-owned by Caesars Entertainment Corp. will become Ohio's first casino.The Horseshoe Casino Cleveland was given permission by Ohio gaming regulators to open the week of May 14. Caesars owns the $350 million downtown Cleveland casino with Ohio developer Rock Gaming.The casino, which will have 2,100 slot machines and 65 table games, including a World Series of Poker-themed poker room, will be part of a 300,000-square-foot facility that includes several restaurants.Horseshoe Cleveland will be the first casino to open since a statewide gaming ballot measure was approved in November 2009 allowing four casinos in the state...read more

Deal Me In: Reading your way to riches

Dear Mark: Can you recommend a book or two that outlines the proper strategy on video poker? Peter E.Video poker, Peter, is one of those rare casino games that can be beaten by the knowledgeable player. The game can often have a positive expectation on select machines, and can offer the player the chance to get the best of the casino, but, Peter, you must cherry-pick the right machines and play the proper strategies on them.For the average Joe or Josephine or Peter, who is just a recreational player but wants to become serious about video poker, I recommend four straightforward, and easy-to-grasp books: Victory at Video Poker by Frank Scoblete, and either Precision Play or Optimum Play by Dan Paymar.If you are looking for a rag-to-riches success story from a top video poker professional, go with Million Dollar Video Poker by Bob Dancer...read more

bwin.party reportedly looking to unload poker network

LONDON, England -- Britain-based online poker giant bwin.party, the operators of Party Poker, is reportedly looking to unload a duplicate Internet poker network that it acquired following a recent merger. Roth Capital Markets gaming analyst Todd Eilers told investors recently that Shuffle Master might be a suitable buyer.Eilers said he wouldn't be surprised if Shuffle Master jumps into the bidding for Ongame Poker Network, which is the fifth-largest in Europe according to pokerscout.com.Shuffle Master unveiled a two-pronged effort in the interactive gaming area last year, targeting regulated Internet gaming in Europe, and the free casual-social gaming markets in the United States."We view the interactive gaming opportunity as the most underappreciated aspect of Shuffle's growth story," Eilers wrote after visiting with Shuffle Master executives...read more

Ohio could give Las Vegas gaming company a boost

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- The opportunity to test and certify gaming equipment destined for the up-and-coming Ohio casino market could give a boost to Las Vegas-based laboratory BMM Compliance.The company was certified in January by the Ohio Casino Control Commission, which authorizes BMM to test and evaluate slot machines, electronic table games, gaming-related systems and other ancillary gaming equipment for compliance with the regulations and technical standards set by the Ohio Casino Control Commission.Ohio could soon become quite busy.Four full-scale casino projects are in development in Ohio's four largest cities...read more

CityCenter suffers $45 million loss in fourth quarter

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- MGM Resorts International said Monday that its CityCenter development had a net operating loss of roughly $45 million in the fourth quarter, but saw revenues increase roughly 4 percent.The company, which owns the 67-acre Strip complex in a 50-50 partnership with Dubai World, preannounced quarterly earnings for CityCenter Aria Resort & Casino on Monday when it unveiled plans to refinance $240 million in debt.In a statement, MGM Resorts said it plans to refinance the debt through a private placement and said the funds, along with cash on hand, would be used to pay off $300 million of CityCenter's $2.5 billion debt.Earlier this month, MGM Resorts said it was amending its financing for portions of CityCenter debt to extend maturity dates by a year, to 2015.JP Morgan gaming analyst Joe Greff called the refinancing a "prudent, opportunistic move" given that the credit markets have seemingly loosened in recent months."In our view, this further increases MGM's financial flexibility following previously disclosed actions that, collectively, enhance equity value," Greff told investors.Union Gaming Group principal Bill Lerner said the refinancing should remove some restrictive covenants from CityCenter's debt and provide better financial flexibility to the development's balance sheet.Fitch Rating Service gaming analyst Michael Paladino was also positive on the refinancing, saying the transaction would "allow CityCenter to accumulate an additional cash cushion."MGM Resorts said CityCenter, which includes the 4,000-room Aria hotel-casino, would have net revenues of $269 million during the quarter ended Dec...read more

Top-10 sports bets that should be on your bucket list

Last week, I had the good fortune of watching the New York Giants beat the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl. Sure, it was great on a personal level, as I've been a Giants fan since I was a kid. But it was also great on a financial level, because my good friend and colleague Vin Narayanan had bought me a "New York Giants to win the Super Bowl" futures ticket as a gift during a trip to the The Venetian Resort-Hotel-Casino in Las Vegas in October...read more

Golden Nugget signs agreement with Chiligaming

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- The operator of the Golden Nugget casinos signed an Internet gaming agreement with a European online gambling company and plans to launch a free play website later this year. In a joint statement Friday with Chiligaming, Golden Nugget Chairman Tilman Fertitta said the free play website positions the casino operator to compete in the U.S...read more

New AGA study looks at economic impact of gaming

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Don't view the American Gaming Association's latest national economic impact study as just another "casinos are good for your community" report. The comprehensive analysis is actually Frank Fahrenkopf Jr.'s newest weapon. The report, "Beyond the Casino Floor: Economic Impacts of the Commercial Casino Industry," delved into what gaming means directly to states and cities where casinos exist. But the study also took the economic pulse of markets that don't have casinos. Indirectly, authors of the report found that even towns without a casino can still derive some sort of economic benefit from the gaming industry. "This is the one piece of information we never really had before," said Fahrenkopf, who has overseen the Washington D.C.-based lobbying organization since its inception...read more

Las Vegas transplant leads Seminole property in Florida

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida -- Downtown Las Vegas was the perfect training ground for Phil Madow.Madow's 24 years in Las Vegas, including 18 years in key executive positions with the Four Queens Hotel and Casino downtown, prepared him to oversee the Seminole Indian Tribe's flagship resort.While there are obvious differences between downtown Las Vegas and Florida, lessons learned in lean operations and service have paid off."We certainly have far more capital resources available here," said Madow, 52, who has been president of the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood since 2008...read more

Seminole Tribe on top in Florida

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida -- Sitting in the lounge of NYY Steak in the newly remodeled Seminole Casino Coconut Creek, Tony Sanchez Jr., took a few moments to ponder a question about the nature of the Seminole Indian Tribe's relationship with its home state of Florida.Sanchez, president of the tribe's board of directors, practically grew up in the casino business...read more