Featured Articles Archive - Page 465

Black Gaming LLC files for Chapter 11

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Mesquite casino operator Black Gaming LLC filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy late Monday, a move the company foretold to investors just before Christmas. The filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Las Vegas, where Black Gaming is headquartered, will allow the company to continue operations under current management...read more

Top-10 facts, figures and predictions for the 2010 NBC Heads-Up Poker Championship

The madness typically attributed to the month of March will get an early start this weekend when the cards go in the air for the sixth annual NBC Heads-Up Poker Championship. The event – which pits 64 players against each other in an NCAA tournament bracket style – has become one of the more popular events on the poker calendar each year...read more

Sands denies sale of Pennsylvania resort

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Las Vegas Sands Corp. refuted a Pennsylvania media report that it is selling its casino at the site of the former Bethlehem Steel Mill by announcing Monday it would restart construction of a stalled 300-room hotel tower at the location in a matter of weeks. The 9-month-old Sands Bethlehem, which has 3,000 slot machines and several restaurants, opened last Memorial Day at a cost of $743 million...read more

Gaming stocks drop in February

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- February wasn't the gaming sector's finest month. Investor concerns surrounding Las Vegas sent the average daily stock prices of seven publicly traded casino operators and slot machine manufacturers all down during the month. Las Vegas-based advisory firm Applied Analysis, which charts the companies for a gaming index, said the industry's stock prices are still up anywhere from double or triple their value from February 2009. "Not unlike historical cycles, the gaming sector outperformed the broader market on both the ups and downs," Applied Analysis principal Brian Gordon told the firm's clients in a research report. During February, the gaming index finished at 285.91 points, a decline of 12.32 points over January. All of the major casino operators and slot machine makers -- except Boyd Gaming Corp...read more

MGM Mirage gets extension on debt payment

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- MGM Mirage said Friday its lenders have given the casino operator three additional years to pay back about $4.37 billion of a $5.5 billion credit line that was due next year. The extension was sought by MGM Mirage in an effort to improve the company's balance sheet as it struggles to repay its debts amid an economic decline that has cut visitation and customer spending at its hotel-casinos. "The transaction provides us with additional long-term financial flexibility and reflects our continued commitment to strengthen our financial position," MGM Mirage Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jim Murren said in a statement. Under the agreement, MGM Mirage's bonds that were due to mature on Oct...read more

Wynn deal could doom Atlantic City

ATLANTIC CITY, New Jersey -- Steve Wynn single-handedly saved struggling Atlantic City in the 1980s. He opened the Golden Nugget, considered at the time to be the Boardwalk's most opulent hotel-casino. On Tuesday, Wynn saved gaming in Philadelphia...read more

How long are "cycles" in craps, and what do they really mean?

Almost everybody who plays craps knows that a pair of dice can land 36 different ways. A die has six sides and can come to rest with one of six faces on top. For each of the six results on one die, the other also has six outcomes. That's six times six or 36. Within the 36 combinations: * one totals 2 (1-1), * two total 3 (1-2, 2-1), * three total 4 (1-3, 2-2, 3-1), * four total 5 (1-4, 2-3, 3-2, 4-1), * five total 6 (1-5, 2-4, 3-3, 4-2, 5-1) * six total 7 (1-6, 2-5, 3-4, 4-3, 5-2, 6-1) * five total 8 (2-6, 3-5, 4-4, 5-3, 6-2) * four total 9 (3-6, 4-5, 5-4, 6-3) * three total 10 (4-6, 5-5, 6-4) * two total 11 (5-6, 6-5) * one totals 12 (6-6) It's accordingly a convenient artifice to picture statistically-correct "cycles" of 36 throws...read more

Hawaii won't be a gambling hotspot

HONOLULU, Hawaii -- So much for Hawaii becoming the next gambling hotspot. State lawmakers killed a bill on Wednesday that would have allowed casinos along Waikiki Beach. The fact that a public hearing was held on the bill was victory in some ways for casino proponents. Hawa...read more

Macau helps lessen Wynn loss

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Casino developer Steve Wynn summed up the current status of Wynn Resorts Ltd. in a few sentences in the company's hourlong fourth-quarter earnings conference call Thursday. "We're more of a Chinese company than American company today as we're having this call," Wynn said...read more

Deal Me In: Ah, sweet surrender

Dear Mark: I have been counseled that a "surrender" bet is a bet that favors the house in blackjack. I have played blackjack for a long time, and understand the basic strategy. It seems to me that in selected situations, a surrender move is an advantage...read more