Gaming briefs for April 27, 2004

Tuesday, April 27, 2004 | 11:04 a.m.

Union launches campaign against restaurant owner

The Culinary Union is urging shareholders of The Cheesecake Factory Inc. to vote against the re-election of director Thomas L. Gregory at the company's annual meeting May 18.

The union is citing management's failure to enact several corporate governance proposals approved by shareholders in 2003.

A Culinary spokeswoman said Monday the campaign against Gregory's re-election is a jab at the Calabasas Hills, Calif., company's failure to recognize the union at The Venetian hotel-casino's Grand Lux Cafe. Culinary Workers Local 226 has tangled with the nonunion Venetian over employee representation issues since it opened in 1999.

The Culinary Union and affiliated benefit plans own about 30,000 shares of The Cheesecake Factory stock and introduced corporate governance reforms a year ago prior to the company's annual meeting.

Although the union does not represent workers at the Cheesecake Factory restaurants at the Forum Shops at Caesars and in Summerlin, the company said it has no plans to organize in those locations. The union has contracts with Caesars Entertainment Inc., which operates the Caesars Palace hotel-casino.

Company says it will exceed earnings estimates

Mikohn Gaming Corp. says it will exceed first-quarter earnings estimates, citing higher projected revenue and a better-than-expected cash position.

The Las Vegas gaming equipment company announced Monday that revenue would exceed the previously projected range of $19 million to $21 million for the quarter and that the company's cash on hand would be about $8.7 million, compared with previous estimates of $5.7 million to $7.7 million.

Mikohn will release its first-quarter earnings May 11 and conduct a conference call May 12.