Federal prosecutors today filed fraud and money laundering charges against a man who allegedly used a bogus sports betting scam to bilk investors for nearly $1 million.
Argument in continuing crusade against Wynn policy hinges on potential to taint supervisors
Sunday, July 18, 2010
In the fight to reverse Steve Wynn’s policy of sharing casino dealers’ tips with their immediate supervisors, one argument seemed to hold the most promise.
Potential buyers of condominiums in CityCenter’s Veer towers are having mixed reactions about the prospect of being allowed to rent out their units for a minimum of six months.
Black-market online gambling companies have a considerable presence on the stage that is Las Vegas. Those who watched the start of the World Series of Poker main event were just as likely to see logos for online gambling companies as the tournament’s poker chip icon.
Steve Wynn’s controversial policy of splitting casino dealers’ tips with their immediate supervisors doesn’t violate state law, according to a ruling issued today by Nevada’s Labor Commissioner.
It’s another sweltering afternoon in Las Vegas, and a 33-year-old woman is sitting in front of her home computer wearing pink fuzzy slippers as she breaks federal law yet again.
As the sole proprietor of the South Point, Michael Gaughan doesn’t have to consult a board of directors, worry about Wall Street, appease shareholders or hold countless management meetings to accomplish his goals.
A local company’s new technology lets screens show commercials when machines aren’t being played
Saturday, July 3, 2010
The gambling areas of casinos have long been advertisers’ Holy Grail. American casinos attracted a record 62 million visitors last year — 28 percent of the U.S. adult population — despite the worst economy for gambling on record, according to the American Gaming Association.
The rise of traveler-generated online reviews has forced hotel managers to contend with anonymous posts from angry or disappointed customers. It has also opened the door for sneak counterattacks in the form of bogus positive reviews created to boost their clients’ image.
When billionaire Phil Ruffin bought Treasure Island last year, speculation swirled about other Las Vegas hotels that could be sold by cash-strapped casino giants. The name game fizzled, however, as the big corporations chipped away at their massive debts.
'Sometimes it’s OK to have sucker bets if the suckers are enjoying themselves,' casino consultant says
Friday, June 18, 2010
The payoff for blackjack has dropped at more Las Vegas tables, but the trade-off is that minimum bets for those games are a little lower. In recent months, more than two dozen tables paying 6-5 for blackjacks have surfaced in Las Vegas.
Taking comments seriously, MGM making an effort to improve service
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Shortly after CityCenter’s Aria opened in late December, a rash of bad reviews of the five-star resort went worldwide on Tripadvisor.com. That travel information website has rapidly become required reading for hotel managers across the country. It ranks hotels according to customer ratings that accompany anonymous reviews and gave Aria a 62 percent satisfaction rating, behind many low-frills properties around town.
Steve Wynn shocked the Las Vegas casino industry four years ago by implementing a plan requiring Wynn Las Vegas dealers to share a portion of their tips with immediate supervisors.
Paulson & Co., which predicted housing bust, says it’s time to buy
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Las Vegas casino operators are bracing for a difficult summer, as the desert heat keeps conventions away and hotels try to lure tourists with low rates already beaten down by the recession.
Forget those small but well-stocked minibars and glittering views. Las Vegas hotel rooms may soon be known for their well-appointed kitchens — places where visitors can avoid the town’s staggering array of high-priced restaurants.
MGM Mirage executives are optimistic that CityCenter, an $8.5 billion resort complex that has increased hotel room volume at a time of depressed demand, will soon turn a profit.
With business volume in Las Vegas retreating to 2004 levels, compensation packages for the area’s highest-paid executives last year sunk to 2001 levels as incentive pay and stock-based compensation dried up in the recession.
Las Vegas hotels getting the message that customer service should be a top priority in this economy
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Ask frequent traveler Tom Slater which U.S. hotel provides him with the best customer service and he praises an Embassy Suites in Ohio over the many Las Vegas resorts he has stayed in.
At first glance, the 15-year debate on whether to regulate and tax Internet gambling appears to have evolved little from the initial standoff of morality and social costs on one side and libertarianism and financial need on the other.
In the hotel room of the future, you can forget about taking a long, hot soak in the tub because there won’t be one. Nor will it have a bathroom per se.
This summer may yield the biggest party season in Las Vegas history, with seven new or expanded pools poised to offer visitors more excuses to drop inhibitions and money.
Last summer, MGM Mirage sent offers to Las Vegas residents who had previously gambled at the Bellagio, offering them a free stay at the resort. Business was down, so the hope was that these local guests, much like tourists, would spend money on other attractions during their stay.
Chicago resident Tim Murtaugh keeps close tabs on his trip expenses, so when the Excalibur tacked a $4.50 “resort fee” on top of his $39 room rate for each night of his stay, the retired librarian sent a complaint letter to the resort’s management.
For some industry observers, Steve Wynn’s talk of moving his corporate headquarters to Macau is a logical reflection of his casino there generating 65 percent of Wynn Resorts’ revenue.
