Featured Articles Archive - Page 636

MGM buys parcels for new center

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- MGM Mirage, which is currently building the massive $7 billion Project CityCenter on 66 acres on the south Strip, has assembled the acreage to construct a similar and potentially larger development on the Strip's northern end. The Las Vegas-based casino operator will announce this morning it has finalized two Strip land acquisition deals worth a combined $575 million that will give the company more than 100 contiguous acres for development stretching north from Circus Circus Drive to Sahara Avenue. As part of the plans, MGM Mirage said it will refurbish the aging Circus Circus. "This land assemblage creates a very interesting and exciting opportunity for our company to create an integrated resort complex on the north end of the Strip," said MGM Mirage President and Chief Financial Officer Jim Murren. MGM Mirage will spend $444 million to purchase a vacant 25.8-acre parcel from Gordon Gaming Corp., the current owners of the Sahara. The site, on the northwest corner of the Strip and Sahara Avenue, is one of the boulevard's last major undeveloped locations...read more

Sands raises condo ante

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Las Vegas Sands Corp. said Tuesday its 300-unit condominium tower being built next to the Palazzo could lay claim as the Strip's most expensive residential offerings. In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Tuesday detailing the company's recently announced $5 billion credit facility that will fund its domestic development projects, Las Vegas Sands said it expects to begin pre-selling the condominiums by September. Construction on the 632-foot high-rise tower near the Strip entrance to the $1.6 billion Palazzo has already begun...read more

Strip project gets new investor

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Australia's largest gaming operator announced late Monday it is buying almost 20 percent of the company building the $2.8 billion Fontainebleau on the Strip's north end. Publishing & Broadcasting Ltd., which is controlled by James Packer, son of the late Australian business tycoon Kerry Packer, is spending $250 million to acquire 19.6 percent of Las Vegas-based Fontainebleau Resorts LLC. Fontainebleau Resorts is developing Fontainebleau-Las Vegas, a 63-story hotel-casino planned for a 100,000-square-foot casino and 3,889 hotel rooms, suites and condominium-hotel units...read more

Wynn dealers near vote on union

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- The National Labor Relations Board is expected to quickly schedule an election at which Wynn Las Vegas dealers can decide if they support having the union negotiate a collective bargaining agreement with the resort's management. The Transport Workers Union of America, which is hoping to organize the Wynn dealers, filed documentation for union authorization with the National Labor Relations Board. "The union has filed a petition with sufficient support for us to proceed," Steve Wamser, the NLRB's deputy regional attorney for Las Vegas, said Monday...read more

ESPN announces WSOP taping schedule

Eleven World Series of Poker tournaments will be taped by ESPN this summer, and the Main Event and the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. tournament will receive expanded coverage on the network. The Main Event will be broadcast over 16 one-hour episodes, while the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E...read more

Street receives earnings preview

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Las Vegas Sands Corp. gave Wall Street a preview of the company's first quarter earnings Friday to help aid marketing of a planned $5 billion domestic credit facility that will be used to fund some of its current projects in Las Vegas and Pennsylvania. The company only announced the preliminary results for its Venetian casino on the Strip, saving results from the Sands Macau for when it unveils the complete quarterly financial picture during the first week of May. The credit facility is expected to be used primarily to fund the company's domestic needs, including a planned $600 million casino and entertainment complex in Bethlehem, Pa., and the company's development projects that surround the Palazzo, a 3,000-room hotel-casino under construction adjacent to The Venetian. Las Vegas Sands has plans to build a second convention and exposition center on 20 acres on the east side of Koval Lane across the street from the company's 1.1 million-square-foot Sands Expo Center...read more

Rebecca's Recommendations - April 13, 2007

What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. So true. What a glorious city. Even though I'm not going to reveal many details from my Vegas weekend experience, I will tell you that I refrained from marrying my Swedish Poker Host man, even though I sort of wanted to...read more

Kansas governor approves gambling

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Kansas' governor signed into law legislation to allow up to four state-owned casinos and three racetrack slot machine parlors. But don't expect the casino industry's major operators to make an immediate beeline for the Sunflower state. Local referendums in the cities and counties where the casinos will operate are still required...read more

Survey: Casinos behind upturn

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Legalized gambling has returned as one of the few industries driving the economic recovery from disastrous hurricanes in Mississippi and Louisiana, a survey commissioned by the American Gaming Association found. The survey, released Wednesday as part of the American Gaming Association's sponsored G2E Institute in New Orleans, painted a mixed picture of the economic state in the areas of Mississippi and Louisiana most damaged when hurricanes Katrina and Rita slammed the Gulf Coast in the late summer of 2005. The Washington, D.C.-based lobbying organization had its pollster ask about two dozen leading Gulf Coast citizens, including bank presidents, college professors, chamber of commerce directors and economic recovery experts, about the region's state of affairs. Although none of the respondents said the Gulf Coast's current economic conditions are excellent, 60 percent believed they were "very good" while 30 percent thought the conditions were "not so good." Ten percent considered the economy in the region poor. Meanwhile, an open-ended question about industries leading the recovery effort found 36 percent citing casinos and 23 percent citing construction. "While we in the gaming industry realize the process of recovery on the Gulf Coast is far from over, this (survey) indicates how instrumental our industry has been in the recovery efforts to date and how bright the future is for the region," American Gaming Association President Frank Fahrenkopf Jr...read more

Two new poker books aimed at tough players and pigeons

If you're a tough player and one who likes to pretend you're a dunce, two new books just arrived at Gambler's Book Shop that aim to help you perfect your skills at the poker tables and end up with the money. Like watching a colorful parade and you never know what's coming down the street next, the new books march into our lives with exciting new titles to help them stand out and sell. Nick Grudzien and Geoff Herzog have a fresh one titled Winning in Tough Hold'em Games: Short-Handed and High Stakes Concepts and Theory for Limit Hold'em (347 pages, paperbound, $29.95), while "Anonymous" (he offers no first or last name) has written Play Poker Like a Pigeon And Take The Money Home (213 pages, paperbound, $14.95). The Grudzien and Herzog work addresses low-limit games ($3-$6 and below); middle limits ($5-$10 and $20-$40); upper limits ($25-$50 to $100-$200) and sky-high limits ($150-$300 and up) so there's something for everyone here...read more