Gaming briefs for May 16, 2005

Monday, May 16, 2005 | 9:30 a.m.

Company wins voting firm's support on proxies

As the Culinary Union Local 226 pushes its proposals for corporate governance reform at Station Casinos, Station has gotten an independent proxy voting firm to support its practices and to oppose the push for change.

The union is proposing an end to the company's supermajority two-thirds voting requirement and replacing it with a simple majority requirement; requiring an annual election for directors instead of the three-year terms directors currently have and letting shareholders decide whether to keep the company's "poison pill" anti-takeover defense.

Proxy Governance Inc., an independent proxy voting firm has recommended that shareholders vote against the proposals at the company's shareholders meeting set for Wednesday at Green Valley Ranch Station Casino.

Company leaders also oppose the union's proposals, and urge shareholders to vote against them.

Bartender who wouldn't wear makeup gets new hearing

Months after throwing out the case, a federal appeals court on Friday said it will rehear a sex-discrimination lawsuit filed by a female casino bartender who was fired for refusing to wear makeup.

Without comment, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals set aside its December ruling and said it will rehear Darlene Jespersen's case with 11 judges. No hearing date was set.

Harrah's fired Jespersen from her job at a casino in 2000 after 21 years of service and high performance marks. She maintains that wearing makeup should be a personal choice and had nothing to do with her job performance.

In December, the court had ruled that Jespersen had failed to prove the company's policy "imposes unequal burdens on male and female employees." The 2-1 ruling found that Harrah's requirement that male bartenders keep their hair short, nails trimmed and otherwise appear neatly groomed was roughly equivalent to grooming demands made of female workers.

Wynn blasts constraints

Las Vegas casino owner Steve Wynn said the administration's direct involvement in designing Singapore's casino project was "unsophisticated" and could compromise the final product, a local newspaper reported Saturday.

"It's control and direction by people who've never done this before," the Business Times newspaper quoted Wynn as saying. "There's an awful lot of control and direction in the documents we've received which, frankly speaking, is unsophisticated."

Wynn Resorts are among the companies who have expressed interest in developing two casinos in Singapore.

Singapore's government listed specific design-related issues for the casino project, including the total amount of floor space the gambling arena should have.

"Don't issue thunderbolts of wisdom from the top of Mount Olympus," added Wynn. "Ultimately, this is not between me and the government, it's between me and the public."

Melco may sell shares

Billionaire Stanley Ho's Melco International Development Ltd. said it may sell shares to finance construction of a ($1 billion Macau casino venture with Kerry Packer's Publishing & Broadcasting Ltd.

Melco is "considering a possible placing of shares" to finance a casino and resort called City of Dreams, the venture's second Macau project, scheduled to open by mid-2008, the company said in a Hong Kong exchange statement. Melco didn't say how much it plans to raise or when the sale would take place.