Featured Articles Archive - Page 488

Deal Me In: This cultist can't offer reader counsel

Dear Mark: I'm figuring you are the go-to person regarding this gambling-related question. Could you please give me some recommendations on gambling software for Windows that you have tried over the years? Nick G. In April of 1984, I walked into a computer store in Reno, NV, walked out with a Macintosh 128, then drove my newest prized possession up the hill to Lake Tahoe in a automobile worth half what the computer cost...read more

Delaware racinos still plan on offering sports betting

After further review, it appears you will indeed be able to place a bet in the state of Delaware on your favorite NFL team this football season. Despite Monday's federal appeals court ruling that said the state's plan to offer single-game wagering would violate a federal ban on sports betting, Delaware's three race tracks are proceeding with plans to open their new sportsbooks beginning next week, but it's looking more and more like the only wagers available will be NFL parlay bets. "It's not ideal, but it's better than having no sports betting at all," Dover Downs Hotel & Casino CEO Ed Sutor told Casino City on Wednesday...read more

Anaylst believes Pinnacle should build Louisiana resort

LAS VEGAS, Nevada –- Macquarie Securities gaming analyst Joel Simkins believes Pinnacle Entertainment should move forward with a planned gaming development in Lake Charles, La. Las Vegas-based Pinnacle already operates L'Auberge du Lac in Lake Charles and has proposed the $407 million Sugarcane Bay on neighboring land. Simkins believes the two resort-complex, which would surround a Tom Fazio-designed golf course, could grow the Lake Charles market into a nearly $2 billion-a-year gaming destination. The L'Auberge/Sugarcane Bay complex could give Pinnacle one of the largest commercial casino facilities in Louisiana with 1,395 hotel rooms, 3,100 slot machines and 112 table games. Houston, four hours to the west with 5.6 million residents, is the prime feeder market for Pinnacle's Lake Charles complex. "A larger, fully integrated resort with luxury hotel rooms, more meeting space, and other amenities could better attract Houstonians and other longer-range communities (such as Austin and San Antonio)," Simkins told investors. One of the keys to the project is Texas not moving forward with legalizing casinos. "We are comfortable that Pinnacle should move ahead with this project as the core Houston feeder market is underserved," Simkins said. Pinnacle also owns land in Reno, Atlantic City and Baton Rouge, La., for potential casino development...read more

Wall Street bullish on slots machines

LAS VEGAS, Nevada –- Two gaming analysts have given slot machine makers a reason to smile. Both told investors that prospects for equipment manufacturers are high going into the next few years. Potentially, 70,000 new slot machines could find their way into Ohio, Illinois, Kansas, Maryland, and Pennsylvania...read more

Station founder Fertitta's services set

LAS VEGAS, Nevada –- Services for Station Casinos founder Frank Fertitta Jr. will be Friday and Saturday. A rosary and vigil will start at 6:30 p.m. Friday at St. Joseph Husband of Mary Catholic Church at 7260 West Sahara Ave. The funeral mass will be at 11 a.m...read more

California tribes to add slots

LAS VEGAS, Nevada –- California's slot machine market is about to get bigger. A federal judge in Sacramento has ruled the state's Indian casinos can add 10,549 slot machines to a jurisdiction that is now approved for more than 83,000 games, the largest Indian gaming market in the United States. By comparison, Nevada has 194,180 total slot machines in casinos and other locations, including bars, taverns and supermarkets. Wall Street saw the news as another positive catalyst for Nevada's slot machine industry, which has been seeking any signs of potential sales opportunities after several years of dwindling revenues and earnings. "We continue to believe the equipment manufacturers are the way to play the gaming group," Janney Montgomery Scott gaming analyst Brian McGill advised investors...read more

Station Casinos founder Fertitta dies at 70

LAS VEGAS, Nevada –- To long-time Station Casinos employees and patrons, Frank Fertitta Jr., the patriarch of the gaming company, was affectionately referred to as "Mr. Fertitta." It was a title that came out of respect, said his long-time friends and associates. "He was not aggressive or loud," said attorney Frank Schreck, who represented Fertitta since the 1970s...read more

Nevada prepared for online gambling

LAS VEGAS, Nevada –- Nevada, where declining gaming and sales tax collections have ravaged the biennial budget, could benefit financially if a bill to legalize Internet gambling in the United States is approved by Congress. The potential, however, rests on a big IF. A House of Representatives resolution was introduced in May that would establish a framework to permit licensed online gambling operators to accept wagers from inside the United States. Legal experts said Nevada has the statutory structure in place to investigate and license online gaming companies...read more

Playing It Smart: Playing multiple spots at blackjack

Some blackjack buffs enjoy playing multiple spots simultaneously. Few have more than intuition and specious logic about their preference. Mostly, their explanations have to do with things like "you get more action," "you make more on hot shoes," "wins on one side can offset losses on the other when the game is cold," or "you change the flow of the cards, which may turn a losing shoe into a winner." Card counters have other reasons, principally involving getting a greater share of the good cards and increasing total wagers under favorable conditions. From the standpoint of edge, on a round-by-round basis, one spot at $10 is the same as two spots at $5 each...read more

Deal Me In: Two inquiries for the price of one

Dear Mark: Could you please explain how slot tournaments work? I'm entering a $50 tournament at our casino and I was wondering if you had any strategies on winning? Megan H. Dear Mark: How does a casino turn a bank of low payout slots into VERY HIGH payout slots for a tournament and then back again to low payout mode without changing a computer chip inside the machine? Harvey S...read more