Featured Articles Archive - Page 586

Gaming sector caught in market skid

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Volatility continued to plague gaming industry stocks in February. Just two of the seven casino operators tracked for an index compiled by Las Vegas financial consulting firm Applied Analysis reported month-over-month increases in their average daily stock prices...read more

Quick-takes: The month's trends in a glance - February 2008

TAKE ONE The much touted buyout of Harrah's is finally done. It marks the largest and latest of the buyouts of public gaming companies by private equity firms; the other two announced in 2007 were Stations, which was finalized before the end of the year, and Penn National...read more

Bits and Pieces from Indian Country - February 2008

Twenty years into Indian gaming, many things have changed. Indian gaming is now big business, much larger than anyone would have imagined in 1988. In the beginning, just one state, Connecticut, saw a chance for the state to take advantage of Indian gaming and that awareness came only at the suggestion of the management of Foxwoods...read more

Heard it on the river: Horseshoe's legendary blackjack tournament is on tap

How would you like to win a $100,000 first place prize in a blackjack tournament? Stop dreaming and hurry over to HORSESHOE and sign up for its third $250,000 LEGENDARY BLACKJACK TOURNAMENT that is always well attended. You can enter by giving up a $1,000 buy-in at the Bluesville promotions counter and if you are an early bird sign-up on Thursday March 27 you will get a $100 chip back...read more

Herbst Gaming seeks debt fix

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Herbst Gaming, which has taken a financial hit in the past year after a statewide smoking ban cost the company customers in its slot machine route operation, has asked Goldman Sachs to assist in evaluating financial and strategic alternatives, including the sale of the business. In a statement released Wednesday, Las Vegas-based Herbst Gaming, which significantly grew its statewide casino business through two high-profile acquisitions in 2007, said the alternatives could include a recapitalization, refinancing, restructuring or reorganization of the company's debt, or a sale of some or all of its businesses. According to a November report by Deutsche Bank, Herbst Gaming had total debt of approximately $1.15 billion as of Sept...read more

Two vital baseball statistical guides by Erwin prepare bettors

Among the questions asked annually before the regular baseball season begins are "Where can I find the scores, money lines and totals of all the games played last season?" and "Does anyone offer lifetime career record of pitchers against other teams -- and how about earned run averages against those teams?" Also, "How does (name the team) do against groundball, flyball or power pitchers?" and "Where can I find how teams do against lefties or on artificial turf?" Perhaps they're looking for a pattern, a trend or trying to develop a system or method of handicapping a team before the season gets under way. In any case, there are few resources available to find it all under one book cover and two of them have arrived early enough for handicappers to start their research. Luckily, Phil Erwin of Portland, Ore., has been recording all this material into two books annually for decades...read more

Boyd Gaming cautious on '08 outlook

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Wall Street analysts on Wednesday tried to push Boyd Gaming Corp. executives into making bold predictions on the prospects for the gaming industry in 2008. Keith Smith, in his first quarterly earnings conference call with analysts and investors as company CEO, wasn't biting. Smith, who added the CEO duties to his role as Boyd Gaming president on Jan...read more

Raises won't deter union

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- The New York-based union that is hoping to organize dealers at two MGM Mirage resorts said the company's decision to raise the base salaries of its Strip casino dealing staff won't affect the labor group's tactics. Transport Workers Union of America officials also took credit Tuesday for the raises, where some MGM Mirage dealers will see their paychecks increase by as much as 22 percent. "Those raises are the direct result of our organizing efforts," said Steve Roberts, an international organizer for the Transport Workers and a director of Las Vegas Dealers Local 721...read more

Quarterly loss widens for Pinnacle Entertainment

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Pinnacle Entertainment suffered its second straight fourth-quarter earnings loss as development costs for the company's pipeline of casino projects across the country cut into profits. The Las Vegas-based casino operator said Tuesday it lost $19.2 million, or 32 cents a share, in the quarter ended Dec...read more

Harrah's Posts $47.8 Million Loss in Q4

Harrah's Entertainment has posted Q4 2007 losses of $47.8 million -- largely the result of a $169.6 million pre-tax write off of certain intangible assets, including the London Clubs International purchase. Revenues remained healthy, growing 8.1 percent to $2.63 billion on the quarter...read more