Gaming

Q&A: Kevin Kelley, executive vice president and COO, Station Casinos

Difficult times: Kevin Kelley, chief operating officer and executive vice president of Station Casinos, says the company faces challenges in 2010.

Kevin Kelley’s 30-year gaming industry career has spanned nearly every aspect of casino operations from valet attendant to chief operating officer, with three companies on two continents.

New Year’s Eve in Las Vegas won’t break the bank

Robbie Knievel jumps in front of the Mirage volcano on the Strip New Year's Eve 2008.

New Year’s Eve couldn’t come soon enough for Strip hotels. After taking a yearlong beating, offering rooms at prices that haven’t been as cheap for a decade, some Strip hotels are sold out for New Year’s Eve weekend at relatively jacked-up prices. The operative word: Relatively.

Station Casinos bondholders want permission to sue

Station Casinos Inc.'s bondholders asked the company's bankruptcy court for permission to sue the company over the leveraged-buyout deal that took Station private, charging the transaction crippled the company with debt.

New Jersey could come between MGM Mirage, Macau


Casino billionaire Stanley Ho and daughter Pansy Ho attend a groundbreaking ceremony for an MGM Mirage casino in 2005 in Macau.

This month’s abrupt departure of MGM Mirage executive Gary Jacobs stems from East Coast regulators’ concerns about Jacobs’ handling of the company’s business partnership in the Chinese enclave of Macau, knowledgeable sources say.

Hard Rock Hotel opens new all-suite tower

The Lux bar inside the new casino space at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas Monday, December 28, 2009.

The Hard Rock Hotel & Casino’s all-suite HRH Tower welcomed its first guests Monday. The new tower includes 359 "standard" suites, seven penthouses and eight spa villas with direct access to Hard Rock’s new pool area set to open in the spring. The news media were allowed inside the towers Monday. Hard Rock executives have said they will target luxury-seeking guest with the new suites. The HRH Tower will offer a separate entrance and guest check-in area.

Hard Rock set to open new tower, nightclub

A suite in the Hard Rock Hotel's new HRH Tower.

December has been filled with hotel openings in Las Vegas and today will mark yet another when the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino’s all-suite HRH Tower welcomes its first guests.

Phil Ruffin: Strip will remain king, but downtown will suffer

Phil Ruffin

I bet three-quarters of a billion dollars that things will be good on the Las Vegas Strip by 2020, so I hope I’m right. I figure the Strip is going to continue to be the place in Las Vegas, and there’s only one Las Vegas so people from around the world will continue to come here.

Smith Center board chairman: Arts and culture will change us

Don Snyder, chairman of the board of directors of the Smith Center for the Performing Arts, stands in front of a replica of a box of seats in his office. The center is under construction in Symphony Park.

One of downtown’s highlights will be the Smith Center. History tells us how important world-class facilities like these have on the culture of the city’s residents. So it’s not just going to be a fabulous building, it’s going to change lives. Culture and the arts change lives. What’s happening here will forever change our children.

NFL rule changes allow Las Vegas ads during Super Bowl

Executives with the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority and their contracted advertising agency, R&R Partners, will meet early next month to determine if the city’s popular “What happens here, stays here” television ads could be aired in the Super Bowl broadcast.

Black Gaming filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization

An investment group including South Point hotel-casino owner Michael Gaughan, the Toti family and Randy Black Sr. would control Mesquite hotel-casino operator Black Gaming under a pre-packaged bankruptcy plan for Black Gaming announced on Wednesday.

Consultants say Station deal to lease casinos legitimate

Consultants hired by Station Casinos Inc. are backing up Station’s assertions that a sale-leaseback deal involving four of its Las Vegas hotel-casinos was legitimate.

Harrah’s wins contract extension to manage Arizona tribal casino

Harrah’s Entertainment Inc. of Las Vegas today said it won a five-year extension of its contract to manage the Ak-Chin Indian Community’s hotel-casino in Arizona.

Standard & Poor's predicts another tough year for gaming industry

Hurt by too much capacity, even as demand improves, the gaming industry faces another tough year in 2010, Standard & Poor’s Equity Research reported Tuesday. “Gaming fundamentals continue to be poor,” S&P said.

Boyd Gaming moves for credit flexibility as it seeks growth options

Boyd Gaming Corp. of Las Vegas on Monday said it amended a bank credit facility to give it more flexibility as it pursues growth options including its proposed $2.45 billion acquisition of Station Casinos Inc.

Tropicana Entertainment announces new marketing leader

Las Vegas-based Tropicana Entertainment LLC today announced the appointment of David Zamarin as senior vice president and chief marketing officer.