Featured Articles Archive - Page 665

Rebecca's Recommendations - November 3, 2006

Ok. You want to know what "paff" means. "To paff" means "to hug". See? Isn't it a fun word? Now that you know the definition of paff, I want to tell my affiliate managers, online casino operators and affiliates about a very exciting event that I'm sure will involve a lot of paffing...read more

MGM Mirage beats Street

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- MGM Mirage wowed investors Thursday with third-quarter earnings that surpassed most expectations. And company executives believe the results could foreshadow the future. Fueled by its collection of upscale Strip casinos, MGM Mirage said the company's net income rose $156.3 million in the quarter ended Sept...read more

Gearing up for my main event

I can smell the $75,000. Preparing for the biggest tournament of my life, all I can think about is first place. The tournament is the $600 Limit Hold'em event in the World Poker Finals at Foxwoods. Last year, 470 people entered, making first prize $74,655...read more

Internet gamblers may determine Congressional majority

Recent editorials in The New York Times and FOXNews.com suggest control of Congress may come down to the votes of Internet gamblers. Radley Balko, a longtime pundit for the Cato Institute, wrote in a recent FOXNews.com column that the GOP distanced itself from the 15-20 million Americans wager online each year when it passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA). "This largely apolitical group could well get politically motivated the first time they try to log on, and are told their small-stakes poker game has now been outlawed by the Republican leadership in Congress," Balko wrote on FOXNews.com...read more

Tropicana staying put

LAS VEGAS, Nevada – On the same day one aging Strip icon was closed, another older casino received a reprieve. Columbia Sussex Corp. President Bill Yung III told Nevada gaming regulators Wednesday the Tropicana wouldn't be shut down once his company's $2.75 billion buyout of Aztar Corp...read more

LV Sands sees earnings rise

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Las Vegas Sands Corp. credited strong table game play at its expanded casino in Macau with fueling a jump in the company's third-quarter earnings. The casino operator, which owns The Venetian and is building the $1.8 billion Palazzo, said Wednesday it earned $97.3 million in the quarter that ended Sept...read more

Lady Luck stays closed for now

LAS VEGAS, Nevada – (PRESS RELEASE) -- It will be at least another year before the shuttered Lady Luck in downtown is replaced, state gaming regulators were told Wednesday. The 743-room hotel-casino closed in February and the facility's operator, Downtown Resorts, has spent much of the year demolishing the inside structure of the casino to give designers a clean slate. Andrew Donner of the Donner Investment Trust, which holds almost 66 percent of Downtown Resorts, told the Gaming Control Board during a routine transfer of interest hearing it would be at least late 2007 or early 2008 before the Lady Luck, which will be renamed, is reopened. "We're about 85 percent complete in the design of the new facility," Donner said. After the brief hearing, Donner said the company might be ready to release its plans "in the next 30 days." The 42-year-old Lady Luck closed Feb...read more

Pinnacle seeking addition in Gulf

LOUISIANA -- Las Vegas-based Pinnacle Entertainment wants to compete in another Louisiana gambling market and has submitted an application to state gaming regulators to move a shuttered Lake Charles riverboat casino to a new location in Baton Rouge. If successful, Pinnacle would operate casinos in all four of the state's jurisdictions that allow riverboat gambling. In a filing with the Louisiana Gaming Control Board last week, Pinnacle said it wanted to move one of two riverboat casino licenses the company acquired in a trade with Harrah's Entertainment to a 35-acre site in Baton Rouge, Louisiana's state capital. The area's population has increased in the past year due as displaced New Orleans residents moved north after their homes and businesses were destroyed in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in August 2005. There are only two casinos in Baton Rouge, operated by Columbia Sussex Corp...read more

Buyout bid boosts Harrah's in October, driving index up

A proposed $15.5 billion buyout offer by two private equity groups for Harrah's Entertainment helped to escalate the company's average daily stock price in October. Other gambling stocks and a gaming index compiled by Las Vegas-based financial consulting firm Applied Analysis benefited, too. The index, which charts the average daily stock prices for six casino companies and three slot machine manufacturers, rose 32.4 points or 9.3 percent in October to close the month at 381.5, an all-time high. "The new valuations within the gaming sector were primarily driven by the leveraged buyout offer for Harrah's," Applied Analysis partner Brian Gordon said Tuesday. He added the takeover attempt overshadowed all other gaming industry news during October. "Earnings season is really not reflected in October's values," Gordon said. Harrah's and Boyd Gaming Corp...read more

Herbst Gaming to buy Primm properties

Herbst Gaming has struck an agreement with MGM Mirage to purchase the three casinos in Primm on the Nevada-California border off Interstate 15 for $400 million, sources said late Tuesday. The deal, which is expected to be announced this morning, will give the privately held Las Vegas based casino company control of Whiskey Pete's, Primm Valley and Buffalo Bill's, along with three gasoline station-convenience stores and a mini-market located on the California side of the border that sells state lottery tickets...read more