Featured Articles Archive - Page 723

Casino Acquisition: Golden Nugget Sale OK'd

As chairman of the Nevada Gaming Commission and a longtime Las Vegas attorney, Pete Bernhard has heard many a promise from a prospective casino operator possessing large-scale plans to revive downtown Las Vegas. Most never came to fruition. Houston-based Landry's Restaurants, which closed its $325 million purchase of the two Golden Nugget casinos in Las Vegas and Laughlin on Tuesday, expressed similar promises about rekindling interest in the downtown property...read more

Gulf Casinos Again Brace for Storm

Las Vegas-based gaming companies, already picking up the remains of their Gulf Coast casinos in Mississippi and New Orleans, are again bracing for a bout with a hurricane. Pinnacle Entertainment, Boyd Gaming Corp. and Harrah's Entertainment closed their casinos in Lake Charles, La., as Hurricane Rita approached the area...read more

Maltese Company Files Complaint Against France With EC

Maltese Internet betting company Zeturf Ltd has responded to a French tribunal's demand that it stop offering wagers on French horse racing by launching an appeal of the ruling and filing a formal complaint with the European Commission. The Maltese government has also responded vehemently against the French ruling...read more

Rebecca's Recommendations - September 22, 2005

Welcome back to my recommendations. As you can see, I am alive. I am healthy. I have my voice back. I have slept 12 hours a night since my return from Vegas. I have taken 35 years off my life. Honestly, if you ever get the chance to attend an online gaming conference, I HIGHLY recommend that you do so...read more

Sands Starts Own Big Dig for Palazzo

Las Vegas Sands Corp. is taking its Palazzo underground. As development in Las Vegas goes vertical stacking story on story, Sands Corp. has gone downward, below the earth, to begin construction of its $1.8 billion Strip resort. When completed in 2007, the Palazzo will rise 50 stories above the Strip...read more

G2E Eases Some Fears

LAS VEGAS -- A few months ago, Mississippi Gaming Commission Executive Director Larry Gregory mapped out his plans for this week's Global Gaming Expo, arranging his week around his scheduled participation in a Wednesday morning panel discussion on communication between regulators, casinos and suppliers. Gregory spent three days in Las Vegas...read more

Rebecca's Recommendations - September 15, 2005

Welcome back to Rebecca's Recommendations! As you sit in your comfortable chair, relaxing, perusing through my newsletter, perhaps even drinking a beer, I am desperately trying to survive on a red eye home from Vegas. Awesome. Anyway, as I'm sure you can only imagine, I will have some fun little stories for you next week, but in the meantime, I have saved a few gems for your review… For all you college students out there, and that includes you, Charlotte Simmons (ha ha), Absolute Poker will be hosting a "Win Your Tuition" tournament on October 15th...read more

Looking Ahead With One Eye on Gulf

LAS VEGAS -- With attendance up almost 14 percent from a year ago and the trade show floor space at a record 290,000 square feet, the fifth annual Global Gaming Expo is being dubbed a success by its sponsors from the American Gaming Association. But one dark cloud hangs over the gaming industry's largest annual gathering-- the devastation Hurricane Katrina brought more than two weeks ago to the casinos in coastal Mississippi and New Orleans. About a dozen casinos in the Mississippi communities of Gulfport and Biloxi were either destroyed or severely damaged, putting employees out of work and delivering a substantial blow to the Mississippi economy...read more

Major Casino Company Leaders Find Accord

LAS VEGAS -- The leaders of the gaming industry's two largest companies, who between them control more than 60 casinos, employ more than 170,000 workers and have combined annual revenue of more than $16 billion, found themselves agreeing Wednesday on many of the key issues facing the casino business. Harrah's Entertainment Chairman Gary Loveman and MGM Mirage Chairman Terry Lanni told an audience at the Global Gaming Expo that their respective companies are committed to rebuilding their hurricane-damaged casinos along the Mississippi Gulf Coast, although in what shape or form is still to be determined. The two leaders said the industry's diminishing dependence on gaming revenue in favor of growing nongaming attractions, including restaurants, retail, entertainment and spa-salon offerings, benefit both their respective companies. Both MGM Mirage, with the development of the 66-acre Project CityCenter, and Harrah's plans for its large footprint that includes Harrah's Las Vegas, the Flamingo and the newly acquired Imperial Palace, give the companies sizable Strip parcels to develop. "The dynamics have changed tremendously and we have a lot of different options," Loveman said. In addition, Loveman and Lanni said gaming expansion outside the United States, such as into Macau and Singapore, will continue to boost Las Vegas visitation. While being quizzed for an hour by American Gaming Association President Frank Fahrenkopf as well as audience members, Lanni and Loveman echoed each other's answers on several subjects. Both executives said rebuilding on the Gulf Coast was important to the industry. "Mississippi is one the three states, along with Nevada and New Jersey, that understood gaming," Lanni said...read more

Global Gaming Expo: What Washed Up Acts?

Las Vegas is no longer the city where entertainers go to die, a panel of Strip headliners told the keynote session of the Global Gaming Expo on Tuesday. In fact, they said collectively, the spread of legalized gaming across the world is opening new doors for the entertainment industry. During an hour-long discussion moderated by CNN's Larry King, singers Clint Holmes and Wayne Newton, comedian Rita Rudner, show producer Franco Dragone and boxing commentator Al Bernstein told G2E attendees the image of performers headlining a Strip showroom is no longer that of the washed-up entertainer. "There isn't a stigma about playing Las Vegas anymore," said Holmes, who headlines at Harrah's...read more