Featured Articles Archive - Page 595

Reno casino workers to hold labor votes

RENO, Nevada -- Reno casino workers represented by Culinary Local 226 are holding two separate votes today, one to ratify a new contract at Circus Circus in Reno and another to authorize a strike at the Grand Sierra Resort. About 700 workers at Circus Circus reached a tentative agreement with management on a new five-year contract...read more

The Reel Life

The week of Susan Last week in The Reel Life, we followed Bodog online slot player Susan G. as she tore up the machines for more than $30,839 in winnings. The day that article was published she continued her amazing run, capturing another $124,000 in online slot victories...read more

Bodog loses domain names in patent infringement suit

Calvin Ayre was forced to launch a new gambling Web site Wednesday after losing most of his Bodog.com domain names to 1st Technology LLC in a patent infringement dispute. Last September, 1st Technology sued Bodog in a federal court in Nevada, alleging the online gaming company was illegally using a "method and system for interactively transmitting multimedia information over a network which requires a reduced bandwidth," according to court documents obtained by Casino City...read more

Venetian expected to alter gaming in Macao

MACAO -- On the eve of opening a $2.4 billion resort in Macau that will double the casino and hotel capacity of the Chinese gaming enclave, executives from Las Vegas Sands Corp. said there is room for more. The company's 3,000-room Venetian Macau, an 11 million-square-foot complex, opens today in what Las Vegas Sands President Bill Weidner believes will be a market-transforming event...read more

Hurricane Katrina aftermath: Renewed, reborn

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana -- The South has risen again. Wednesday marks two years since Hurricane Katrina, packing 135 mph winds and an estimated 35-foot storm surge, roared across the Gulf of Mexico and demolished the vibrant casino industry that had flourished along Mississippi's Gulf Coast. When the clouds dissipated, 12 casinos were left in ruins...read more

MGM Mirage workers: Unions approve contract

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- MGM Mirage workers represented by the Culinary and Bartenders unions overwhelmingly approved a new five-year collective bargaining agreement Friday that not only secured employees higher wages and benefit increases but also ensured the possibility that the labor organizations' single largest bargaining group could grow even bigger. Employees, meeting in morning and afternoon sessions at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center, ratified the collective bargaining agreement covering 21,000 members of Culinary Workers Local 226 and Bartenders Local 165 at 10 MGM Mirage Strip resorts...read more

Wild jokers add to video poker fun

Super Slots Casino's Multi-Hand Double Joker video poker game is easy to pick up and hard to stop playing. Game play is relatively easy. You can play up to four hands. There's one draw. Jokers are wild. And the pay table is easy to understand...read more

PPA names John Pappas new executive director

The Poker Player's Alliance (PPA) named John Pappas as its executive director Thursday. The move coincides with the PPA's decision to move its headquarters from San Francisco to Washington D.C. Pappas will replace PPA President Michael Bolcerek, who oversaw the organization's rise to more than 660,000 members...read more

MGM Mirage, union land deal

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Culinary Local 226 and the MGM Mirage reached a tentative agreement on a new five-year contract late Wednesday covering some 21,000 workers at 10 hotel-casinos. The deal was struck at 8 p.m. after a 10-hour bargaining session, the first time the two sides had met in almost two months...read more

Dubai buys into Las Vegas Strip

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- MGM Mirage's $5.1 billion deal to sell half of its CityCenter development and a nearly 10 percent stake in the casino operator to Dubai World, a holding company for the Persian Gulf state, is more than just another joint venture investment. Company Chairman Terry Lanni believes the transaction, announced early Wednesday, may be the single-most significant event in MGM Mirage's history, eclipsing in importance the $6.4 billion buyout of Mirage Resorts in 2000 and the $7.9 billion purchase of Mandalay Resort Group in 2005. Lanni said the transaction, in which Dubai World will invest $2.7 billion into CityCenter and $2.4 billion to acquire more than 28 million shares of MGM Mirage stock, brings the company a long-term partner with an interest in enhancing the company. The deal also gives MGM Mirage access to the relatively untapped market of Dubai, which attracts wealthy visitors from Russia, India and Middle Eastern countries...read more