Gaming briefs for August 10, 2004

Tuesday, Aug. 10, 2004 | 10:52 a.m.

Tribe threatens to cancel casino expansion

TAMA, Iowa -- Meskwaki tribal officials say plans to expand their casino could be scrapped if a new regulatory agreement isn't reached soon with the state.

The tribe and the state Department of Inspections and Appeals have been talking since January, but Tribal Council Chairman Homer Bear Jr. said a planned $100 million expansion of the casino is endangered.

"If the tribe and the state cannot reach an agreement soon, the tribe will be forced to cancel its planned expansion," he said.

Under federal rules, the tribe and the state must have an agreement that spells out issues such as licensing and regulating gaming. The current eight-year pact expired in June 2003, but remains in effect until a new deal is signed.

The tribe announced plans in February to more than double the size of its casino and hotel near Tama.

Sen. Mark Zieman, R-Postville, said issues such as police and fire protection remain unresolved. The state doesn't receive enough revenue from the casino to support such services, Zieman told The Gazette in Cedar Rapids.

WMS turns a profit, but misses estimates

WAUKEGAN, Ill. -- Lottery terminal and slot machine company WMS Industries Inc. said Monday it turned last year's fourth-quarter loss into a profit, but missed analysts' estimates.

The company said that quarterly earnings rose to $896,000, or 3 cents per share, from last year's loss of $5.2 million, or 17 cents per share, WMS said.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call estimated WMS' fourth-quarter earnings at 4 cents per share.

The company said revenue rose in the fourth quarter to $68.1 million from $51 million, driven by a 48 percent increase in new unit shipments in June.

The company reiterated its fiscal 2005 revenue outlook of $340 million to $360 million, $75 million to $80 million of which it expects to achieve in the first quarter.

New Mexico tribe opens casino

DULCE, N.M. -- The Jicarilla Apache Nation opened its new casino operation last week in a 12,000-square-foot building on busy U.S. 550, featuring 200 slot machines, four blackjack tables and two poker tables.

The northern New Mexico tribe built the blue and white bubble-looking casino in 1998, but plans to open it were shelved for years.

A recent study commissioned by the tribe showed the time has come to get the project up and running, said Daryl Vigil, president of the Apache Nugget Corp. The casino opened at noon Friday.

"We are so excited and pleased to open our new casino," Vigil said. "Both the Jicarilla Apache Nation and the public will benefit from it."

The casino will employ 70 people Sunday through Thursday 9 a.m. to 2 a.m. and 24 hours Fridays and Saturdays.

The tribe also has plans to expand the Best Western Hotel in Dulce, about an hour north of the planned casino. The hotel is expected to grow from 42 rooms to 104 rooms.

Business improves for hotelier

TORONTO -- Four Seasons Hotels Inc., the world's largest manager of luxury hotels and operator of a hotel on the Las Vegas Strip, today reported a second-quarter profit of C$17.3 million ($13.2 million), helped by an increase in business travel.

Net income was 46 Canadian cents a share, compared with a loss of C$1.4 million, or 4 cents, a year earlier, the company said in a statement. Revenue rose 20 percent to C$97 million.

Demand for rooms at the company's city hotels led the return to profit as business travel gained for the second straight quarter.

after three years of declines.

Chief Executive Isadore Sharp opened hotels in Budapest and Jackson Hole, Wyo., in the past year, helping to boost revenue from management fees by 42 percent.

Demand is rising faster for luxury hotels than resorts because of an increase in business travel, said Joseph Greff, an analyst with Fulcrum Global Partners in New York.