Featured Articles Archive - Page 455

Future of gaming analysts uncertain

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- The sudden replacement of Susquehanna Financial Group's lead gaming analyst caused a buzz along Wall Street. Was Robert LaFleur bounced because he was overly critical of MGM Mirage? Did Rachael Rothman of Wedbush Morgan replace him because she offered Susquehanna restaurant and gaming coverage? Or was Rothman hired because she spent seven years at Merrill Lynch with one of her new supervisors? "It's a brutal business," an analyst said about LaFleur's Feb...read more

Icahn officially the unfinished Fontainebleau's owner

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- The Fontainebleau is no longer bankrupt. Billionaire corporate raider Carl Icahn completed a $150 million purchase of the unfinished Strip development late Thursday. Icahn, through New York-based Icahn Enterprises, paid $106 million for the 3,889-room project and $45 million in financing fees during bankruptcy proceedings. "The acquisition of the Fontainebleau property was a great opportunity to purchase a distressed asset that I believe has considerable value," Icahn said in a statement. The Fontainebleau property includes a hotel tower and building totaling 7 million square feet that sits on 25 acres at the northern end of the Strip. Construction stopped on the Fontainebleau last April when lenders cut off $800 million in financing. The project, which was 70 percent complete at the time, once had a construction budget of nearly $3 billion. Icahn told the Review-Journal last month that would most likely wait for an uncertain amount of time before he would consider restarting the project. "We've always liked Las Vegas, but it's probably overbuilt a bit too much," Icahn said. Icahn emerged as the only qualified bidder during proceedings in U.S...read more

Las Vegas Strip benefits on baccarat

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- The two-week-long Chinese New Year celebration is in full swing on the Strip. But to casino operators, a five-month stretch at the end of last year seemed like a giant baccarat game. In 2009, statewide and Strip gaming revenues took their largest single-year tumble since Nevada began keeping record 55 years ago. But without the figures from baccarat, the casino industry would have experienced an even worse decline. On the Strip, where the card game accounts for 99 percent of the state's total baccarat numbers, gaming revenues from baccarat were more than $970 million in 2009, an increase of 26.5 percent compared with 2008...read more

LV Sands moves to add table games at Pennsylvania casino

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Las Vegas Sands Corp. filed a formal application with Pennsylvania gaming regulators to add 80 table games to its casino in Bethlehem, Pa., by early summer. Pennsylvania lawmakers, with the support of the governor, changed state gaming laws to allow the state's slot machine-only casinos to add table games in exchange for a tax on revenues...read more

Without the players' options, blackjack wouldn't be a serious gamble

Highly-informed blackjack buffs know the precise house edge they fight by following rigorous Basic Strategy. When the rules allow doubling down on any two cards, resplitting to as many as four hands, and doubling after splitting, it's 0.402225 and 0.429881 percent for six- and eight-deck games, respectively...read more

Cost cuts narrow MGM Mirage loss

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- CityCenter's much-anticipated opening in December gave MGM Mirage an end-of-the-year lift, but the $8.5 billion Strip development is still a work in progress. MGM Mirage said Thursday the company narrowed a fourth-quarter net loss from a year ago thanks to cost-cutting efforts. Although company executives said they were seeing a spike in future convention business and are focused on restoring the company's liquidity and balance sheet, CityCenter remains the centerpiece of those efforts. The 67-acre multifaceted project is a 50-50 joint venture between MGM Mirage and Dubai World, the investment arm of the Persian Gulf emirate. Aria, CityCenter's 4,004-room hotel-casino, earned operating income of $7 million during the 15 days it was open in December, the company said...read more

Deal Me In: Maybe once in 800 hours of swift play, maybe not

Dear Mark: If these two games were to be played correctly, which is better to play, blackjack or video poker? I would argue that it is video poker, simply because it offers a large jackpot if you hit a royal, whereas blackjack doesn't. Donald B. If you were to utilize expert play on both video poker and perfect basic strategy on blackjack (a 9/6 Jacks or Better video poker machine or multiple-deck blackjack), both will have approximately the same house edge of 0.5%...read more

Nevada's biggest casinos lose $6.8 billion

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Nevada's highest-grossing casinos generated a net loss of almost $6.8 billion in fiscal year 2009, victims of declining gaming revenues, reductions in hotel rates and reduced consumer spending. The Gaming Control Board, which released the Gaming Abstract Income statement Friday, said the net loss was by far the largest ever for Nevada. The last loss was in 2002, right after the Sept...read more

Murren has job creation ideas for Obama

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- MGM Mirage Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jim Murren hopes to have a few minutes to "chitchat" on Friday with President Barack Obama. If he gets the opportunity, Murren said he would like to discuss ideas for creating jobs with the president. After all, MGM Mirage's $8.5 billion CityCenter project created 12,000 jobs and was the largest privately-funded development ever in the United States. "We did it without any government help, and we're proud of that," said Murren, who has discussed job creation on national cable television shows. "Job creation is something I'm passionate about and it now seems to be a priority of the White House." Obama had been expected to visit CityCenter back in December following the development's grand opening...read more

Las Vegas Sands narrows fourth-quarter loss

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Las Vegas Sands Corp., thanks to booming results from its Macau casinos, said Wednesday that the company narrowed its fourth-quarter net loss from a year ago. The company's earnings in the three-month period ended Dec...read more