Featured Articles Archive - Page 630

MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS: They'll make Manhattan

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- The private ownership group buying the New Frontier plans to spend $5 billion to turn the Western-themed hotel-casino -- best known for $44 a night rooms, bikini bull riding and the Strip's last bingo hall -- into an ultraluxury mixed-use development. The New York-based Elad Group, which is controlled by Israeli billionaire Yitzhak Tshuva, on Wednesday formally announced the purchase of the New Frontier's 34.5-acre Strip location for $1.2 billion. The 984-room New Frontier will close in 60 days so it can be demolished and replaced by what Elad executives described as a high-end project with a hotel-casino, condominiums, a convention center and retail space. The complex is expected to include 3,500 hotel rooms and 300 private residences. The project's centerpiece is a version of New York's landmark Plaza Hotel, which Elad bought for $675 million in 2005 and is spending $400 million to remodel...read more

PokerStars donates $1 million to aid Darfur

PokerStars.com has pledged $1 million to the charity Not On Our Watch, whose mission is to focus global attention and resources to stop and prevent mass atrocities. The charity, formed by Ocean's Thirteen stars George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle and producer Jerry Weintraub, is focused on supporting existing humanitarian relief efforts in Darfur and ensuring the protection of civilians in the war-torn region. More than 400,000 people have been killed in the western region of Sudan and more than 2 million innocent civilians are living in refugee camps in Sudan or Chad...read more

More than $1.2 billion: New Frontier sale sets record

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- An Israeli-owned real estate investment group, in what is being called the most expensive large-site transaction on the Strip, has bought the New Frontier and its 36 Strip acres for more than $1.2 billion, the casino's current owner, Phil Ruffin, confirmed late Tuesday. Ruffin said El Ad Properties, which controls several landmark New York City buildings, signed the purchase agreement last week for the hotel-casino site. Ruffin, a Wichita, Kan., businessman who paid $167 million for the New Frontier in 1998, had been seeking an equity partner to help finance redevelopment of the New Frontier into a 2,750-room Swiss-themed resort. He said a $100 million deposit on the deal arrived Monday. "We're under contract, and that means we're doing the deal," Ruffin said...read more

Rebecca's Recommendations - May 18, 2007

Dear Casino City Readers, Yes, I found my phone. It was at Caselli's Amsterdam apartment, remember? Evil. He is evil. Anyway, throughout the course of this past week, a large number of my online gaming contacts asked me if I was able to find my phone (for those of you who did not actually see me flip out, I "misplaced" my cheap little international phone when I was slightly intoxicated one night in Amsterdam)...read more

Rebecca's Recommendations- top 5 reasons to attend CAP Spring Break '07

Yes, I found my phone. It was at Caselli's Amsterdam apartment, remember? Evil. He is evil. Anyway, throughout the course of this past week, a large number of my online gaming contacts asked me if I was able to find my phone (for those of you who did not actually see me flip out, I "misplaced" my cheap little international phone when I was slightly intoxicated one night in Amsterdam)...read more

Big brands redefining online poker

The days where a small online poker site could strike it big and become a billion dollar company may now be a relic of a bygone era. With Yahoo! entering the market and the World Poker Tour Online migrating to a better network, it appears success in the online poker industry depends on having big, trusted brands with vast resources...read more

PokerStars to deal ten-billionth hand

It's like the lottery, only better. PokerStars is getting ready to deal its 10 billionth hand, and its giving away $1,000,000 to mark the occasion. To put the number in perspective, the earth's population is 6.5 billion. Just last summer, PokerStars celebrated dealing its five-billionth hand., And they're going to double that mark in less than 12 months....read more

PPA nears 500,000-member milestone

The Poker Players Alliance is about to reach the 500,000-member mark, a significant milestone for a group that had 120,000 members just four months ago. The 400% growth in membership has been fueled by outrage over the arrests of NETeller's cofounders and the subsequent seizures of money, the high-profile appointment of former Senator Alfonse D'Amato chairman of the board, and a series of PokerStars freerolls that registered tournament entrants...read more

CASINO INDUSTRY: Wynn to deal with dealers

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- One day after a vast majority of its casino dealing force cast ballots in favor of union representation, Wynn Las Vegas executives seemed resigned to negotiating a collective bargaining agreement with the New York-based labor organization that will speak for the workers. The National Labor Relations Board has until next week to certify the results of the weekend election at Wynn Las Vegas, where dealers, in a vote of 444-149, asked to be represented by the Transport Workers Union of America. Gregory Kamer, a Las Vegas-based labor attorney who represents Wynn Las Vegas, said Monday nothing has come to the attention of Wynn management that would cause the casino operator to file an objection to the election results with the NLRB...read more

Progressive Gaming International posts quarterly loss

Casino equipment supplier Progressive Gaming International Corp. on Monday reported a net loss in the first three months of 2007. Progressive executives, however, said sales of management systems that will be recorded in the next quarter could help steer the company toward profitability. For the period ended March 31, Progressive Gaming said it had a net loss of $8.7 million, or 25 cents per share, on revenues of $16.7 million...read more