Featured Articles Archive - Page 405

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

Casinos rename their corporations for many reasons

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- In the corporate world, companies that change their names are usually trying to fool consumers and investors into forgetting past misdeeds. Tarnished accounting firm Arthur Andersen became Accenture. Scandalized telephone carrier WorldCom is now MCI. The public wasn't duped. "The most common reason for a brand identity change is to get over a bad chapter in their corporate history and erase the past," Los Angeles-based national branding expert Rob Frankel said...read more

Would you pay $0.25 per round up-front to play $2 blackjack?

Resorts Casino in Atlantic City presently has two blackjack tables with minimum bets of $2. Ordinarily, assuming solid citizens who'd elect to play at this level are unsophisticated and the rules suboptimal, the house might get 1 percent edge on the action...read more

Iowa legislature pursuing intrastate online poker

The Iowa Senate is on the verge of considering legislation that would license and regulate intrastate online poker, according to a report in today's Des Moines Register.According to the story, the draft bill would "allow state-regulated casinos to allow Iowans ages 21 and older to play online poker on their personal computers."The bill is sponsored by Sen...read more

Moody's says Strip recovery won't begin until 2012

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- It will take at least a year for the new supply of Las Vegas hotel rooms to be absorbed into the market, a new report Thursday from Moody's Investors Service said. In the report to investors and backers of the debt covering much of the Strip's major gaming operators, Moody's Senior Credit Officer Peggy Holloway said an upturn toward profitability won't begin until 2012. Las Vegas has roughly 150,000 hotel rooms, including 6,000 rooms added when CityCenter opened in December 2009 and another 2,000 added by last December's opening of The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. No other hotel-casino openings or expansions are on the horizon, which is a good thing, according to Holloway. "The Las Vegas casinos have a high mountain to climb to grow earnings to anywhere near their previous peaks, as citywide hotel room rates remain below 2005 levels," Holloway said...read more

Galaxy Gaming acquires TableMAX Gaming

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Las Vegas-based table game provider Galaxy Gaming announced Thursday it has essentially acquired a rival company.In a statement, Galaxy said it entered an agreement with TableMAX Gaming to secure the rights to sell electronic versions of table games Caribbean Stud, Caribbean Draw, Progressive Blackjack, Texas Hold 'em Bonus and Blackjack Bullets.No money was exchanged in the deal.The transaction moves Galaxy into the electronic table game business...read more