Featured Articles Archive - Page 737

Former Flamingo Boss Named New York-New York President

MGM Mirage on Monday named Lorenzo Creighton as president of the company's NewYork-New York property. Creighton's appointment was the first of what MGM Mirage foresees as many executive appointment announcements linked to its $7.9 billion buyout of Mandalay Resort Group. Creighton has 10 years of casino operations experience...read more

Gambling Beyond Nevada: A Big Deal With Little Fanfare

The multibillion dollar corporate buyouts that will reduce Nevada's four gaming industry giants to two has sparked a multitude of analysis from investment houses and pages of copy from the financial media. But a third such merger, taking place far away from the lights of the Strip featuring two companies most casual investors would be hard-pressed to name, has also piqued the interest of those who follow the gaming industry. When Penn National Gaming completes its $2.2 billion buyout of rival Argosy Gaming sometime this summer, the combined company will have estimated annual revenues of $2.18 billion and rank as gambling's third-largest casino operator, trailing only the merged Harrah's Entertainment-Caesars Enter-tainment and the combined MGM Mirage-Mandalay Resort Group. By Las Vegas standards, Penn National, which has headquarters about 60 miles northwest of Philadelphia in Wyomissing, Pa., and began life as small racetrack operator in 1972, wouldn't seem to belong at the table with the industry titans. Once combined with Illinois-based Argosy, Penn National will control 20,831 slot machines and 2,477 hotel rooms in nine states through 14 casinos, three racetracks and seven off-track betting parlors...read more

Furniture Showcase Expanding

One month before completion of the World Market Center's first phase, officials from the furniture showcase near downtown Las Vegas announced Friday the facility is growing and will now include 12 million square feet of exhibit space. The cost of the project has also grown to $2 billion. The expansion calls for the complex to be constructed in eight phases on a 57-acre parcel southeast of the Interstate 15-U.S...read more

Wizard Steve of Wynn Las Vegas Casino-Resort

No one anticipates trends like casino developer Steve Wynn, 63, who is excited about his US$2.5 billion Wynn Las Vegas Casino-Resort. Wynn confirmed that the first-phase 50-story tower of 2,800 rooms, will be completed on time, scheduled to open on his wife, Elaine's Birthday, April 28...read more

Boyd Exec Goes Out on Top

LAS VEGAS -- When Boyd Gaming Corp. in 1996 named as its president a one-time banker whose only hands-on relationship with the gaming industry was steering development of the Fremont Street Experience, it was unusual. At the time, Boyd Gaming consisted of a handful of downtown casinos, struggling properties in the Midwest, Sam's Town and the Stardust. The company, having gone public a few years before, didn't rank as one of Wall Street's foremost casino operators. "We weren't one of the most highly valued companies in the industry," Don Snyder recalled recently as he nears the end of a nine-year run as president of Boyd Gaming. Snyder replaced Chuck Ruthe, Boyd's long-standing president, bringing some corporate structure, but adding an outsider's perspective to one of Las Vegas' historical casino operators. "We put into place a vision of how we would like to become a broad-based and geographically diverse gaming operator," Snyder said...read more

Report: Aztar Better if Broken Up

LAS VEGAS -- A Wall Street gaming analyst believes struggling Aztar Corp. could have more value to its shareholders if the five-casino company, which includes the aging Tropicana, is broken apart and sold. In a report last week to investors, Steven Ruggiero of CRT Capital Group said Phoenix-based Aztar has waited too long to capitalize on an anticipated redevelopment of the 34-acre Tropicana site and another gaming operator could step in and grab the potentially valuable real estate. Aztar's value, based on its Monday stock price close, is $28.21...read more

Wynn Rhapsodizes About Projects

LAS VEGAS -- As Steve Wynn was preparing Thursday to address the Nevada Gaming Commission at the licensing hearing for his $2.7 billion Wynn Las Vegas, he was overcome by historical perspective. Wynn first appeared in front of the commission in 1967 when he was 25 years old, and the city's transformation over the past 37 years prompted his remarks to the five-member panel about his thoughts in designing the Strip's first new resort since 2000. "I had not planned any comments...read more

Horoscope for the week of Mar 27, 2005

Tip of the Week: Last week the Sun and Mars entered the signs Aries and Aquarius respectively within about six and a half hours of one another, on the first day of Spring! Then on March 22 Venus entered Aries. The planets are the first principle in Astrology and this planetary activity signifies a one month period with a particularly high vibration...read more

Georgia Lawmakers Consider Internet Lottery Purchases

On March 10th a bill that would allow the Georgia State Lottery to begin selling tickets over the Internet passed through the state's House of Representatives by a vote of 98-48. Supporters believe the bill could increase the lottery's revenue by targeting a new kind of customer, but opponents fear not only that it could increase the amount of problem gambling but that it might also violate the federal Wire Act...read more

Horoscope for the week of Mar 20, 2005

Tip of the Week: Spring is officially here. I could have said technically because Spring Equinox is traditionally March 21 but this year the Sun enters Aries in the Tropical Zodiac on March 20, at 4:34 am Pacific Time. The Zero degrees Aries Point or Vernal Equinox point is very powerful both literally and symbolically...read more