Featured Articles Archive - Page 655

Another Harrah's exec to resign post

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- The chief operating officer of Harrah's Entertainment resigned Wednesday, the third corporate executive to leave the Las Vegas-based casino giant this week. In a two sentence filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, Harrah's said Tim Wilmott, a nearly 15-year Harrah's employee, was resigning as of Friday. Harrah's Chairman Gary Loveman, who also serves as the company's chief executive officer and president, will assume Wilmott's responsibilities. Wilmott, 48, did not return phone calls. Loveman, who participated in the opening of Harrah's Health and Wellness Center in Las Vegas Wednesday morning, was not commenting on the Wilmott resignation Wednesday afternoon. A Harrah's spokesman referred calls on the matter to the company's SEC filing. Wilmott was considered the No...read more

MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS: Tropicana gets new ownership

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Kentucky-based Columbia Sussex Corp. became the owner of the Tropicana and three other casinos Wednesday after completing a $2.75 billion buyout of Aztar Corp. The deal, which was initially announced almost eight months ago, gives new life to the 1,880-room Strip icon, although the new owners plan to demolish and remodel much of the 34-acre site over the next two years. In November, while winning licensing approval from Nevada gaming regulators, Columbia Sussex officials said they would spend $2 billion to remodel the Tropicana, giving the site more than 9,000 hotel rooms and an additional hotel brand. Separately, the Clark County Planning Commission on Tuesday approved use permits for new towers and renovations for the Tropicana...read more

Detroit's Don Barden Awarded Pennsylvania Gaming License

Late last month, on his 63rd Birthday, Detroit casino developer Don Barden was awarded a license to build a $450 million casino in Pittsburgh's North Shore. In total, the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board awarded 11 permanent slots licenses...read more

Pair of execs exit at Harrah's

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Two Harrah's Entertainment executives, including the division president who was overseeing the company's Gulf Coast casinos, have left the Las Vegas-based gaming operator. But a company spokesman said last month's announced $27.8 billion buyout of Harrah's by two private equity groups had nothing to do with the management changes. "People will read into a lot of things," Harrah's spokesman David Strow said. He confirmed that Harrah's Central Division President Anthony Sanfilippo, who has spent 24 years with the company, including 10 as a division president, retired Monday...read more

The strip: Slice of the high life

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- The $24 million sales pavilion for the residential components of MGM Mirage's $7 billion Project CityCenter isn't your average model home community. The nearly 30,000-square-foot pavilion, which opens today, is on the Strip between New York-New York and Monte Carlo. With a spacious design, two different scale models of the CityCenter site, high-tech features and information about the project's four residential developments, the sales pavilion is designed to give potential CityCenter owners a taste of what life will be like inside the 66-acre urban village. "We're using a number of audio visual tools and state of the art technology that will put the perspective buyer inside their residence and present to them information about CityCenter that they might not know," said Tony Dennis, executive vice president of CityCenter's residential division. The sales pavilion, which is a temporary structure, has individual boutiques dedicated to CityCenter's four residential developments; Vdara Condo Hotel, The Residences at Mandarin Oriental, Veer Tower and Residences at The Harmon...read more

Leaders: Carrying on a legacy

John Boushy joined Ameristar Casinos in August with the idea of learning a new side of the casino industry. Twenty-seven years in senior executive positions with Harrah's Entertainment showed Boushy gaming from a giant company's perspective...read more

Gaming industry: Gaming stocks rise sharply in '06

NEW YORK -- Stock values of the gaming industry's major companies experienced double- and triple-digit increases in their average daily prices compared with 12 months ago, data from December show. But December also saw the beginning of sea change in control of two large casino operators and hints that others might follow along. Applied Analysis, a Las Vegas-based financial consulting firm, compiles an index that charts the average daily stock prices of nine publicly traded gaming companies...read more

Vegas Guide is a great timesaver while Physics of Hoops is fascinating

Maybe I'm biased. I enjoy discovering books and resources that can save people time and money, and I enjoy finding others that explain concepts many people have pondered for years. Two such titles have arrived at Gambler's Book Shop recently...read more

Upgrading of Santa Fe cost equivalent of new property

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- For the money Station Casinos has spent buying and remodeling the Santa Fe since it acquired the northwest Las Vegas property in 2000, the company could have built an entirely new hotel-casino. That's exactly what took place. Other than its 200-room hotel tower, not much remains of the original Santa Fe that opened in 1990 on North Rancho Road. The latest amenities added to the Santa Fe Station, part of a $130 million expenditure, were unveiled earlier this month...read more

Poker's Greatest Moments Memorialized in Super Book

Mark Rogers loves poker. You can see it in his writing and his book says it all. Titled 52 Greatest Moments -(The) World Series of Poker (157 pages, hard bound, $39.95), this tribute to the game, the tournament and most of all, to the players who have made it so, with many of the hands that made and lost millions, is truly a labor of love...read more