Earnings plunge in quarter

Monday, April 22, 2002 | 11:12 a.m.

Lakes Gaming Inc. of Minneapolis on Friday reported an 88 percent drop in net income for the quarter ending March 31, as the company lost its sole source of revenue.

The company reported net income of $556,000, or 5 cents per share, compared to net income of $4.72 million, or 44 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter. Revenues fell 84 percent to $1.5 million.

Lakes was the manager of the Grand Casino Coushatta in Louisiana. However, its management contract with the Coushatta Tribe expired Jan. 16, and was not renewed.

Lakes currently has agreements to develop and manage four tribal casinos -- one in Michigan, two in California and one on the East Coast. It also has a joint venture agreement with MRD Gaming to finance a tribal casino in California. However, Lakes currently has no operating casinos.

Lakes was to have been a partner in a non-gaming hotel, residential and retail project on the Strip with a company owned by Las Vegas developer Brett Torino, using Strip land owned by Lakes. However, Lakes sold off most of this land to Torino's company in January.

The company still owns a 3.4-acre site on the Strip, and has said it is negotiating with a joint venture partner to build an upscale time share project there.