Featured Articles Archive - Page 420

Eastgate to auction off bracelet on eBay

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Peter Eastgate, the 2008 World Series of Poker champion, has placed his gold and diamond champions bracelet for sale on eBay. Eastgate, who earned $9.15 million by topping a field 6,843 players, said in the listing all proceeds from the sale would be donated to the U.S...read more

G2E deals already made in Vegas

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- The trade show hasn't started but the deals are already being made. During a Sunday meeting with analysts before this week's Global Gaming Expo, Bally Technologies announced it had won contracts to provide equipment that operates two Canadian province lotteries. But analysts are hoping Bally's deal, which could be worth $100 million annually to the Las Vegas-based company, could jump-start interest in gambling equipment among buyers attending this year's G2E, the industry's largest annual trade show and conference. Major slot machine manufacturers typically use G2E, which is at the Las Vegas Convention Center but is closed to the general public, to unveil new gaming advancements for the coming year. Gambling equipment sales have sagged for several years because of the recession and moves by casino operators to slice budgets for purchases. "Operators, in general, remain hesitant to spend on their slot floors due to continued soft customer visitation and play levels, and lack of spending by major competitors," Stifel Nicolaus Capital Markets gaming analyst Steven Wieczynski said. Analysts also met with representatives of slot machine giant International Game Technology over the weekend and received a preview of the trade show. "IGT management provided very bullish comments during its presentation," JP Morgan gaming analyst Joe Greff told investors, adding that company Chief Executive Officer Patti Hart said 2010 "is IGT's best product introduction ever, bar none." Greff called Hart's remarks, "A pretty big statement." Credit Suisse gaming analyst Joel Simkins said executives from IGT and Bally were hopeful that casino companies would see the need to purchase gaming equipment and update their casino floors. "Both management teams were cautiously optimistic about operator capital budgets starting to improve heading into 2011," Simkins said...read more

How do the gurus get video poker expert strategy and should you follow it?

Pretend you're playing jacks-or-better video poker and get 10H-9H-7H-6S-2H as a starting hand. Do you dump the deuce and go for the inside straight, or toss the six and hope to make a flush? Most solid citizens would opt intuitively for the flush, mainly because it pays more than a straight...read more

Top-10 predictions for November Niners

It's been a week since Jonathan Duhamel won the 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event to claim the $8.9 million first-place prize. We learned a lot about the young French-Canadian poker pro during the tournament, but we also learned a lot about the other eight players in the November Nine...read more

Bally Technologies wins two Canadian contracts

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Bally Technologies has been awarded contracts for equipment covering two Canadian province lotteries, which analysts believe will be worth about $100 million annually to the Las Vegas-based slot machine provider. Bally announced the award Sunday during meeting with analysts ...read more

Duhamel relishes newfound celebrity in Canada

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Hours after winning the World Series of Poker's Main Event, Jonathan Duhamel was more popular in Canada than hockey superstar Wayne Gretzky.Newspaper headlines north of the border -- including his hometown Montreal Gazette, Vancouver Sun, and Toronto Star -- proclaimed Duhamel, 23, the country's and the game's newest celebrity.His victory Monday night in the $10,000 buy-in No-limit Hold 'em World Championship was worth $8.9 million...read more

The other shoe drops: Full Tilt bans Washington residents

Internet poker players in the state of Washington were dealt another blow Friday when Full Tilt Poker announced players from the state will no longer be able to play real-money games on the site.Seven weeks ago, the state's Supreme Court ruled that a state law making Internet gambling a Class C felony was constitutional...read more

Kerkorian sells off shares in MGM Resorts

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Los Angeles-based billionaire Kirk Kerkorian now owns just 27 percent of MGM Resorts International, the company he founded, but remains the casino operator's largest shareholder. Kerkorian, 93, sold 10.3 million shares of MGM Resorts through Tracinda Corp., his privately hel...read more

IGT reverses loss, but sees revenues slide

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Slot machine giant International Game Technology reversed a fourth-quarter net loss from a year ago, but diminished sales because of casinos' continued disinterest in new purchases caused quarterly revenues to slide 3 percent. The Reno-based company, which controls about 60 percent of the North American slot machine market, said Tuesday its net income was $19.9 million during the quarter that ended Sept...read more

Nevada gaming revenues jump once again

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Two months certainly do not make a trend. But analysts expressed cautious optimism that a pattern was taking hold after state gaming revenues showed a modest increase in September, the first time since the fall of 2007 that Nevada casinos have recorded two straight monthly revenue bumps. The increase of less than 1 percent wasn't the double-digit jump Nevada casinos and the Strip experienced in August...read more