Featured Articles Archive - Page 529

Wynn Sportsbook rings in the madness with new TV show and special 900-seat venue for fans

He'll be putting in outrageous hours and the action will be fast and furious over the next three-plus weeks. But John Avello wouldn't want it any other way. After all, there's a reason they call it March Madness. "I've been in the sportsbook business for 22 years and there hasn't been one day in which I looked at my watch wondering if it was time to go home," says the Director of Race and Sports at Wynn Las Vegas...read more

Bad times for gaming a boom for some

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- The gaming industry's swoon has been good for certain jobs. Bankruptcy attorneys and corporate restructuring specialists are finding a plentiful client base. Last week, Herbst Gaming set a tentative date to file a prepackaged bankruptcy plan that will reorganize the company into two separate businesses. As 2009 continues, Herbst may not be alone in bankruptcy. A year ago, who would have thought MGM Mirage, Harrah's Entertainment and Station Casinos would be on a Chapter 11 watch list? No one predicted that shares of Las Vegas Sands would fall from $149 to less than $2...read more

LV Sands board member quits

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- A Las Vegas Sands Corp. board member resigned Monday because he disagreed with last weekend's forced resignation of former company President Bill Weidner. The casino operator revealed the resignation in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday. James Purcell, 78, a retired attorney and a Las Vegas Sands board member since July 2004, said in a letter to the company that it was wrong to force Weidner's resignation without "a full and open discussion of the potential consequences of the series of action that were planned." Weidner, president and chief operating officer of Las Vegas Sands since 1995, resigned Sunday and will be replaced by Michael Leven, a longtime hospitality industry executive and a Las Vegas Sands board member. In his letter, Purcell said he was informed by board member Irwin Seigel that Leven and board member Charles Forman were meeting with Weidner to seek his resignation. "I expressed to Mr...read more

Galaxy Gaming enhancing the table

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Galaxy Gaming is not your typical startup casino vendor. The Las Vegas-based table game provider has been around for 12 years, starting out inside a small casino in Washington in 1997. The company's initial product was a side wager for blackjack where players bet on getting a two-card 20...read more

Deal Me In: Casinos try to keep it cloak-and-dagger

Dear Mark: For years I have been a heavy gambler on video poker here in Reno. I used to break close to even on specific machines at a certain casino. I became suspicious when I started losing real bad over several months. I asked a slot manager if they reset the machines and he said yes...read more

Shuffle Master posts net loss

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Gambling equipment provider Shuffle Master, which will change over chief executives next week, posted a net loss of $973,000, or 2 cents a share, for the quarter ended Jan. 31. Outgoing Shuffle Master Chief Executive Officer Mark Yoseloff in his final earnings report with the company said revenues fell 9 percent because of weakening currency in Australia and Europe. Yoseloff, who has been with Shuffle Master for 15 years, will be replaced next week by Tim Parrott, who most recently oversaw the American operations for Australian slot machine maker Aristocrat. "As I officially hand the reins to the new CEO Tim Parrott next week, I feel more confident in the long-term growth and sustainability of this company than I did walking through the doors of Shuffle Master nearly 15 years ago," said Yoseloff, who remains the company's largest shareholder with almost 779,000 shares. A year ago, Shuffle Master had a net loss $1.8 million, or 5 cents a share. Quarterly revenues fell to $34.5 million from $37.9 million. Shuffle Master said lease and service revenue, which was 59 percent of total revenue, was $20.3 million, up 8 percent. Shuffle Master said its cash flow grew 53 percent in the quarter to $9.1 million, compared with $6 million a year ago. Yoseloff said Shuffle Master has seen increased interest in its electronic table games segment, which saw revenues increase 16 percent...read more

Plan to buy Cannery Resorts falls apart

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- A $1.75 billion deal by Australia's Crown Ltd. to buy Las Vegas-based Cannery Casino Resorts collapsed Thursday when the buyer couldn't meet certain conditions in time to close the transaction. The Australian company, which is controlled by billionaire James Packer, planned to buy the two Cannery casinos in North Las Vegas and on Boulder Highway, the Rampart Casino near Summerlin, and the Meadows Race Track and Casino near Pittsburgh...read more

Herbst Gaming will split businesses

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Herbst Gaming, which has spent the past year seeking a financial restructuring plan for its $847 million in debt, announced an agreement Tuesday with its bondholders in which the company will lose ownership of its 15 casinos in Nevada, Iowa and Missouri, but retain control of its Nevada slot routes. Approximately 68 percent of the company's lenders under its senior credit facility signed off on the agreement, which calls for Herbst Gaming to be divided into two separate holding companies through a prepackaged bankruptcy filing. Herbst Gaming general counsel Sean Higgins said the plan is expected to be filed with the U.S...read more

LV Sands exec quit before he would be fired

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Former Las Vegas Sands Corp. President Bill Weidner quit before he could be formally fired. Meanwhile, Las Vegas Sands Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Sheldon Adelson told an investment forum in New York on Tuesday that "we helped him resign a little bit." So goes the soap opera that surrounds the replacement of the 63-year-old Weidner, who headed Las Vegas Sands for almost 14 years, with a veteran hospitality executive who most recently ran the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta. Weidner, who resigned Sunday, told the Review-Journal's John L...read more

Heard it on the River: Here comes spring

It soon will be Springtime when nature begins the renewal of the life cycle and hope springs eternal in gamblers bosoms. On my random ramblings through casinos and from talks with various executives, there seems to be some light at the end of the tunnel and I don't mean an express train...read more