Featured Articles Archive - Page 486

Deal Me In: Slot players butter casino's bread

Dear Mark: The casino where I play has curtailed not only the amount of blackjack games now available, but also the comps they give to their blackjack players. I've inquired to as why this is so, and their response is that we are now catering more to slot players than we have in the past, and he said it was at the expense of the table games...read more

'Havana Nocturne,' 'Tales of Old Las Vegas' colorfully done

Whether it's Cuba or Las Vegas, anytime someone tells some new stories or outlines past, colorful history about the people, the characters, those special times gone by, it's usually good reading. T.J. English's Havana Nocturne -- How the Mob Owned Cuba and Then Lost It to the Revolution (396 pages, paperbound, $15.99) and Sam O'Connor's Tales of Old Las Vegas (253 pages, paperbound, $22.95) are two of the best for late-summer reading or as gift items for the old-timer trying to renew old memories.English, who authored books on the Irish and Asian mobs previously, details the rise and fall of key members of the U.S...read more

Chinese company to finance AC casino

ATLANTIC CITY, New Jersey -- Maybe there is some hope for Atlantic City. Trade publication Global Gaming Business reported on its website last night that the stalled Revel Entertainment hotel-casino in Atlantic City reached an agreement to provide the balance of the money needed to complete the project. Once built, Revel would be the first new casino on the Boardwalk since the Trump Taj Mahal opened in 1991 and the city's first new resort since Borgata opened in the city's marina region in 2003. According to Revel, China State Construction Engineering Corp...read more

Shuffle Master sees big profit jump

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Table game provider Shuffle Master, saying it was able reduce expenses during the challenging economy, saw its profit jump 87 percent in the third quarter. The Las Vegas-based company said Wednesday it had a net income of $5.6 million, or 10 cents per share, in the quarter e...read more

Nevada gaming revenue falls for 19th straight month

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Gaming revenues in July nose-dived for the 19th straight month in Nevada. Casinos statewide reported gaming revenues of $872.7 million during the month, a 12.5 percent increase compared with $997 million reported in July 2008...read more

Casino attire creator Julius dies at 74

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- At one time, Jean Julius outfitted most of the uniformed employees on the Strip through her enterprise, The Dealers Room on Maryland Parkway. Corporate ownership took over the casino industry in the 1990s, but the large uniform providers who serviced the casinos still contracted with Julius because she had the capability to handle custom work. "The only thing that changed was her comps," Julius' daughter Laurie Chrispen recalled Tuesday...read more

LV Sands completes $600 million transaction

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Las Vegas Sands Corp. said this morning it completed a $600 million financing transaction, a preliminary step toward an initial public offering of shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The IPO, which will be backed by the company's casinos in Macau, will allow Las Vegas Sands to restart construction on several stalled projects along the Chinese gaming enclave's Cotai Strip. Las Vegas Sands has been also trying to strengthen its balance sheet. "The closing of this financing, in combination with the other measures we have completed to date, demonstrates that we are successfully executing that plan," Las Vegas Sands Chairman Sheldon Adelson said in a statement. Still, Las Vegas Sands is focused on opening the $5.5 billion Marina Bay Sands in Singapore later this year. "The important opening of our Marina Bay Sands property in Singapore will remain our top priorities in the months to come," Adelson said...read more

Penny slots paying out big in Nevada

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- At the end of fiscal year 2000, there were 540 penny slot machines in Nevada casinos. As of last week, M Resort had nearly double that number of penny games on its casino floor. And that's just one property. Penny slot machines are no longer an oddity...read more

Playing It Smart: Which is preferable: High or low volatility?

Many solid citizens view casino gambling as mainly a matter of luck. As in: one game is more or less the same as any other. If these folks make any distinctions, they're that some tables or machines require bets too high for their budgets, are too complicated, or have payoffs worth or not worth the risks. More polished players recognize that the house's edge varies among games and wagers...read more

'In-running' football betting arrives in Las Vegas

Lou D'Amico has been involved in the sportsbook business in Las Vegas for the last 35 years so it's safe to say that he's seen it all. But even a guy with the veteran status of D'Amico has had an extra hop in his step this week, thanks to the new "In-Running" sports betting product that will be available for the 2009 NFL season at The Venetian, Palazzo and the M Resort Spa Casino...read more