Gaming

A mogul's softer side

Sheldon Adelson in District Court on April 17, 2008, with his wife, Miriam, who during the trial helped the then-74-year-old casino mogul to the witness stand.

Sheldon Adelson was forced into public view this week, providing a courtroom glimpse of the casino tycoon not offered in any annual report or official biography. Adelson, chairman of the Las Vegas Sands Corp., viewed by his industry brethren as a ruthless, combative iconoclast, used the opportunity to cut a sympathetic, almost folksy portrait of himself.

19 April 2008
By Liz Benston,
Jeff German

Trial outs Sands’ dealings for Macau

The biggest players in the gaming business have long wondered exactly how Sheldon Adelson’s company won one of three lucrative casino licenses in 2002 to operate in Macau. It was the deal of a lifetime — one that made Adelson one of the world’s richest men and spawned an Asian gaming frontier richer than the Las Vegas Strip and evolving to adult size in one-tenth the time.

17 April 2008
By Liz Benston,
Jeff German

Layoffs not driven by downturn, casino says

MGM Mirage sought to quell fears Tuesday that it is slumping badly in the economic downturn, saying the layoffs it announced this week had little to do with declining business.

16 April 2008
By Liz Benston

Deal salvages Tropicana Tahoe casino

The Tropicana’s sister resort at Lake Tahoe, facing eviction for subpar performance, has agreed to pay $165 million to the landowner for permission to stay put for another three years.

15 April 2008
By Liz Benston

Mom and pop roughed up in gaming license bid

Successful businesspeople Chet and Karla Cox tried to take their mom-and-pop business to the next level by getting a Nevada gaming license. They didn’t foresee what they were walking into — and they got beat up.

12 April 2008
By Liz Benston

Casinos urge court to speed appeal

The casino industry has asked the Nevada Supreme Court for speedy handling of its appeal to stop a petition by school teachers to raise the state’s gaming tax.

12 April 2008
By Cy Ryan

Tourism juggernaut shows signs of slowing down

For all the highly technical and nuanced ways to identify economic slowdowns, in Las Vegas there’s one simple way to take measure: room rates.

7 April 2008
By Liz Benston

Strip biz will peddle Alka-Seltzer, not glamour

One of the big names on the Strip is staking yet another marker for itself, this time at the site where Ivana Trump wanted to build a condo tower, at the northeast corner of Sahara Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard.

1 April 2008
By Liz Benston

Your own Strip kingdom awaits: If you can afford it

Your own Strip kingdom awaits: If you can afford it

If you missed out on last year’s $1.2 billion sale of the New Frontier, now is your chance to snap up 27 acres of land just south of the Sahara — one of only two major Strip-facing parcels listed for sale. But it’s going to cost you — a lot.

28 March 2008
By Liz Benston

Starbucks tips case gives hope to dealers

Serving coffee is a lot different from dealing cards.

26 March 2008
By Liz Benston

Doctor is game for commission post

The newest member of the Nevada Gaming Commission is a local physician and prominent Republican with political connections to Gov. Jim Gibbons and other power players.

26 March 2008
By Liz Benston

Confessions of a card counter

I don’t know how many times I’ve been banned from playing blackjack in casinos. In the parlance of the game, I’ve “lost the count.”

23 March 2008
By Jeff Haney

Must be ‘21’ to entertain this idea

In Columbia Pictures' 21, when M.I.T. student Ben Campbell (Jim Sturgess, center) joins the blackjack team and takes Vegas for millions, he finds himself seduced by the money, the Vegas lifestyle, and his smart and sexy teammate, Jill Taylor (Kate Bosworth, left).

“Beat the Dealer” did it nearly a half century ago. So have other books and TV shows since. And now this week’s release of “21” — a movie about a team of MIT students who used their blackjack card-counting strategies to win millions — might once again draw countless wannabes to Las Vegas who are convinced they’ve got what it takes to bring down the house.

23 March 2008
By Liz Benston

Tropicana owner hires a Mr. Fix-It

Over the past year, the owner of the Tropicana casinos has alienated regulators and politicians, upset lenders and agitated labor unions and employees. But the appointment of the new president of Tropicana Entertainment could help patch up those relationships.

22 March 2008
By Liz Benston

Foreclosure filing meant to push Strip project’s sale

Wall Street lending troubles and increasing construction costs have so far derailed the Tropicana hotel expansion, which was seen as too ambitious even before the market decline, and the possible Riviera redevelopment, which already was doubtful because of infighting among large shareholders.

19 March 2008
By Liz Benston
« Older Newer »