Featured Articles Archive - Page 697

Strip Tourists, Casino Officials Have a Mostly Quiet Day

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Imrich Kusnir, an immigrant from Czechoslovakia, didn't see what all the hubbub was all about. Kusnir, now a resident of Nashville, Tenn., and three friends came out of The Mirage on Monday morning, unaware that some immigrant Strip casino workers stayed home to take part in the nationwide Day Without Immigrants protest. "Service has been fine, and nothing seemed out of the ordinary," said Kusnir, in Las Vegas on a weeklong holiday...read more

Nevadan At Work: Hear Him, Read Him, See Him: Hilton Executive Loves to Talk About Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Ira David Sternberg says he has revived the old Las Vegas radio talk show format of the Strip's heyday and enhanced it with 21st century technology. Sternberg, the Las Vegas Hilton's vice president of communications and community relations, hosts "Lunchtime With Ira," a weekly one-hour talk show inside the property's Shimmer Cabaret on Mondays at noon. The show, aired live on KDWN-AM (720), is also carried nationally on Cable Radio Networks, streamed live and archived on the Las Vegas Hilton's Web site, and filmed by Watchit Television Network for airing on the Hilton's in-room television channel. With apologies to Howard Stern, Sternberg might be Las Vegas' "King of all Media." "It's a combination of promoting what's happening at the Las Vegas Hilton as well as what's happening in Las Vegas," said Sternberg, who joined the Las Vegas Hilton in the summer of 2004. Las Vegas had several AM talk radio shows in the 1970s and 1980s that promoted casino events, along with numerous late-night, locally produced television programs originating from Strip casinos. "We started the concept as a throwback to other Las Vegas radio shows," Sternberg said...read more

Deals on the Strip: Bidding for Aztar Heads Higher

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Pinnacle Entertainment's last-ditch effort Friday to acquire the Tropicana and its parent company paid off, but only for a few minutes. Aztar Corp. announced late Friday that it agreed to amend its merger agreement with Las Vegas-based Pinnacle, increasing the proposed purchase price to $48 a share. However, in the same statement, the company said Kentucky-based Columbia Sussex raised its previously announced unsolicited offer for the casino operator to $50 a share, or about $2.56 billion. A source close to the negotiations said the bidding war for Phoenix-based Aztar will likely extend into next week. Aztar said the offer from Columbia Sussex, which operates four Nevada casinos, included a signed merger agreement and financing commitment letters...read more

House Rules Committee Nixes Surprise Attempt to Move Leach Bil

U.S. Reps. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., and James Leach, R-Iowa, have again demonstrated their commitment to prohibiting Internet gambling in the United States, this time through an attempt at progressing Leach's bill in an unorthodox way. On Wednesday evening, one day prior to a session in which the entire House of Representatives was to consider its version of the much discussed lobbying reform bill, the House Rules Committee met to decide which amendments would be made in order during consideration of the bill...read more

Rebecca's Recommendations - April 28, 2006

I am finally 100% recovered from Amsterdam. Thank god. This is a very good thing considering that I must be in top form for an expo in Montreal (GIGSE) immediately followed by CAP Spring Break in Miami. These events take place in about two weeks...read more

Harrah's Focuses on Expansion

LAS VEGAS -- Las Vegas-based Harrah's Entertainment said Thursday that with hotel-casinos that were once part of Caesars Entertainment now under its corporate banner, the company can turn its attention toward expanding its presence as a casino industry giant. Driven largely by contributions from the former Caesars properties and the integration of gamblers from those casinos into Harrah's customer loyalty program, Harrah's called its earnings for the first quarter of 2006 "record setting." Company revenue for the three-month period that ended March 31 were $2.4 billion, a 93 percent increase from $1.2 billion a year ago...read more

Workers Unsure About Protest

and Jennifer Robison LAS VEGAS -- A day after local labor leaders and casino executives said workers could do more for immigration reform by going to work, rumors were circulating that any workers staying away would be fired. Whether gaming and hospitality employees will stay away from their jobs to participate in the planned Day Without Immigrants protest was anyone's guess. "Fifty-fifty," replied the Hispanic employee, who declined to give his name...read more

AGA Calls for US Congressional Study into Impact of I-Gaming

The American Gaming Association (AGA), a group that represents the commercial land-based casino entertainment industry in the United States, has modified its legislative position on Internet gambling and now strongly supports the creation of a one-year congressional study commission that would evaluate the impacts of online gambling...read more

Casinos Push Petition, Not Protest

LAS VEGAS -- Top executives representing the Strip's major casinos and the gaming industry's largest labor union urged employees to come to work Monday, saying they could do more in the effort for comprehensive immigration reform by staying on their jobs, rather than participating in a national day of protest. A planned nationwide job boycott by immigrants on Monday, designed to draw attention to the role they play in the U.S...read more

In the Name of Integrity

An Integrity in Sports Betting Conference took place in Twickenham, London last Wednesday and was attended by representatives of British government, sports bodies and the betting industry. All were reportedly in agreement that they should work together to eradicate whatever amount of cheating may exist in their sports, and to that end, a 10-point code of practice was introduced. Drafted by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport in partnership with the Jockey Club and the Football Association, the code of practice already has the support of nine sporting organizations: the Football Association, Rugby Football Union, England and Wales Cricket Board, Horserace Regulatory Authority, National Greyhound Racing Club, Motor Sports Association, World Snooker, Darts Regulatory Authority and British Darts Organization...read more