Featured Articles Archive - Page 505

Analyst says gaming stocks still risky

LAS VEGAS, Nevada –- One Wall Street analyst is still not convinced that MGM Mirage is out the woods, despite the company's recent financial maneuverings that saved the $8.5 billion CityCenter development and restructured its corporate financial picture. Steven Kent of Goldman Sachs told investors a number of risks continue to persist surrounding the stocks of Las Vegas-based casino operators, including MGM Mirage, Las Vegas Sands Corp...read more

MGM Mirage completes stock sale

LAS VEGAS, Nevada –- MGM Mirage placed 143 million shares of common stock on the market Thursday, almost double what the company had previously announced it was selling as part of an effort to raise $2.5 billion to resolve its debt and leveraging issues. The financially struggling casino operator committed to its lenders that it would raise $1 billion from the stock sale and $1.5 billion from the private offering of senior notes secured by Bellagio and The Mirage. MGM Mirage said it will use part of the offering's proceeds to repay at least $750 million under its senior credit facility and buy back some of its $14.4 billion in debt. Deutsche Bank gaming analyst Andrew Zarnett said Thursday the company was taking the proper steps to address its leverage and liquidity issues. "MGM Mirage now has ample financial flexibility, and more importantly, time to tackle its high leverage even though it is caught in the midst of a challenging fundamental environment," Zarnett told investors. Shares of MGM Mirage fell almost 30 percent in value on Wednesday after the company announced its restructuring plan...read more

PartyPoker Bets $105 Million on Return to U.S.

When the founders of PartyPoker decided to take the company public on the London Stock Exchange, they changed its name to PartyGaming, so they could offer gaming beyond their wildly successful online card room, PartyPoker.com. The June 2005 initial public offering was, to say the least, successful: Investors put a value on the company of $8.46 billion, greater than British Airways. A little over a year later, the conservative Republican leader of the U.S...read more

Top-10 players you want to watch at the WSOP

As we pointed out in our recent Top-10 tidbits from the 2009 World Series of Poker Media Guide article, ESPN used 40 cameras to cover last year's WSOP. That's more than what NBC used to cover Super Bowl XLIII. But as much as we enjoy the ESPN coverage of the WSOP, even 40 cameras can't capture all of the action...read more

New WSOP rule could hamper Hellmuth

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- The World Series of Poker's first high-stakes event starts on May 28. Which means we're just 18 days away from Phil Hellmuth's first temper tantrum of the tournament. A new discipline system, however, could render his next outburst his last. World Series of Poker officials want to do a better job tabulating infractions by players and improve enforcement...read more

Bally earnings meet Wall Street expectations

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Bally Technologies said the weakened economy affected the company's third-quarter results as the slot machine maker matched analysts' estimates. Las Vegas-based Bally said Thursday it posted a net profit of $29.3 million, or 52 cents per share, in the quarter ended March 31, down from a net profit of $30.2 million, or 52 cents a share, a year earlier. Analysts polled by Reuters Estimates expected Bally to earn 52 cents per share. Revenues fell 10.7 percent to $207.6 million from $232.6 million. In addition to slot machines, Bally Technologies sells technology and systems for casino management and slot machine management. "Our diversified business model drove another very profitable quarter despite the challenging economy," Bally Chief Executive Officer Richard Haddrill said in a statement. Bally said Thursday it plans to introduce several new slot machine titles and products in an effort to increase sales. "The company continues to make great strides on the video side of the business on both the domestic and international fronts," Morgan Joseph gaming analyst Justin Sebastiano said in pre-earnings note to investors. Bally announced earnings after the close of trading on the New York Stock exchange...read more

Nevada economy edging closer to stability

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- If you're looking for some positive news within March's 11.6 percent decline in Nevada gaming revenues, we have some. The drop was the 15th straight month gaming revenues have tumbled in Nevada and the sixth consecutive month of double-digit declines...read more

Deal Me In: The Great Whamerooney, but it still slices like baloney?

Dear Mark: Do the large progressive slot machines offer the most potential with the least risk? Dan O. Not a bit, Dan, because for the life-altering big score that a machine like Megabucks offers, you are looking at beating the odds of 30,000,000 to 1. Sure, area progressives are usually the only machines that pay the really big bucks, but the long-term paybacks on these machines are usually the lowest in the casino, and at 30 million to one odds against, your chances of hitting the big one are a teensy weensy bit better than zilch. If you're looking to maximize potential and minimize risk, your best bet is to play one coin at a time on what's called a "straight multiplier." By popping in just one coin on these machines, you're playing at the maximum payback and hit frequency with the lowest risk per spin. A "straight multiplier" or "equal distribution" machine, usually has one payline and pays according to the number of coins you play...read more

Frank, King introduce online gambling legislation

Reps. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and Peter King (R-N.Y.) introduced legislation Wednesday that, if passed, would create regulatory framework for online gambling in the United States. "Internet gambling in the United States should be controlled by a strict federal licensing and regulatory framework to protect underage and otherwise vulnerable individuals, to ensure the games are fair, to address the concerns of law enforcement, and to enforce any limitations on the activity established by the states and Indian tribes," the 48-page bill reads. The bill, which calls on the Treasury Department to regulate the industry, is careful about making sure individual states and Native American tribes have the right to impose further restrictions on Internet gambling or outright ban it. A licensing system must "adopt and implement systems to enforce any applicable federal, state, and Indian tribe limitations," reads one part of the bill. Another section of the bill indicates that one of the minimum requirements for a licensed operator is "ensure that no customer who is located in a state or tribal land that opts out...can initiate or otherwise make a bet or wager prohibited by such opt-out." In order for an operator to obtain a license in the U.S., they would have to they had demonstrate they had a plan to, among other things, "protect underage and problem gamblers, ensure games are being operated fairly and comply with and address the concerns of law enforcement." All operators would have to pass a background check...read more

List of Minnesota banned sites includes just 44 that accept U.S. players

Only 44 of the 200 Web sites that Minnesota's Alcohol and Gambling Enforcement Division want to block from its residents actually accept players from the state, according to an audit of the list that was completed by Casino City. That means just 22 percent of the sites AGED wants to block affect Minnesota residents. Last week, the Minnesota Department of Public Safety (DPS) Alcohol and Gambling Enforcement Division (AGED) announced that it had instructed 11 national and regional telephone and Internet service providers to prohibit access of all Minnesota-based computers to nearly 200 online gambling websites...read more