Featured Articles Archive - Page 517

MGM Mirage talks collapse with Deutsche Bank

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- It's back to square one for MGM Mirage. After discussions with Deutsche Bank collapsed late Wednesday, the cash-strapped casino operator will have to look elsewhere for the final $1.2 billion in financing needed to complete its $9.1 billion CityCenter development. The news, coupled with MGM Mirage's announcement Tuesday that it could default on its $7 billion senior secured credit facility and be labeled a "going concern" by its independent accountants, didn't sit well with Wall Street...read more

Baseball bettors and fans should enjoy these titles

Baseball books offer the fantasy league enthusiast, trivia buff or bettor an informational edge, and their popularity remains steady year after year. With the 2009 season less than a month away, here are some fresh resources packed with unusual information about players and teams which should whet everyone's appetite: Always popular, Who's Who in Baseball (360 pages, paperbound, $9.95) is back with its 94th edition, and it contains the lifetime, regular-season and post-season record for 775 players and includes photos with birth dates and nicknames and injury listings along with trade data from Abreu to Zumaya. Baseball Prospectus 2009, edited by Christina Kahrl and Steve Goldman (628 pages, paperbound, $21.95), examines past performances and tries to project what more than 1,600 players might do this year...read more

Vegas board backs sale of Treasure Island

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Phil Ruffin's return to the casino business cleared its first hurdle Wednesday morning. The Gaming Control Board took 20 minutes to approve Ruffin's $775 million purchase of Treasure Island from MGM Mirage, sending the matter to the Nevada Gaming Commission for a final ruling on March 19...read more

MGM Mirage in talks with lenders

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- MGM Mirage, the Strip's biggest casino operator and the state's largest private employer, could be facing a bankruptcy filing if it can't renegotiate better repayment terms with its lenders covering some $7 billion in loans. In a filing Tuesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company that operates 10 Strip hotel-casinos and is building the $9.1 billion CityCenter said it was discussing waivers or amendments with its lenders. MGM Mirage said it would be in default under its senior secured credit facility if it cannot negotiate a better repayment structure...read more

Making and Unmaking Laws in Court

Where you find the laws most numerous, there you will find also the greatest injustice. Arcesilaus The New Year has started with dramatic and sometimes unexpected changes in the law. Of course there was that small matter of a new Congress and President...read more

Top-10 players to watch at this weekend's National Heads-Up Poker Championship

When you really think about it, the concept behind NBC's Head-Up Poker Championship is brilliant, because like any high-profile profession, the egos and pride that the top players in the sport possess are enormous. So when you put 64 of the best and most flamboyant personalities in a head-to-head setting in front of a TV audience with $1.5 million at stake, you are guaranteeing yourself some entertaining fireworks...read more

MGM Mirage borrows from credit

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- An announcement Friday that MGM Mirage tapped into its revolving line of credit to borrow $842 million for general corporate purposes led three credit rating services to devalue the company's bonds and sent the casino operator's stock price to an all-time low. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company said the borrowing was done "in light of the continuing instability in the capital markets and uncertain state of the global economy." MGM Mirage has $4.5 billion in its revolving credit facility. MGM Mirage spokesman Alan Feldman said the money would be used as "operating funds." Shares of MGM Mirage on Friday fell to a historic low on the New York Stock Exchange based on the filing, closing at $3.50, down 95 cents, or 21.35 percent...read more

Developer eyes Spanish casino in rural Beatty

BEATTY, Nevada -- Depending on whom you speak with, Ed Ringle is either this rural community's 21st century version of Don Laughlin, or the town's pariah. Since the early 1980s, Ringle, 57, has operated a casino, hotels and other businesses in Beatty, which is about 118 miles north of downtown Las Vegas...read more

Gaming stocks sink to 2003 levels

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Gaming stocks sunk to levels during February that have not been visited since President Bush declared "mission accomplished" and Arnold Schwarzenegger was making movies rather than governing California. The average daily share prices of nine of the 10 casino operators and slot machine manufacturers charted by Las Vegas-based financial consultant Applied Analysis slipped in value during the month...read more

Thousands celebrate opening of new Vegas resort

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- M Resort bartender Edgar Manago had a big smile Sunday night as he poured free drinks for some of the 4,000 guests attending the $1 billion hotel-casino's grand opening party. Manago, a gaming industry bartender for more than 15 years, had a job for the first time in many months. "It feels good," said Manago, who was laid off by multiple casinos in 2008...read more