Featured Articles Archive - Page 578

A video tribute to Calvin Ayre

When Bodog founder Calvin Ayre announced his retirement Monday, the online gaming industry lost one of its legendary figures. Ayre was a brilliant and tireless marketing genius who jetted across the globe to turn Bodog into an online gambling powerhouse and a household name and brand...read more

Financial outlook for Sands discussed

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- An internal Las Vegas Sands Corp. document that lowers the company's adjusted financial forecast for 2008 by $312 million became the focus of heated arguments Tuesday between lawyers in a civil lawsuit brought by a Hong Kong businessman against the casino operator. Attorneys for Richard Suen, who believes he helped Las Vegas Sands win a lucrative gambling license in Macau in 2002 and is owed millions of dollars, wanted to introduce the document during the second day of testimony of company President Bill Weidner in Clark County District Court. While discussing the document with District Judge Michelle Leavitt, Weidner said in open court that the company was projecting "$312 million less than was forecasted in 2008." But he didn't say if the figure referred to company revenues or earnings. Las Vegas Sands lawyers said the document, created by the company's finance department in late March, is used for internal financial purposes and was sealed by the court's discovery commissioner. Sands attorney Rusty Hardin of Houston reminded Leavitt and Weidner the court was still open to the public and to not comment about the figures in the document. Leavitt agreed with the company's contention that the document, which revises the company's financial forecast for 2008 based on the first three months of the year, should not be put out for public consumption. Outside of court, Weidner said the document projects a full year of results for the Las Vegas Sands' gaming operations, including the Venetian Macau, which opened last August, and The Palazzo, which opened in January. Weidner told the judge the document had not been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Some aspects of the financial document might be used when the company discloses earnings for the 2008 first quarter next Tuesday. Leavitt told attorneys for Suen they could enter the public portions of the evidence at that time. During testimony, Weidner, for the second day, said Suen's efforts did nothing to help the casino operator win a lucrative gambling license in Macau. A July 2001 trip to Beijing, set up by Suen, in which Weidner and Sands Chairman Sheldon Adelson met with several Chinese government leaders, turned out to be nothing like they expected. "It was supposed to be an exploratory trip to get a lay of the land," Weidner said...read more

Paddy Power ad campaign draws complaints

Paddy Power's latest "Going Short" ad campaign has been dubbed "irresponsible" by the U.K. Advertising Standards Authority, prompting the Irish sports book and casino to pull the ads from all media outlets. The campaign featured a man enjoying a glass of champagne and a cigar in a limousine along with the company of two scantily clad and attractive women...read more

Affiliate Club awards affiliates with trip to Caribbean

AffiliateClub.com may be new to the industry, but the company certainly isn't a novice when it comes to motivating its affiliates. Just ask the nine men who were part of an all-expenses paid excursion to the Caribbean island of Curacao earlier this month as part of a promotion AffiliateClub.com ran for its affiliates...read more

Sands exec testifies he tried to negotiate deal with Suen

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Las Vegas Sands Corp. President Bill Weidner attempted throughout 2001 to negotiate a financial arrangement with a Hong Kong businessman who was trying to help the casino operator obtain a gambling license in Macau. Weidner, testifying in a Clark County District Court civil trial Monday, said he and Richard Suen exchanged more than 20 letters and faxes in 2001 over a potential success fee...read more

Adelson offers conflicting testimony

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Las Vegas Sands Chairman and CEO Sheldon Adelson offered conflicting testimony Friday about whether he or a top executive of his company breached fiduciary responsibilities and offered to pay a Hong Kong businessman to find investors and help obtain a casino license in Macau. During contentious questioning before the lunch break Richard Suen's attorney, John O'Malley, asked Adelson whether or not Las Vegas Sands President Bill Weidner wanted Suen to find investors for what was then a proposed hotel-casino development in Macau. Adelson, 74, who in 2001 was suffering severe pain from a rare neurological disorder, told O'Malley that Weidner should not have asked someone with Suen's lack of financial experience to find investors for the project. "Mr...read more

Inside gaming: Fertittas are latest Forbes cover boys

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Pop Quiz: Can you name the first Las Vegas casino executives to be featured on the cover of Forbes magazine since 2001? Steve Wynn? Guess again. Sheldon Adelson? That answer is only partially correct. Terry Lanni or Kirk Kerkorian? No on both accounts. Station Casinos bosses Frank Fertitta III, 46, and brother Lorenzo Fertitta, 39, grace the cover of the May 5 issue of Forbes, which will soon be available on Las Vegas newsstands. The lengthy article, titled "Ultimate Cash Machines," primarily focuses on the Fertittas' 90 percent ownership of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, which they purchased for $2 million in 2001...read more

Adelson fights lawsuit

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Las Vegas Sands Corp. Chairman Sheldon Adelson said Thursday he didn't believe a Hong Kong businessman could help his casino company win a gaming concession in Macau because, at the time, there wasn't any opportunity for casino expansion in the Chinese special administrative region. Still, Adelson said, he and Las Vegas Sands President Bill Weidner traveled to Beijing in 2001 to meet with Chinese government officials under the belief "that you never leave any stone unturned." Adelson, 74, testified Thursday in Clark County District Court on the first day of testimony in a civil trial to determine whether Richard Suen and Round Square Co...read more

Horseplayer's resource -- Handicapping in Cyberspace

George Kaywood of Kansas, one of the most respected names in the thoroughbred information business, has produced a super update in his Handicapping in Cyberspace: The Horseplayer's Complete Guide to the Internet (114 pages, 8x11 plastic spiralbound, $21.95, including CD ROM, which requires a PDF reader.) This 2008 edition, comprised of 17 sections, is a huge contribution to thoroughbred information...read more

Businessman's case against Sands Corp. gets under way

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Opening statements began Wednesday in what is expected to be a monthlong civil trial to determine whether a Hong Kong businessman helped Las Vegas Sands Corp. earn a lucrative gambling license in Macau and is now owed millions of dollars. The case was filed in October 2004 by Richard Suen and Round Square Co...read more