Gaming

Bill threatens gaming, dies quickly

A bill intended to prevent the casino industry from getting $150 million in taxes back from state and local governments and school districts began the day with bipartisan support and backing from legislative staff and the governor.

1 July 2008
By David McGrath Schwartz

Deluge expected for jobs at new Station casino

Station Casinos will begin taking applications Sunday for more than 1,000 jobs at Aliante Station, the company’s 10th major property in town, which is scheduled to open in North Las Vegas Nov. 11. And applicants can line up in their pajamas.

1 July 2008
By Liz Benston

State takes hit from unpaid markers

Adding to the state’s tax woes: It hasn’t been able to collect gaming tax on $166 million in wagers — the amount bet in Nevada casinos with markers that have not been repaid by the gamblers.

27 June 2008
By Liz Benston

For Wynn dealers, deal slow to come

Resolving issues having to do with grievances and tip-sharing is testing the ability of the Transport Workers Union to flex its muscle at a time when it’s trying to organize more dealers, this time at the Rio.

24 June 2008
By Liz Benston

Target still vague as special session looms

WHAT ARE THE FACTORS? Several issues are making it difficult for Nevada's financial planners to predict revenue figures, experts say. The state's economy is largely dependent on tourism, which contributes sales and gaming taxes to the state budget. Tourism is taking a hit from the economic slowdown, and planners must project revenue not knowing how long the downturn will last. As an added complication, the opening of CityCenter, middle, and other projects could draw in a horde of new visitors. Or not.

What in the name of Pythagoras is going on? Nevada lawmakers — facing next week’s special session — need to repair the state budget by cutting it. But, as of Thursday evening, no one could agree on how much needs to be cut.

20 June 2008
By David McGrath Schwartz

Adelson money is political baggage

As the Culinary Union agitates, a divide among Democrats on the Clark County Commission is growing about whether to accept money from the companies of Sheldon Adelson, the conservative casino mogul.

19 June 2008
By Tony Cook,
David McGrath Schwartz

Lanni steps down from gaming lobby’s board

MGM Mirage boss Terry Lanni has resigned from the board of the American Gaming Association, the federal lobby headed by Harrah’s Entertainment Chief Executive Gary Loveman. The two are at odds over a proposal by the Nevada teachers union to raise the state room tax.

19 June 2008
By Liz Benston

Uncowed casino exec sues ex-employer, wins

Gaming exec Bob Kocienski, center, talks with attorneys Daniel Marks, left, and Adam Levine on Tuesday at their office.

Five years ago, a top casino executive was blamed for not spotting a criminal employee, and sent packing with a severance check.

18 June 2008
By Liz Benston

Lanni proposes payroll tax hike

The chief executive of Nevada’s largest employer Monday proposed doubling the state’s payroll tax to help the state close its ever-growing budget deficit.

17 June 2008
By Liz Benston,
David McGrath Schwartz

Gamblers’ cash provider sees upside

Global Cash Access, the world’s largest operator of ATMs in casinos and the largest provider of cash advances and check verification services for the gaming industry, is a bellwether of the gambling business, perhaps a truer one than gaming companies that also depend on nongaming revenue sources such as hotel rooms and entertainment.

17 June 2008
By Liz Benston

Station Casinos honchos hit the jackpot in ’07

Station Casinos President Lorenzo Fertitta, left, and his brother Frank Fertitta III, chief executive, were by far the two highest paid executives in Las Vegas in 2007. The bulk of their earnings came from exercising stock and options after Station Casinos was bought for $9 billion and taken private.

Until the economy turned south, Las Vegas casino companies enjoyed a robust 2007, rewarding executives and leading a pair of brothers to a pot of gold at the end of their rainbow. Many executives, acting before gaming stocks plummeted, profited after selling hundreds of thousands of shares from exercised stock options and grants of stock. In a class of their own: Station Casinos Chief Executive Frank Fertitta, who in 2007 made $122.4 million in exercised options and vested stock.

16 June 2008
By Liz Benston

Trial to tell whether money was theirs, bank’s

A federal racketeering trial stemming from the alleged embezzlement of $400 million from China’s state-run bank is delving into the secretive and high-powered world of Strip high rollers.

14 June 2008
By Jeff German

Opposition to room tax hike building

MGM Mirage and Las Vegas Sands, two of the state’s biggest private employers, are lobbying the Clark County Commission to keep an advisory measure about raising hotel room taxes for education spending off the November ballot, a county official said.

12 June 2008
By J. Patrick Coolican,
David McGrath Schwartz

Having a smoke and playing, too

Sierra Gold bar host Tina M. Carline "smokes" a cigarette substitute that produces water vapor instead of smoke and is allowed where smoking isn't.

Check out Sharon Cottrell’s cigarette. It’s not, really. And it gets her around Nevada’s no-smoking laws. The thing she’s holding between her fingers and drawing to her mouth looks like a pen.

7 June 2008
By Liz Benston

Bringing a taste of Vegas to Dubai

Mohammed Ali Al Hashimi heads Zabeel Investments, a $5 billion Dubai company that is partnering with Light Group of Las Vegas to develop a Dubai megaresort.

His Excellency Mohammed Ali Al Hashimi — young, wealthy and ambitious — fits comfortably on the Vegas Strip. And that’s consistent with his role in Dubai’s striking emergence as a world-class resort destination.

6 June 2008
By Liz Benston
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