Featured Articles Archive - Page 650

Manchester picked to get Britain's first LV-style casino

MANCHESTER, England -- American gaming analysts were surprised Tuesday that Britain's first Las Vegas-style casino will be built in the city of Manchester, beating out London and the seaside community of Blackpool. The independent Casino Advisory Panel recommended Manchester, located 195 miles northwest of London, for the casino as a way of fostering badly needed economic development in the city, best known for its industrial heritage and the soccer club Manchester United. The location is still subject to approval by British lawmakers and Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell...read more

Lightning Poker officially signs with Shuffle Master

Casino industry giant Shuffle Master agreed last week to distribute Lightning Poker's e-tables. The tables are a cross between online gaming and live poker play. Players sit around a table, but look at their cards and chip stacks on a video screen...read more

ePassporte.com remains an option for U.S. players

ePassporte.com remains a viable e-wallet service for U.S. Internet poker players, although new customers can expect some significant delays when trying to establish a functional account. The service is one of the few financial processors remaining for American online gamblers...read more

New benefit: Citizenship

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Teresa Cabrera and Antonio Valle have been legal residents of the United States for almost two decades since immigrating from Mexico. Full citizenship, however, always seemed to elude them. Whether it was the cost of filing the application or the challenge of the citizenship exam, the couple, married for 17 years, seemed to hit a hurdle. When Station Casinos began offering its employees a chance to participate in a citizenship assistance program, the pair, who have worked at Sunset Station since 1999, jumped at the opportunity. In August, both Cabrera and Valle were sworn in as U.S...read more

Casino industry: Rise of the machines

After a half decade-long slumber, the prospects for gaming equipment manufacturers appear to be awakening. Emerging U.S. and international gaming markets, casino growth in existing jurisdictions and a rollout of the much-anticipated server-based slot machines give Wall Street analysts reasons to once again tout slot makers' earnings potential. Most analysts believe 2007 is the starting point of a cycle that could propel profits for the sector through the end of the decade. Deutsche Bank Securities, in looking at the potential for slot machine expansion worldwide, said it believes manufacturers could be filling orders for more than 1.1 million new slot machines through 2010 if all the growth predictions pan out. With a profit surge, slot makers could end an earnings lull that has affected the industry for the last few years...read more

Harrah's Entertainment cuts 200 jobs in corporate office

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Harrah's Entertainment eliminated some 200 jobs in its Las Vegas corporate office Friday, saying the layoffs have nothing to do with the planned $27.8 billion leveraged buyout of the casino operating giant by two private equity groups. The company notified employees in a memo early Friday morning that positions in aviation, food-and-beverage, hotel operations, design and construction and government relations were being eliminated...read more

Player Profile - Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi

It's reasonable to think winning $2.3 million and topping most of the media's 2006 player of the year lists would be Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi's favorite accomplishments of 2006, but they didn't even come close. Mizrachi is a family man - the birth of his daughter on Feb...read more

Group dislikes Station buyout bid

LAS VEGAS -- A Washington, D.C.-based investment group affiliated with organized labor said Thursday it believes the management-led proposed buyout of Station Casinos undervalues the company and should be rejected by its board of directors. CtW Investment Group, which is affiliated with a federation of labor unions representing 6 million members that broke away from the AFL-CIO in 2005, thought an offer of $82 a share by Fertitta Colony Partners doesn't reflect Station Casinos' vast real estate holdings in Las Vegas and the potential value of future casino earnings and tribal gaming management contracts. Fertitta Colony Partners includes members of the Fertitta family, including Station Casinos Chairman Frank Fertitta III and company President Lorenzo Fertitta, who took the casino operator public in 1993. CtW Investment Group, which works with union-sponsored pension funds and public employee pension funds with combined control of more than 2.6 million shares of Station Casinos, believes the company is worth more than $97 a share. "In our view, the proposed $82 offer by Fertitta Colony Partners would allow the insiders of the company to unfairly capture the value of (the company's) investments at the expense of long-term shareholders," William Patterson, executive director of CtW, said in a letter to the nonmanagement members of the Station Casino board of directors. The investment group also called for Dr...read more

Team Bodog cuts Jamie Gold

Bodog ended their relationship with World Series of Poker champion Jamie Gold Thursday, citing a desire to refocus their marketing efforts away from America. "In light of our decision to cease all offline marketing initiatives in the U.S., and instead refocus our efforts … in Europe and Asia, Bodog has ended our business relationship with Jamie Gold," Bodog spokesperson Susan Mainzer said in a statement...read more

Iacocca group Fallon bound

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- In time, Northern Nevada residents could see the face of auto industry icon Lee Iacocca on billboards telling them if they can find a better casino than Stockman's in Fallon, they should buy it. Full House Resorts, a small casino company in which Iacocca is one of the primary investors, was approved by the Nevada Gaming Commission to purchase Stockman's Casino and Holiday Inn Express for $25.5 million...read more