Featured Articles Archive - Page 740

Horoscope for the week of February 27, 2005

Tip of the Week: In 1977 a new planetoid was discovered orbiting between Saturn and Uranus. Many Astronomers did consider it to be a comet and many still do, yet others recognize certain unique, maverick qualities of this celestial orb that puts it is a league of its own...read more

Nevada Gaming Commission Approves MGM Mirage-Mandalay Merger

LAS VEGAS -- While it was clear from the outset of Thursday's Nevada Gaming Commission hearing that MGM Mirage's $7.9 billion buyout of the Mandalay Resort Group was going to be approved, state regulators wanted to spell out their concerns about the anti-competitive aspects of the transaction more stringently than the Federal Trade Commission...read more

Temporary Trump Building to Cost $3 Million

LAS VEGAS -- At a cost of $3 million, the sales information center and model complex for the proposed Trump International Hotel and Tower Las Vegas might be the most expensive temporary building on the Strip. While it's intended to be the marketing center for Donald Trump's first Las Vegas project, its location on Las Vegas Boulevard at the front of the New Frontier -- across from the Fashion Show mall -- and its ties to the real estate developer and reality television star may turn the 8,100-square-foot facility into a tourist attraction. "We've been told 35,000 people a day walk by that location, so I'm sure there's a chance of that happening," Jack Christie, vice president of sales and marketing for Trump International, said Wednesday as construction began on the sales center, which is expected to open in June...read more

MGM Mirage-Mandalay Merger: Buyout Gets Control Board's OK

LAS VEGAS -- MGM Mirage's $7.9 billion buyout of the Mandalay Resort Group moved a step closer to completion Tuesday as Nevada gaming regulators granted preliminary approval to the creation of a 28-casino company that will employ more than 75,000 workers, 90 percent of whom will be based in Nevada. With the State Gaming Control Board's 2-0 recommendation, the proposal now moves to the Nevada Gaming Commission on Thursday...read more

Mergers and Acquisitions : Buyout Deal Clears Obstacle

Harrah's $9.4 billion buyout of Caesars Entertainment on Friday cleared the waiting period spelled out by the federally mandated Hart-Scott-Rodino Act, but the transaction still awaits action by the Federal Trade Commission. The law, which was enacted in 1976, sets a time period for parties to file objections about a corporate merger...read more

Horoscope for the week of February 20, 2005

Tip of the Week: Pisces is a sign as peculiar as two fish out of water! Since Pisces represents the subconscious and the disembodied soul, people strongly influenced by the twelfth and last sign of the Zodiac can at best be described as mystical, meditative, imaginative, compassionate, sensitive, subtle, psychic and wise...read more

De Lotto Prevails over Ladbrokes in Dutch Supreme Court

The Dutch Lottery on Friday received the decision it wanted from the Supreme Court of the Netherlands in its summary proceedings against British gaming company Ladbrokes. The Supreme Court put to rest a court battle that spanned more than two years by ruling that Ladbrokes must cease taking bests from Dutch residents. Ladbrokes has been arguing both in its summary and main proceedings that the gambling monopoly enjoyed by De Lotto in the Netherlands violates the free movement of services throughout Europe, but the Supreme Court has rejected that plea, ruling instead that the restrictive gaming policies of the Netherlands are indeed consistent with European law. The court says that no gambling provider may offer services to Dutch residents without a Dutch license, and Ladbrokes has been ordered to implement geolocation systems and other measures to insure that its Web site cannot be accessed by Dutch residents. Several other European gaming companies have legal cases tied up in the Dutch court system, but this ruling from the highest court in the country should serve as an affirmation that the law of the land prohibits foreign operators from offering services in the Netherlands. The Supreme Court's decision is consistent with the opinion delivered by the Advocate General three months ago. The ruling is quite a decisive blow to Ladbrokes' efforts, but the battle still carries on in the main proceedings against De Lotto, even though the deck does seemed stacked against the company in that case too. In June 2004, a court in Arnhem handling the main proceedings between De Lotto and Ladbrokes issued an interlocutory ruling that Dutch gaming laws are inconsistent with their self-defined goals of limiting fraud and preventing gambling addiction...read more

Illinois Senate to Vote on Internet Lottery Bil

Illinois State Senator John Cullerton, D-Chicago, has introduced legislation that would allow the state's residents to purchase lottery tickets over the Internet. The Senate Revenue Committee passed Senate Bill 0198 Wednesday by a vote of 6-4; it now awaits a second reading and vote before the entire Illinois Senate on Feb...read more

MGM Mirage Restructuring Begins

LAS VEGAS -- A day after getting federal antitrust approval of its $7.9 billion buyout of the Mandalay Resort Group and just days away from an anticipated go-ahead from Nevada gaming authorities, the corporate structure of the new MGM Mirage is already beginning to take shape. The transaction will give MGM Mirage control of 28 properties in five states, including eight of the nine major resort casinos on the west side of the Strip between Spring Mountain Road and Russell Road, as well as the MGM Grand. A team of executives from MGM Mirage is expected to unveil an organizational layout to the Gaming Control Board on Tuesday morning that will help explain where the 17 properties now controlled by Mandalay Resorts will fall into the MGM Mirage scheme...read more

Casino City Case Dismissed

The U.S. Department of Justice was successful yesterday in getting Casino City's case dismissed by the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana. The case is one that many in the I-gaming industry hoped would re-establish advertising for Internet gaming services in the American market. Casino City in August filed a motion for declaratory judgment regarding its right to carry advertising for Internet gambling services...read more