Gaming briefs for April 30, 2004

Friday, April 30, 2004 | 11:01 a.m.

Analysts optimistic

Wynn Resorts Ltd.'s Las Vegas and Macau projects may boost the company's share price, Business Week reports in its May 10 edition's "Inside Wall Street" column.

Wynn Resorts' Macau casino is expected to open in mid-June 2006, the magazine said. Gambling in Macau generated $3.6 billion in revenue last year and the city could thrive as an Asian gambling center, the magazine said, citing Deutsche Bank analyst Marc Falcone, who has a 12-month target of $46 for the stock.

Shares of Las Vegas-based Wynn Resorts, run by billionaire Stephen Wynn, rose 88 cents to $39.85 in composite trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market Thursday. The shares were up another 5 cents today. They have gained 42 percent this year.

The company's Las Vegas project will start operations in April of next year. Wynn Resorts doesn't have sales currently, and revenue could be $738 million next year and $1.2 billion in 2006, the magazine said, citing Prudential Securities analyst William Lerner, who expects the stock to reach $55 in two years.

Buyer confident deal will close

The leader of the acquisition company that plans to take possession of the Aladdin hotel-casino later this year says he's confident the deal will close as planned.

Robert Earl, chief executive of the Planet Hollywood restaurant chain and the leader of a partnership that intends to turn the Aladdin into the Planet Hollywood hotel-casino, said he expects the deal to close this summer.

"I am absolutely confident we're going to close this deal," Earl said from his Orlando, Fla., headquarters.

Earlier this week, Gaming Control Board Chairman Dennis Neilander said investigators had not completed their review of the partnership's licensing application.

Industry insiders expect Earl's group to face regulators in July or August. Nevada regulators are believed to have extended their background investigations to a wider circle of insiders at Starwood Hotels & Resorts, one of Earl's partners.

Starwood has a team of about 20 people working closely with Mike Mecca, who has been selected to be general manager of the property when it's turned over to Earl's group. Although the group is larger, insiders say there are no significant obstacles that would block the licensing effort.

Violations unlikely

A Gaming Control Board official today said former baseball star Pete Rose probably didn't violate state regulations when he used his cell phone recently in the Palms hotel-casino sports book.

Keith Copher, chief of enforcement for the Control Board, said his division is reviewing video surveillance tapes of Rose because of concerns Rose was using his phone in the sports betting area. Phone calls in sports books are not allowed.

Copher said if people in a sports-betting area receive cell phone calls, they are supposed to leave that area and they aren't allowed to make calls from that area.

Copher said he has not personally seen the tapes, but from what he has heard, "there wasn't any inappropriate activity."

Observation wheel talks off

Voyager Entertainment International Inc. today said it and The Rio hotel-casino discontinued talks for development of a large ferris wheel-like tourist attraction at The Rio in Las Vegas.

Voyager said other potential sites have been identified for its proposed attraction, which it calls the world's tallest observation wheel.

"The Rio will continue to explore options for use of the land parcel originally intended for this project," The Rio said in a statement.

"I don't think we would have any comment beyond that," said Gary Thompson, spokesman for Harrah's Entertainment Inc., which owns The Rio. "It's their (Voyager's) project and it's always been their project."