A federal lawsuit filed Tuesday is the latest in a series of class-action pay claims filed by Nevada workers. The suit alleges Harrah’s Entertainment requires workers to arrive 10 to 15 minutes before their shifts start but doesn’t pay them for the extra time.
When Laura Sides and her husband visit Las Vegas, he gambles while she spends money on pedicures, massages and shopping. “My husband doesn’t do any of that stuff,” says Sides as she strolls out of Caesars Palace’s Qua spa with freshly painted toenails.
Eastside Cannery among small number of casinos with aging machines
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Like other casinos, the Eastside Cannery on Boulder Highway tries to keep players coming back by installing the latest and most elaborate slot machines on the market. But the machines attracting the attention on this day have their own sound: the loud pinging of quarters hitting metal trays and the clink of coins as gamblers scoop them up and drop them, one by one, into the machines.
Although the stated topic of New Jersey gaming regulators’ report last month was MGM Mirage’s partnership with Hong Kong businesswoman Pansy Ho, the underlying theme was the shady way casino VIP rooms are run in Macau.
Organized crime said to run rampant where state giants do business
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Renewed concern about the influence of organized crime in Macau, where three Las Vegas-based gaming giants own casinos, has raised questions about the ability of Nevada regulators to monitor or act on what takes place on the other side of the world.
The mothballed and postponed construction projects on the Strip are making the recession even rougher on one end of Las Vegas Boulevard. Standing between that northern section and the rest of the Strip is mostly vacant land bought by developers who tore down older hotels during the economic boom and aimed to build high-end resorts.
During the real estate boom, video poker bars mushroomed across the Las Vegas Valley like weeds after a desert monsoon. But with the recession, many bars have fallen on hard times. Several built within the past few years have closed.
A dying breed: While greyhound tracks close across the country, the industry’s prospects worsen as gaming companies complain about having to subsidize an antiquated sport
Monday, March 22, 2010
The national convention of the American Greyhound Track Owners Association that starts today at Caesars Palace will include a sober accounting of the industry’s latest victims — and the intractable problems that will contribute to future closures.
The year-old M Resort sports book not only looks different from almost all of its competitors in Southern Nevada, it sounds different. It’s less of a roller coaster of yells and groans and more of a steady rumbling, a hum that sounds more machine than man-made. Most sports books offer chairs and couches for gamblers and fans to watch the games on big screens, house-party style.
While the recession has slot players tightening their spending habits, Nevada casinos appear to be loosening up. From 1995 through 2008, the percentage of wagers kept by Nevada slot machines crept up while the percentage paid out to players declined.
Although the United States has lost millions of manufacturing jobs, Nevada has remained the global leader in a manufacturing niche — gambling equipment. More than half of the global gaming supplier industry is in Nevada.
Thanks in part to the recession, Las Vegas has the nation's most popular and affordable hotel rooms, according to a twice-annual survey by the travel reservations Web site Hotels.com. Rates plummeted significantly from the first half of last year, when Las Vegas was ranked 45th in hotel pricing nationwide.
The recession has slashed casino profits and taxes, and it has made the job of regulating Nevada’s casino industry tougher. So legislators said they worried about how budget cuts would affect Nevada’s reputation for casino regulation.
During MGM Mirage’s fourth-quarter earnings conference call last month, the company’s executives attempted to address questions that have dogged them since the recession began. Would Aria have to use extremely low rates to keep rooms occupied?
Last-minute lobbying led to the Legislature’s surprise reinstatement of a portion of slot machine taxes earmarked for problem gambling treatment, education and research.
The Las Vegas line on the Academy Awards – or, more specifically, that set by Wynn Las Vegas oddsmaker Johnny Avello – has the epic blockbuster "Avatar" a slight favorite to win Best Picture over the independent film "The Hurt Locker."
Booze was still big business on the Strip last year, with visitors drinking their way through the recession even as they spent less on hotel rooms, gambling and eating, state figures show. The beverage departments of the Strip’s 38 largest casinos reported increases in revenue and profit amid the worst year for the casino business on record.
One of Las Vegas’ maxims is that a casino is a license to print money. Casino MonteLago, closing next month for lack of business and liquidating its assets, is the rare exception to that rule.
After Pennsylvania lawmakers legalized slot machines in one of the nation’s most populous states in 2005, casino boss Steve Wynn said the Keystone State’s high tax rate on gambling would keep him from setting up shop there.
A state proposal to eliminate government funding for problem gambling treatment, education and research will not only hurt the lives of compulsive gamblers and their families but will also cost the state by taxing its health care and criminal justice systems, treatment advocates warn.
Aria a major factor in revenue spike as high rollers visit new casino
Monday, Feb. 22, 2010
A select group of players concentrated among a few Las Vegas casinos wagered an eye-popping $1.3 billion on baccarat games in December — a record for any single month in state history.
Cantor Gaming has signed a deal with the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino to offer mobile gambling services at the Las Vegas property, the third Las Vegas casino to offer the company's gambling devices.
Las Vegas Sands, one of the most storied names in the history of Southern Nevada’s gambling industry, has become “an Asian or foreign company doing business in Las Vegas,” its CEO Sheldon Adelson said Thursday.