Riviera skips another interest payment

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- The owner of the Riviera hotel-casino in Las Vegas said today it missed another interest payment on its debt -- but continues to talk with its lender as it looks for a way out of its financial predicament.

Riviera Holdings Corp. said earlier this year that because the recession has reduced business at its properties in Las Vegas and Colorado, it elected not to make a $4 million interest payment on March 30 and warned it may need to seek bankruptcy protection.

Today, Riviera said it missed another payment due June 30 on its $245 million credit facility with Wachovia Bank -- now owned by Wells Fargo Bank -- as administrative agent.

"The company continues to engage Wachovia in discussions regarding events of default under the credit facility," Riviera said in a regulatory filing today.

The company at year-end employed the equivalent of 1,137 people at its property on the Las Vegas Strip.

It earlier reported that net revenue fell 28 percent year-over-year in the first quarter to $34.7 million. In the first quarter of 2009, it lost $1 million, or 8 cents per share vs. a loss in the 2008 quarter of $5.8 million, or 47 cents.