Featured Articles Archive - Page 391

Drama surrounds veto of New Jersey online gambling bill

Gov. Chris Christie has vetoed legislation that would have made New Jersey the first American state to license and regulate online gambling. The absolute veto came hours after it appeared only a conditional veto would happen. The legislation, which would have given Atlantic City casinos the ability to offer online gambling to New Jersey residents, passed the State Assembly by a 63-11-3 vote and the State Senate by a 35-2 vote in January. In a message to the Legislature explaining his veto, Christie said the online gambling bill violated the New Jersey Constitution. "The State Constitution explicitly requires casino gambling to be restricted to the territorial limits of Atlantic City," Christie wrote...read more

Iowa committee sends Internet poker bill to full Senate

The Iowa State Government Committee voted 9-6 in favor of a measure that would legalize and regulate intrastate Internet poker on Wednesday. The bill now awaits action from the full Senate.The bill's passage in committee came just one day before New Jersey Gov...read more

Sands shares drop after probe is revealed

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- A revelation that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice have opened investigations into Las Vegas Sands Corp. sent shares of the casino operator tumbling more than 6 percent Tuesday. The agencies have asked Las Vegas Sands, which operates casinos in Las Vegas, Pennsylvania, Macau and Singapore, to provide documents relating to its compliance with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Wall Street analysts told investors the specter of the government investigations, whether or not they lead to any legal action, could weigh on the company's stock price and its future international growth potential. "While handicapping the end results of investigations of this sort are nearly impossible, we believe the headline risk will serve as an overhang on shares in the near term until more on the matter is known," Wells Fargo Securities gaming analyst Carlo Santarelli said. The company revealed Tuesday in its annual report filing with the SEC that government regulators filed a request for documents on Feb...read more

Like Aikman, Hellmuth snubbed by Dancing with the Stars execs

The cast for season 12 of "Dancing with the Stars" was revealed last night, and for those in the poker community, Phil Hellmuth's absence was notable, but also quite predictable.Hellmuth made the mistake of tweeting that he might be part of the cast in December...read more

Survivor star debuts table game in Vegas

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Rich Lemon, casino manager of table games at the Golden Nugget, has witnessed dozens of potential gambling concepts fall by the wayside.So when a developer walked into a meeting at the downtown hotel-casino last September "looking like Grizzly Adams wearing a tie-dye T-shirt," Lemon was naturally skeptical.The game creator, Rupert Boneham, is one of the best-known contestants to ever participate on the CBS reality television series "Survivor." Fans know him by his first name, his unkempt hair, his wild beard, his tie-dyed clothes and his oversized personality.Lemon's hesitancy quickly faded."Everybody was really excited about the meeting, but I had no idea who Rupert was," Lemon said...read more

February a mixed bag for gaming stocks

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- February provided a mixed bag of results for the gaming industry. Just four of the 10 publicly traded casino operators and slot machine manufacturers charted by Las Vegas-based financial adviser Applied Analysis saw increases in their average daily stock prices during the month. But the sector as a whole pushed the Applied Analysis Gaming Index to its highest value since the middle of 2008. Investors, said Applied Analysis principal Brian Gordon, have continued to show increased interest in the gaming industry as a whole. "While the latest monthly movement was on par with broader equities markets, including the S&P 500 that rose 3 percent during the same time frame, on an annual basis the gaming sector far outpaced broader equities," Gordon told the firm's clients in a report Monday. The Applied Analysis Gaming Index finished February at 454.16 points, almost 14 points higher than a month ago. Fourth-quarter earnings reports helped some companies while continued interest in Macau boosted the average daily stock prices of Las Vegas Sands Corp...read more

Macau casinos collect $2.5 billion in February

MACAU -- Macau's casino industry in February, helped by the Chinese New Year holiday, collected roughly $2.5 billion in gaming revenues during month. Macau's Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau reported this morning the revenues were a 48 percent increase compared with February 2010. Fe...read more

Construction begins on massive Bahamas casino resort

NASSAU, Bahamas – In an event more than five years in the making, a group of businessmen from around the world and dignitaries from the Bahamas government broke ground last week on the $3.4 billion Baha Mar resort on Cable Beach in the Bahamas.Baha Mar Chairman and CEO Sarkis Izmirlian, a Swiss-born businessman and full-time resident of the Bahamas, gave an emotional speech about the journey he and his team had been on since April 2005."What a long road it has been...read more

Top-10 Baha Mar numbers to know

NASSAU, Bahamas -- The Baha Mar resort is slated for completion in late 2014, and is expected to be a major tourist destination not only in the Caribbean, but in the Western Hemisphere. To borrow a poker term, Baha Mar is going "all-in" with its vision of the development...read more

An interview with Don Robison

NASSAU, Bahamas -- Don Robinson was named President of Baha Mar Resorts in early 2006, and is tasked with making Baha Mar the largest destination resort in the Caribbean. In his five years as Baha Mar president, he has seen the project go through some amazing ups and downs...read more