Featured Articles Archive - Page 499

Analyst not impressed by MGM Mirage

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- It doesn't appear the Leadership in Energy and Environment Design (LEED) certifications the company is announcing today for the $8.5 billion CityCenter development will impress Susquehanna gaming analyst Robert LaFleur. In fact, LaFleur doesn't have much of a belief in MGM Mirage right now...read more

Playing It Smart: Why you'll probably bite the dust if your gambling budget is $100

The majority of casino patrons who gamble with modest budgets go belly-up. Stakes under $100, especially, court disaster. Matters improve, albeit slowly, as bankrolls increase. House advantage plays a role, but has less impact than is commonly believed...read more

Russ Hamilton and 31 accomplices are fingered in UB cheating scandal

The Kahnawake Gaming Commission (KGC) confirmed today through the release of an 11-page document that cheating occurred at online poker room UltimateBet and that the point man for the incident -- former World Series of Poker Main Event champion Russ Hamilton -- did not act alone...read more

Detroit MGM and Beau Rivage not for sale

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- In April, MGM Mirage hired Wall Street investment house Morgan Stanley to evaluate sales offers the company had received for MGM Grand Detroit and the Beau Rivage in Biloxi, Miss. At the time the company was busy restructuring both its corporate finances and the $8.5 billion CityCenter development to keep both entities out of bankruptcy. By spring, the company had resolved its immediate financial problems, and the MGM Grand Detroit and Beau Rivage are off the market. Well, sort of. Technically, they never really were on the market, MGM Mirage spokesman Alan Feldman said Thursday. "It's one of these cases where you are kind of splitting hairs," Feldman said...read more

Vegas visitor count slips 1.3 percent in July

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- July recorded the smallest year-over-year decline for Las Vegas visitor volume in 2009. But it was still a drop -- the 14th straight monthly decline and the 17th time in the past 19 months that a smaller number of tourists have made a trip to Southern Nevada than in the same month a year ago. More than 3.1 million tourists visited Las Vegas during the month, 1.3 percent fewer than the 3.2 million who came to Southern Nevada a year ago, figures released Thursday by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority show. For the first seven months of 2009, visitor volume is down 6 percent with 21.3 million coming to Las Vegas through July, compared with 22.7 million for the same period a year earlier. People making the trek are paying less for rooms and spending less, the convention and visitors authority said. The average daily room rate during July was $86.23, down 18.6 percent from $105.97 in July 2008...read more

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