Featured Articles Archive - Page 613

House committee to hold hearing on Internet gambling regulation

The House Financial Services Committee will hold a hearing entitled "Can Internet Gambling Be Effectively Regulated to Protect Consumers and the Payments System?" on Friday, June 8 at 10 a.m. Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) introduced H.R...read more

Kaplan Pleads His Case, Still No Decision on Bai

A second detention hearing for Gary Kaplan concluded in St. Louis this morning with still no decision on whether the BetonSports founder is too much of a flight risk to be released on bail. The gamut of testimony covered steroid usage, an alleged kidnapping, passport fraud and Kaplan's dedication to his family. Kaplan entered the courtroom in blue prison garb with hands cuffed behind him, appearing very muscular, fit and healthy...read more

Do the series shuffle

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Quietly, Harrah's Entertainment officials don't expect the 38th World Series of Poker to attract the record-shattering number of players reached a year ago. But that's not necessarily a bad thing, said Jeffrey Pollack, a Harrah's vice president who serves as the poker tournament's commissioner. He hopes enhancements to the seven-week-long poker extravaganza at the Rio, which started Friday, will be noticed by the players, spectators and the ESPN television audience that can begin tuning into the competition on July 10. "I've been very consistent; the metric that we will measure the success of the World Series of Poker is the experience," Pollack said...read more

Contract deadline passes; workers shrug

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Terry Getler, a bellman at the MGM Grand since the property's opening in 1993, isn't disappointed a new collective bargaining agreement has yet to be reached between the hotel and the Culinary Workers Union Local 226 despite more than three months of negotiations. He expected it. Getler has participated as member of the union's negotiating committee since the MGM Grand first signed a union contract...read more

A revenue source in plains sight

KANSAS -- Gaming analysts believe four proposed casinos in Kansas could provide operators with a steady flow of gaming revenue although the potential figures won't be a trip down the Yellow Brick Road. Kansas lawmakers, tired of seeing residents flock across the border to wager away potential tax dollars at casinos in Kansas City, Mo., or at American Indian-run gambling halls in Oklahoma, decided to make their state the newest gaming battleground. The recently enacted legislation designated four state-owned casino sites, but also included a tax rate of 27 percent and set certain parameters for entry, such as a minimum investment of $225 million for each of the facilities. Because the casinos are full-fledged gaming halls with both slot machines and table games, observers believe some of the top-tier gaming companies will have an interest in Kansas. Pennsylvania, the most recent state to legalize gaming of any consequence since the late 1990s, allowed just 65,000 slot machines and prohibited table games at its five casinos and seven racinos...read more

Online Sunday tournaments - Players still competing despite WSOP

The World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, the unofficial home to thousands of poker players for the next six weeks, did little to dampen player participation numbers in the online Sunday tournament this weekend, just one week after the sites drew unexpected record numbers on the U.S...read more

WSOP weekend - Records fall, first bracelets awarded

Player numbers up So much for the expected decline in player participation. Event #3, the first $1,500 No Limit Hold'em affair, drew 2,998 players, making it the third largest live-poker tournament of all time. The previous record of 2,891 players was set at the 2006 WSOP in the $1,000 buy-in Event #17 won by Jon Friedberg...read more

NETeller agrees to distribution plan for U.S. customer money

NETeller has agreed to a distribution plan for returning seized monies to U.S. customers and hopes to implement the plan no later than mid-July, according to a press release issued today. U.S. authorities seized up to $55 million from U.S...read more

Index of gaming stocks slide in May

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- MGM Mirage's one-day stock surge wasn't enough to boost the gaming sector during May. The company's average daily stock price in the month, along with those of Las Vegas Sands Corp., Wynn Resorts Ltd. and Boyd Gaming Corp., fell when compared with April, an index compiled by Las Vegas-based financial adviser Applied Analysis shows. The index, which charts the stock progress and market variables of six casino operators and three gaming equipment manufacturers, fell 25.4 points in the month to 452.87 points. On May 21, MGM Mirage majority shareholder Kirk Kerkorian announced he wanted to explore buying Bellagio and the under-construction $7.4 billion CityCenter development from the company...read more

Casino giants lengthen collective agreements with union

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- MGM Mirage became the first casino operator to extend its collective bargaining agreement with the state's largest labor union beyond last night's expiration date. Harrah's Entertainment officials confirmed later Thursday that it had also agreed to a contract extension. Contracts covering some 50,000 Strip and downtown hotel-casino workers represented by Culinary Workers Union Local 226 expired at midnight despite months of negotiations between the labor organization casino management. Union leaders said earlier this week they would continue to hold talks with both the large casino companies and smaller casino operators. MGM Mirage, which has about 21,000 workers covered under the union agreements, said it would extend the current collective bargaining agreement with its employees until new contracts are settled...read more