Featured Articles Archive - Page 462

Deal Me In: Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain

Dear Mark: If a player uses their club card while playing slots, does it have any effect on their results? Opposite that, can the casino reward a player who does use their card with jackpots you wouldn't otherwise get if you didn't use it? Mary Anne B. Using a player's club card has no effect on your results...read more

Top-10 reasons to March Madness at the Wynn

I've visited Las Vegas during the NCAA Tournament before. For several years, I (along with some friends) was a regular during Sweet 16 weekend. One year, we did a bachelor party during Final Four weekend. But I'd never been to Vegas during the first two rounds of the tournament -- until this year. And after experiencing the early parts of the tournament two weeks ago, I can definitively say that the best weekend to be in Vegas -- bar none -- is for the first weekend of the NCAA tournament...read more

Station players' points still safe

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- These days, Louis Frederick and his fellow slot machine players at Santa Fe Station discuss one subject more frequently than how they plan to spend their Station Casinos players club points. They openly wonder if they will even have those points at all. Station Casinos has been operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection since July...read more

Mississippi turns to casinos to fund gaming regulators

JACKSON, Mississippi -- Mississippi's gaming regulatory structure will be self-funded through fees paid by the gaming industry it oversees. The Mississippi Gaming Commission has filed a proposed fee structure with Secretary of State for a 30-day review. The gaming industry will pay to regulate itself through fees assessed for licensing, work permits, inspections and equipment, gaming commission executive director Larry Gregory told the Biloxi Sun-Herald. Commissioners are expected to vote on the fee structure sometime in May. The move to industry-driven funding was contained in a bill signed Wednesday by Gov...read more

iMEGA member identified in Kentucky motion

The Interactive Media Entertainment & Gaming Association (iMEGA) filed a motion Monday with the Kentucky Court of Appeals identifying the owner of TruePoker.com as an iMEGA member and an affected party in Kentucky's seizure of 141 online gambling domain names. The motion comes four days after the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled that iMEGA and the Interactive Gaming Council (IGC) had no standing to defend the owners of the affected domains case because neither party informed the court of their memberships. The Supreme Court requested that both parties file affidavits to prove that members were affected by the seizures of the domain names. iMEGA filed two affidavits with the Court of Appeals...read more

Deal Me In: Point chasing not permitted

Dear Mark: Returning from a stay in Florida, I had a balance of points left on my slot club card at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino. Can I give the card to a friend who lives in Florida so she can continue using my card? What would happen if she wins a jackpot on the slots? Delores P. The player's club card is probably the most successful marketing tool casinos use worldwide to make sure that gamblers return to yank them handles time and time again...read more

Sternlicht may be trying to buy Riviera again

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- An investment firm controlled by former Starwood Hotel founder Barry Sternlicht may be bidding to acquire the Riviera and its related casino in Colorado by forcing the property's holding company into bankruptcy. Starwood Capital Group LLC has reportedly bought control of Riviera's first mortgage for about 50 cents on the dollar and is leading the creditors negotiating a prepackaged bankruptcy, Bloomberg News reported Thursday. Riviera Holdings Corp., which owns the aging Riviera and the Riviera Black Hawk, defaulted on almost $250 million a year ago and hasn't made interest payments on its loans since December 2008. According to Bloomberg, Sternlicht told potential investors his plans during a conference call in February. Sternlicht could not be reached for comment at his offices in Greenwich, Conn...read more

Possible Station suitors guarded with thoughts

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Casino companies expected to bid for a large chunk of Station Casinos in a bankruptcy court supervised sale were guarded with their thoughts Thursday as they attempted to learn more about the proposed reorganization plan that could result in the breakup of the locals casino giant. In a lengthy filing with U.S...read more

AGA says Internet gambling can be regulated

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- The gaming industry's Washington, D.C.-based lobbying group has shifted course on its view of legalized Internet gambling and now believes the technology exists to allow the activity to be regulated at the state or federal level. In a new policy statement, the American Gaming Association said it was open to the concept of legalized Internet gaming, as long as a regulatory structure was in place to protect consumers and the game's integrity. But the organization, which represents the bulk of the nation's casino operators and slot machine manufacturers, has not taken a stance on any of the bills now floating through Congress that could legalize all or some forms of Internet gaming, estimated to be a $26 billion a year industry. "If something were to start, then fundamentally this give us a seat at the table," American Gaming Association Chief Executive Officer Frank Fahrenkopf Jr...read more

YouWin.com vows to keep promises to affiliates

Earlier this year, uwin.com found itself in an unenviable position -- it was being compared to Grand Prive. Last July, sportsbook WINunited ostensibly suspended its affiliate program and affiliate payments so it could switch software platforms...read more