 Newsletter Signup
Stay informed with the
NEW Casino City Times newsletter! |
Gaming News
Inside Gaming: Officials Sweat Contracts Expiration24 March 2003LAS VEGAS -- April Fools. Contract renegotiations are under way between Mandalay Resort Group and the Teamsters Local No. 995. With a contract expiration date of April 1, rank-and-file workers are wringing their hands with worry that unionized reservations positions at Mandalay properties will be swapped for nonunionized, corporate positions. Company officials say the issue hasn't come up in the first two collective bargaining sessions. Union officials could not be reached for comment. *** Remember the MGM Mirage currency transaction report fiasco? Some 14,000 required anti-money laundering reports went unfiled, possibly going back years. Well, the Nevada Gaming Control Board was, and is, investigating. Last month, it promised a report on the investigation by early April. Now, we're told it's all delayed. Why? Agents are still putting together the report on an incredibly complex debacle. *** In Las Vegas, the rumor mill churns and churns. Almost everyone denying they're doing deals was pointing the finger last week at Harrah's Entertainment Inc. and Argosy Gaming Co. Harrah's, in particular, was said to be looking for acquisitions. Harrah's has been hurting for top-line growth, except by acquisitions, anyhow. And with limits on riverboats going out the window in Indiana, the move would strengthen the company's Midwest presence. *** A new industry survey by Sita, the leading provider of airline services, says bad "amenities" are the cause of one in five of passengers switching carriers. Maybe that's why airlines buying triple-deck Airbuses are promising casinos-in-the-sky. Some Asian carriers already are said to have planned casinos on the lower deck. Note: the same idea floated a decade ago when Boeing planned superaircraft and cruises to nowhere were just getting started. Now, casinos may have outgrown their earthbound prospects. *** Vegas. It can't get too faux. At least that's what wannabes from Wall Street say. A bunch of Big Apple financial analyst-types last week said they treat yuppies like rock stars at the Venetian V-Bar, the most New Yorky of the New Yorky. Bellagio's Light runs a close second. Quoth Alan Feldman in the New York Times on the trend toward tony: "We can't be too exclusive." *** Quote of the week: "Even a dog has his day sometimes." Gaming stocks have been stronger of late, but many analysts are not sanguine they'll repeat their performance of the last few years. Instead, they're seeing a midtrack correction on a slippery slope. "But don't quote me." Anonymous chicken littles. The Inside Gaming column is compiled by Gaming Wire Editor Rod Smith. You can contact him by phone at (702) 477-3893, fax (702) 387-5243 or e-mail at rsmith@reviewjournal.com. Copyright GamingWire. All rights reserved. |