Featured Articles Archive - Page 719

PartyGaming Confirms Empire Acquisition Bid

PartyGaming, the world's largest online poker room operator, on Thursday confirmed that it has bid to acquire Empire Online, whose EmpirePoker site funnels new players to PartyGaming through a partnership agreement. Both companies are stressing that negotiations are only in a preliminary stage and are, therefore, not disclosing the value of the offer. According to a press statement from PartyGaming, "There can be no certainty that any agreement will be reached or that any offer will be forthcoming or as to the terms of any such offer...read more

Rebecca's Recommendations - November 3, 2005

Welcome back to the wonderful world of Rebecca's Recommendations. Happy November. Ok, so you know how we all have that friend who was clearly born under a lucky star? Marty from Florida just might qualify as one of those friends. On October 22nd, Marty was playing Carnival Casino's progressive Gold Rally jackpot and won $1,966,000.00...read more

888's 3Q a Smashing Success

A tremendous third quarter for 888 Holdings Plc could go a long way toward solidifying investor confidence in the extraordinarily volatile I-gaming market. The Gibraltar-based online gambling group disclosed in a trading update Tuesday (just over a month after its float on the London Stock Exchange) that the number of real-money gamblers at its properties during the three-month period ended Sept...read more

Rebecca's Recommendations - October 27, 2005

Welcome back to Rebecca's Recommendations! First, I would like to extend a huge congratulations to the Chicago White Sox. As much as it pains me to speak highly of a team that knocked my Boston Red Sox out of the playoffs a few weeks back, I am secretly happy for the white guys...read more

Cosmo Says Hello: Guests See Model of Condo-Hotel

A midmorning thunderstorm Tuesday wasn't going to deter developers of the $1.8 billion Cosmopolitan from holding the project's formal groundbreaking. The event was going to happen even if it meant moving the planned outdoor ceremony inside the sales center. The Cosmopolitan, nearly a year in planning, hasn't drawn the attention afforded similar Strip high-rise condominium-hotel projects, such as Donald Trump's Trump International Hotel and Tower behind the New Frontier. Plans by well-known Las Vegas casino companies, such as MGM Mirage's 66-acre, $5 billion Project CityCenter -- which surrounds the 8.5-acre Cosmopolitan site -- have also overshadowed the Cosmopolitan. But neither lack of attention nor rain would stop Ian Bruce Eichner, chief executive officer of 3700 Associates, from parading the 3,000-room Cosmopolitan in front of some 150 real estate brokers, government officials, builders, media and interested observers. Cosmopolitan developers couldn't execute the actual groundbreaking ceremony Tuesday; a backhoe cracking the asphalt behind the sales center sat idle. But Eichner, who has developed more than 6 million square feet of high-rise residential, office, hospitality and retail in New York City and Miami Beach over the past 30 years, seemed unfazed by the weather. "About six people in the last two minutes told me a little rain brings good luck," Eichner said. Eichner hardly seemed to need luck to generate sales at the Cosmopolitan...read more

Slot Maker Warns of Loss

During a road show last week to promote an upcoming stock offering, Las Vegas-based Progressive Gaming International Corp. told Wall Street it was revising its third-quarter estimates to reflect a loss of 9 cents per share rather than earnings of 9 cents. The news, announced in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, sent shares of the equipment provider tumbling downward almost 30 percent on the Nasdaq National Market over two days of trading. Progressive Gaming said its estimated results for the quarter ended Sept...read more

Nevadan At Work: Executive Hoping Improvements Will Have Stratosphere Riding High

In his 25-year casino career, Bobby Ray Harris has hauled luggage, devised marketing plans, managed hotels and launched customer incentive programs. He even worked as a casino-floor change person, long before ticket in-ticket out technology made the job obsolete. But Harris may be best known for frightening the daylights out of adventure seekers. As senior vice president and general manager of the Stratosphere, he's responsible for bringing thrill rides to the top of the hotel-casino's 1,149-foot tower. With more than 17 million visitors since its opening in 1996, the Stratosphere tower drives traffic to the property...read more

PartyGaming Trading Update: All Is Wel

PartyGaming Plc this morning provided a trading update in which it revealed that revenues for the third quarter remained in line with expectations--despite the reported downturn in July and August. The company also reports that the moving of PartyPoker.com to a standalone platform has already led to better-than-anticipated results...read more

Mississippi Tax Revenue Sinking

MISSISSIPPI -- Mississippi's tax coffers suffered the lingering effects of Hurricane Katrina as the state's tax revenue from gaming fell almost $10 million during September. With 13 casinos from the Gulf Coast communities of Biloxi, Bay St...read more

Maltese Declassification

The Malta Lotteries and Gaming Authority (LGA) is doing away with its classification system for online gambling licenses. The shift is the LGA's response to changes in games and business models in the I-gaming space and will be ordered through amendments to the country's Remote Gaming Regulations of 2004...read more