Featured Articles Archive - Page 657

Gaming industry: Harrah's still meeting on buyout bids

The board of directors of casino giant Harrah's Entertainment met again on Sunday to discuss buyout offers for the company while sources told the Wall Street Journal that two private equity firms are the leading candidates to purchase the Las Vegas-based gaming operator in a $16.7 billion all cash deal. If the transaction takes place, it would be the largest such deal ever for the gaming industry. The deal, in which private equity firms Texas Pacific Group of Fort Worth, Texas and New York-based Apollo Management would buy all 186 million outstanding shares of Harrah's Entertainment for $90 a share, could be announced as early as this morning before the opening of the New York Stock Exchange, sources said...read more

Harrah's weighing takeover proposals

NEW YORK -- All's quiet on the Harrah's Entertainment front. On Friday, for the third straight day, there was no news on the future of the gaming industry's largest casino operator as a special committee of the company's board members pored over two multibillion-dollar buyout proposals and weighed a potential plan to recapitalize the Las Vegas-based casino titan. After two days of meetings in New York at an undisclosed location, it was unclear if the Harrah's board had met again Friday or had reached a resolution...read more

Rebecca's Recommendations - December 15, 2006

What a ridiculous December this is. I just returned from a poker conference Costa Rica and now I'm off to New Zealand until the end of the month. Remember the trip I won from Kiwi Casino at CAP Spring Break in May? Well the time is finally here, and let me tell you, these guys are treating me like you wouldn't believe- flights, hotels, spending money, rental car, guided tours, AND I get to bring a guest...read more

Editor of Las Vegas Review Journal Gaming Wire dies

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Rod Smith, the Review-Journal's Gaming Wire editor whose varied 30-year career took him into the fields of economics, politics and business journalism, died Thursday after a two-year battle with cancer. Smith, 60, had been the newspaper's award-winning lead reporter on the gaming industry since August 2002 and wrote a weekly column in the Business section's Sunday edition. Smith was a trained economist who took an interest in politics while living in Washington, D.C...read more

PartyGaming "stabilized" after UIGEA

PartyGaming generated almost $26 million over the last four weeks, according to a pre-close trading update announced Thursday. The online gaming giant, which closed its U.S. facing operations and laid off 945 people after the Unlawful Internet Gambling Act became law in October, says it will not reveal fourth quarter key performance indicators and will instead wait until March to reveal a further results statement. "(Passage of the UIGEA) was a blow to our business for sure, but one thing that I am very pleased to say is that our group has absorbed and now recovered from this incident," CEO Mitch Garber told a conference call Thursday morning. "PartyGaming is no longer a poker-led, U.S.-dependent and one language gaming operator," he added...read more

Riviera Holding's sale still in limbo

LAS VEGAS, Nevada – For the second time this year, a deal to purchase the parent company of the Riviera has fallen apart. Riviera Holdings Corp. announced that a 30-day exclusive negotiating period with developer Bruce Eichner and New York-based asset management firm D.E...read more

Bid for Harrah's draws skepticism

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- The board of directors of Harrah's Entertainment, meeting at an undisclosed location in New York on Wednesday and weighing potential takeover offers, didn't come to a conclusion about the future of the Las Vegas-based casino giant. Sources close to the matter said the board may not reach a consensus until today or possibly later. Sources familiar with the negotiations said regional casino operator Penn National Gaming is willing to pay $88.50 a share to acquire Harrah's...read more

Mergers and acquisitions: Harrah's quiet about bids

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- A meeting that no one will confirm is taking place could determine the direction of the gaming industry's largest casino operator. Almost 10 weeks after two private equity groups bid more than $15 billion to take Harrah's Entertainment private, the company's board of directors is expected to meet today and evaluate all potential offers for the Las Vegas-based company that operates almost 40 casinos in 13 states. The Wall Street Journal and other financial media outlets reported that Harrah's board wanted all offers submitted by Tuesday. Rival casino operator Penn National Gaming supposedly entered the fray for Harrah's last month to try to trump the bid. The Wall Street Journal and Reuters reported Tuesday that Apollo Management of New York and Texas Pacific Group of Forth Worth, Texas, were raising the stakes...read more

PPA raises the stakes

The Poker Players Alliance is going local. The grassroots organization that has been leading the fight to regulate Internet poker is looking for state, regional and local representatives to raise awareness and recruit members. "We felt it was important that we have a strong local, regional and state organization that can press the agenda at home when their (Congressional representatives) are back in their local jurisdictions," said Michael Bolcerek, the president of the PPA...read more

Heard it on the river

SCOTTY NGUYEN (win) is returning to defend his crown when the WORLD POKER OPEN kicks off at GOLD STRIKE on Jan. 3. He fully expects to play his way into the championship event Jan. 21-25. There was little doubt that Scotty would return. In the 2006 event last Jan...read more