Featured Articles Archive - Page 670

PartyPoker mucks U.S. hand

When President Bush signed the Security and Accountability for Every Port Act on Friday, it marked the end of PartyPoker.com's reign at the top of the U.S. Internet poker mountain. The law includes an attachment, the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, which requires U.S...read more

Bush signs Unlawful Internet Gambling Act

President Bush signed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Act into law today. The measure, which was attached to a ports security bill, bans American banks and credit card companies from completing transactions with Internet gambling companies. The Associated Press reports Bush focused on security issues at today's signing ceremony and did not mention Internet gambling...read more

Bid for Harrah's tops $15.5 billion

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- A higher bid by two private equity firms seeking to purchase casino giant Harrah's Entertainment didn't surprise gaming analysts, who said Wednesday the initial bid of $81 per share was too low. The New York Times, citing unidentified sources close to the negotiations, reported Wednesday that New York-based Apollo Management Group and Texas Pacific Group of Forth Worth, Texas, had sweetened the bid for Las Vegas-based Harrah's to between $83 and $84 a share, jumping the buyout bid from $15 billion to more than $15.5 billion. The newspaper reported that Harrah's company directors had rejected the original week-old offer. Harrah's spokesman Alberto Lopez would not comment on the Times article Wednesday...read more

Residents see Aliante Station site plans

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- From her backyard facing northeast, Karolyn Shields can gaze out toward the Sheep Mountain Range across the Las Vegas Beltway through the sprawling Aliante development. So when Station Casinos announced plans to build the $600 million Aliante Station in the North Las Vegas master-planned community, Shields worried that her mountain views might be disrupted. Tuesday evening, she walked away from a neighborhood open house with Station Casino executives somewhat satisfied. The casino's 200-room hotel tower will be nine stories, about half as tall as Station Casino's 17-story Red Rock Resort in Summerlin...read more

Poker players refuse to fold to Congress

Just over a week after Congress passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, several of the biggest names in poker are pushing back. World Poker Tour announcer and poker pro Mike Sexton will be in Washington, D.C. today and tomorrow to protest the signing of the bill and promote poker as a game of skill that should receive an exemption from the legislation...read more

Online gambling companies "coming together" at EiG

"One thing you need to realize is that this industry has always been under siege and probably always will be," said Sue Schneider, CEO of River City Group in her welcoming remarks to attendees of the European I-Gaming Congress and Exhibition (EiG) Wednesday morning...read more

Nevada gaming revenue: Downtown dims

NEVADA -- While the revenue earned by Strip casinos continues to feed Nevada's record-pacing year, downtown gambling halls are heading in the opposite direction. The closure of the Lady Luck and renovations at Fremont Street casinos were the primary reasons cited for the more than 14 percent drop in gaming revenue in August, the third straight month that downtown casinos' win declined. Meanwhile, the statewide gaming win in August raced to its third-highest monthly total this year, numbers released Tuesday by the Gaming Control Board show. Nevada casinos won more than $1.06 billion from customers during the month, a 7.5 percent increase from August 2005, when the gaming win was $989.1 million...read more

Nevadan at work: 'Green power' advocate helps shape CityCenter

Call Rose McKinney-James a power player. Her decade-long advocacy efforts in promoting the use of renewable energy resources -- such as solar and wind technology -- may have rubbed off on the designers of MGM Mirage's Project CityCenter...read more

Gambling issues scarce on ballots

RHODE ISLAND -- Harrah's Entertainment executives hope the electorate in Rhode Island will have gambling on its mind as it heads to the polls next month. Political pundits say the war in Iraq, fluctuating gasoline prices and homeland security are voters' foremost concerns this midterm election season...read more

Harrah's passes on Singapore bidding

SINGAPORE -- Harrah's Entertainment officially ended its 20-month-long quest to build a casino in the city-state of Singapore, announcing Friday that it would not submit a bid proposal for a site at Sentosa Island. The Las Vegas-based casino operator said the decision, made jointly with its Singapore-based partner, Keppel Land, does not mean the company has given up on expanding into Asia. In a brief statement, the companies said they had "determined it would not be possible to deliver a development on the scale we envisioned for Sentosa Island while meeting our objectives for this project." Harrah's made no mention of this week's massive buyout offer by two private equity groups, who proposed to pay more than $15 billion for the company, as a reason for pulling out of the Singapore bidding. On Tuesday, Harrah's spokesman Alberto Lopez said recent events caused the company to re-evaluate its Singapore proposal. "The development team put together a spectacular package, but we just couldn't make the financials work," Lopez said. Dennis Farrell, a gaming analyst with Wachovia High Yield Research, thought Harrah's would turn its interest in Asia toward Japan, which may become the next Asian market to allow for Las Vegas-style casinos. "With Singapore, I think it was related to return on investment," Farrell said...read more