Gaming - VEGAS INC

MGM Mirage cancels debt swap after participation falls short

MGM Mirage today canceled a previously-modified debt-exchange offer due to lack of investor participation. MGM Mirage announced Aug. 27 a plan to trade some of its $782 million in 8.5 percent notes due in 2010 for up to $500 million in 10 percent notes due in 2016.

1 October 2009

By Las Vegas Sun Staff

Forbes' list of richest Americans reflects gaming's woes

Difficulties facing the casino resort industry are reflected in Forbes' new list of the richest Americans, with MGM Mirage's Kirk Kerkorian seeing his ranking fall the most among top gaming titans.

1 October 2009

By Steve Green

Judge grants request of Station Casinos creditors to probe 2007 deal

RENO – A federal bankruptcy judge has granted a request by creditors of Station Casinos Inc., allowing them to hire a private attorney to look into possible fraud or wrongful procedures in the deal that took the company private in 2007.

30 September 2009

By Cy Ryan

What happened to the theme in Vegas' theme resorts?

Las Vegas’ shift away from themed resorts reflects a couple of trends. The city had — at least until the downturn — succeeded in luring an increasingly upscale traveler. Casino operators simultaneously became less preoccupied with luring vacationing families to Las Vegas. This trend of catering to the worldly traveler has echoed up and down the Strip over the past decade.

30 September 2009

Casino scammers in Black Book plead guilty to cheating slots

Two casino cheats listed in Nevada's Black Book and a woman who was their alleged accomplice in a 2006 crime pleaded guilty today in District Court for their roles in a slot machine cheating scheme they allegedly used at several Las Vegas casinos.

29 September 2009

By Tiffany Gibson

Venetian: Company owes $173,550 after poker tourney canceled

Poker tournament organizer Hall of Fame World Poker Championship LLC was sued by the owner of the Venetian resort in Las Vegas on Monday over an allegedly unpaid invoice.

29 September 2009

By Steve Green

Station Casinos wants 'breathing room' from employee wage suit

The Red Rock Casino Resort is shown in the western Las Vegas Valley.

Station Casinos Inc. of Las Vegas wants a lawsuit over employee wages to be put on hold, saying it's entitled to some "breathing room" from such litigation during its bankruptcy proceedings.

28 September 2009

By Steve Green

Downturn lights a path to casino control

One man’s troubled casino is another man’s potential buying spree. When times were good, private equity firms were knocking down doors to invest in Las Vegas casinos. Stung by the recession, some of these same firms are now looking to buy them for cents on the dollar.

28 September 2009

By Liz Benston

Will Vegas advertising that worked before, work again?

Sean Corbett, Director of Digital Marketing, sits during a brainstorming meeting for the LVCVA account at the office of R&R Partners in Las Vegas Friday, Aug. 21.

For an ad man with an ounce of imagination, Las Vegas is rich with sales material — cheering gamblers, sexy nightclubs, celebrity-chef restaurants, haute couture boutiques and stunning stage productions. But none of these would be highlighted in Las Vegas’ most successful advertising campaign. Instead, the commercials would only tease, thick with innuendo, to unspoken tourist experiences. “What happens here, stays here” sold Vegas for years.

27 September 2009

By Liz Benston

Celebrity/media NFL picks Week Three

Oakland's numbers didn't look good last week at Kansas City, but one letter -- W -- looked great.

26 September 2009

By Sal DeFilippo

Station Casinos details lease arrangement, rejection of Boyd

Station Casinos Inc. is fighting a motion that an examiner be appointed to investigate its financial operations. The company on Friday filed a response in U.S. Bankruptcy Court to a motion by a group of minority lenders that an examiner with wide-ranging investigatory authority be appointed.

26 September 2009

By Steve Green

Brash huckster and visionary builder Bob Stupak dies at 67

Bob Stupak at the unveiling of the artist's rendering of his casino tower at Vegas World, which would later become the Stratosphere, Feb. 1990.

Bob Stupak was the ultimate Las Vegas gambler and huckster, always pushing the envelope if it would bring him publicity. Always the independent, he was more aggravating than charming, but always a topic of conversation, which pleased him. He died Friday after a long battle with leukemia.

26 September 2009

By Ed Koch

In reversal, Fontainebleau lenders suggest liquidation

Fontainebleau Resort on the north end of the Las Vegas Strip is shown under construction.

A key group of lenders to the stalled Fontainebleau resort has lost confidence that the $2.9 billion project can be revived through the Chapter 11 bankruptcy process, and moved Friday that the project be converted to a Chapter 7 liquidation.

25 September 2009

By Steve Green

Manufacturer of slot that can match gambler’s desired pace is licensed

A Las Vegas company that is working to develop slot machines that can match a gambler’s desired pace of play has been licensed by the Nevada Gaming Commission.

25 September 2009

By Richard N. Velotta

The party’s over for out-of-control nightclubs, regulator says

It’s quite an electric scene, those casino nightclubs. But in their quest to have a wild time in Vegas, some clubbers misbehaved. And, in their bid to be recognized as the hippest place in town, club managers looked the other way.