Liz Benston

Reporter/ Gaming

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Recent Stories (view all stories)

Primm’s lure: Freebies: Herbst’s gamble to win visitors with deep discounts keeps Primm hotels hopping, money coming in; Thursday, July 2, 2009; On a recent Monday afternoon, Buffalo Bill’s — a Western-themed casino about 45 miles from the Strip at the California border — offers a glimpse of Las Vegas’ past.
The place is hopping.
A line to sign up for the players club snakes through the casino and toward the lobby. Nearby, people in shorts and flip-flops play slowly, pausing to gulp sodas and take in the crowd. In the food court, families and young couples take up most of the available seats, eating on the cheap amid kiddie rides and arcade games.
Lower blackjack minimum may not be deal for players: What might seem like a bargain often comes with rules that increase the house’s edge; Monday, June 29, 2009; You’ve seen bargain-basement hotel rates and coupons for meals, show tickets and retail purchases — even volume discounts on bottle service in nightclubs and lounges.
Practice of building before designs are done hits wall at Fontainebleau: Sunday, June 28, 2009; When Fontainebleau’s lenders pulled $600 million-plus in prearranged financing to finish the project, it exposed the strategy of how big resorts are built — quickly and with a wink between owners and lenders that more money probably will be needed.
MGM Mirage removes bankruptcy warning: Tuesday, June 23, 2009; MGM Mirage announced in a Securities and Exchange filing today that there is no longer "substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern" after recent efforts to negotiate with lenders and trim the company's massive debts.
Harrah’s thinks it can gain from online gambling: Rest of bricks-and-mortar industry is divided on issue of legalization; Monday, June 22, 2009; For a time, big American casinos were making noises about wanting to expand gambling in cyberspace, as a way to extend their brands. And why not? The evidence was that Internet gambling sites actually boosted business for bricks-and-mortar casinos, especially poker rooms. The Internet had nurtured a whole generation of new poker players who wanted to prove their competitive skills at real tables where they could win fame and fortune.
Culinary Union agrees to wage freeze: Workers’ raises spread out over rest of contract term; union wins on other issues; Saturday, June 20, 2009; Sympathetic to recession-reeling Strip casinos, the Culinary Union has agreed to postpone by one year a wage increase that was supposed to take effect June 1.
Will Web poker bust spark ﬁght or flight?: Little agreement on how feds’ multimillion-dollar seizure will shake out; Monday, June 15, 2009; The government’s seizure of millions of dollars from bank accounts used to process online poker transactions is sending shock waves through the Internet gambling community. But insiders disagree on how the action by the Justice Department will affect a controversial activity with millions of American participants.
Amid cost cuts, executives’ pay raises hackles: Workers see contrast with their worsened fortunes; Monday, June 15, 2009; When Station Casinos last year reported that top executives exercised more than $200 million in stock options triggered by a $9 billion management-led buyout by a private investment company in late 2007, critics attacked the lavish rewards, which made Station bosses the highest paid local executives in 2008.
With patrons as advisers, small casino thrives: Club Fortune winning business by seeking input, giving back; Wednesday, June 10, 2009; Club Fortune Casino doesn’t have a movie theater, nightclub or even a hotel. But it does have loyal customers like Jeanine Harris, who is among a number of locals who amid the downturn have converted to the locals joint from bigger, suburban casinos. “The food’s good and I like the slots and video poker,” Harris, 48, said. “It’s more laid-back here and everybody knows you.” While many suburban casinos struggle to keep their regulars coming back as they cut back on gambling promotions and staff, Club Fortune, a nondescript casino near Boulder Highway, is moving in the opposite direction and winning new customers.
Outlook for Fontainebleau slides from bad to worse: Company needs cash — and a leader — at a most difficult time; Monday, June 8, 2009; When the ambitious Fontainebleau was announced in 2005, the 4,000-room resort project, which might have been an icon unto itself in another city, joined a crowded field of megaresorts in planning or under way on the Strip. With tourism booming, few questioned the resort’s prospects. The resort’s location at the north end of the Strip was no longer seen as a hindrance given the opening of Wynn Las Vegas at the site of the former Desert Inn and what would soon become the Encore and Palazzo nearby.