Liz Benston

Reporter/ Gaming

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Story Archive

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.
Even whales feeling pinch of hard times: Baccarat play declines, bad debts increase; Monday, June 1, 2009; Baccarat play — the game of choice for the biggest gamblers — is down on the Strip, and casinos have raised cash reserves to offset the losses they incur when big gamblers don’t pay their debts.
CityCenter condo prices not bending to market: MGM Mirage isn’t budging, though some buyers may walk away; Thursday, May 21, 2009; Buyers of CityCenter condos are urging the project’s managing partner, MGM Mirage, to lower prices on the units by 30 percent to 50 percent to better reflect the valley’s sagging condo market. MGM Mirage is balking at the idea — at least for now. Some buyers — many of them signed purchase contracts more than two years ago — are bracing for an uncomfortable confrontation with the company late this year.
Six questions for Mark Clayton, Nevada gaming attorney: Wednesday, May 20, 2009; With a wide-ranging career as a corporate attorney, Nevada gaming regulator and gaming attorney in private practice, Mark Clayton has an industry perspective few can match. Clayton joined Lionel Sawyer & Collins in January after four years as a member of the Gaming Control Board.
MGM Mirage inks deal to manage Dubai resorts: Tuesday, May 19, 2009; MGM Mirage has signed an agreement with the developers of a $4 billion luxury resort in Dubai to manage MGM Mirage-branded hotels there. In a press release Tuesday, Pearl Dubai FZ said it will own and finance a 250-room Bellagio hotel, 350-room MGM Grand hotel and a 30-suite Skylofts hotel. MGM Mirage would run the hotels. No timetable was given for the hotels or Dubai Pearl.
Seeking slight glint of hope amid recession: Small improvements don’t a recovery make; Monday, May 18, 2009; If the state’s economic engine is a microcosm of the spending habits of American consumers, improvements in the national economy should be reflected in crowds — or at least receipts — on the Las Vegas Strip.
Arbitration or trial? Judges in condo-hotel cases split: Friday, May 15, 2009; Federal and state judges have issued conflicting decisions in lawsuits filed by condo-hotel investors against the developers of Signature at MGM Grand, complicating the 3-year-old case that has become a cautionary tale for condo-hotel buyers and developers.
Fontainebleau: Bank wanted to minimize Cosmopolitan competition: Tuesday, May 12, 2009; In an amended lawsuit filed Tuesday, developers of the Fontainebleau Las Vegas resort allege that Deutsche Bank conspired to hurt Fontainebleau to minimize competition with the Cosmopolitan, an under-construction resort the bank acquired out of foreclosure last year.
Smoking study capped Caesars dealer’s long, lonely fight: She requested the analysis of casinos, later was fired; Tuesday, May 12, 2009; During the 25 years she worked as a Caesars Palace dealer, Terrie Price was one of a few vocal anti-smoking dissenters among thousands of largely silent casino workers. Price believes her efforts cost her that job.
Reports put numbers on reduction of workforce: As giants cut full-timers, MGM Mirage boosts corps of part-timers; Monday, May 11, 2009; Many Las Vegas gaming companies have laid off workers or reduced hours to trim their operating budgets. Although companies have been reluctant to quantify such changes, recently issued annual reports shed some light on what has happened to the gaming workforce during this downturn.
Room rates to rise from rock bottom: Higher occupancy rate gives MGM Mirage confidence to increase prices for summer; Monday, May 11, 2009; The Strip’s largest casino operator last week reported an uptick in room bookings and fewer convention cancellations. MGM Mirage executives said demand for the company’s hotel rooms is high enough to warrant an increase in room rates, which have plummeted during the downturn. Raising rates in the coming weeks will help profit margins and could lead to a minor business rebound in 2010, they said.
Study arms smoking foes: Dealers display ill effects of secondhand smoke in long-awaited results; Thursday, May 7, 2009; Las Vegas casino dealers are exposed to a host of harmful chemicals through secondhand smoke while on the job, according to a new National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health study. The study, the first to examine the effects of secondhand smoke in Las Vegas casinos, reported that the dealers had traces of a tobacco-specific carcinogen in their urine.
MGM's Murren unwavering in defense of CityCenter: Monday, May 4, 2009; After engineering last week’s rescue of CityCenter from the brink of bankruptcy, the urban planning major who created the concept for the resort complex — and has shouldered the blame for the way it has imperiled MGM Mirage — defended the company’s investment in the $8.5 billion project. MGM Mirage CEO Jim Murren said in an interview that CityCenter’s critics, including competitors, “just don’t get it” and will be proven wrong when it attracts new visitors to Las Vegas.
Company ownership idea seeks to spur investment: Sunday, May 3, 2009; A proposal to allow institutional investors to own up to 25 percent of a Nevada gaming company without undergoing background checks is aimed at encouraging investment.
MGM Mirage makes filing to issue stock: Friday, May 1, 2009; MGM Mirage today filed a shelf registration to issue stock, which gives the company permission to sell an undetermined number of shares at any point over the next two years.
The rescue of CityCenter: Eight banks, five different time zones, three languages and, later, $1.8 billion in financing; Friday, May 1, 2009; MGM Mirage executives said Thursday that the deal struck this week to finance completion of CityCenter marks a turning point for the company, which has been pushed to the edge of bankruptcy by the recession. The deal was the result of a months-long effort to persuade eight banks — across four time zones, with representatives speaking at least three languages — to immediately risk $1.8 billion on the massive project, which had been in serious doubt. “This has been a 24-7 job involving conference calls at three in the morning,” MGM Mirage CEO Jim Murren said Thursday.
Sued by Fontainebleau, banks could cite 'act of God' as defense for refusing funds: Lenders could argue economic downturn fulfills interpretation of termination clause in loan agreement; Wednesday, April 29, 2009; Legal experts say the banks attempting to back out of their commitment to finance the Fontainebleau Las Vegas might defend their decision by arguing the economic downturn that has created doubts about the project’s future is an act of God. Fontainebleau has sued the banks, accusing them of breaking the terms of the $800 million loan agreement.
‘For sale’ doesn’t mean ‘will be sold’: Rare convergence is needed for big casino to change hands; Monday, April 27, 2009; Nevada’s largest casino company wants to know if you are in the market for a casino and have several hundred million dollars to spare. Some Wall Street analysts believe every casino in the MGM Mirage empire is for sale with the likely exception of its original namesake, MGM Grand.
An empire built on assets, not debt: Phil Ruffin sold a series of other businesses to get the cash to buy big; Sunday, April 26, 2009; Phil Ruffin prefers numbers to grand statements. The man who went against the grain, made big money, became a hero and got the girl isn’t much for self-aggrandizement.
Fontainebleau files $3 billion suit over funding: Thursday, April 23, 2009; Fontainebleau Las Vegas today filed a $3 billion lawsuit against a group of bank lenders, saying the banks reneged on their commitments to provide funding for the resort in a "baseless attempt to walk away from the project."
Smaller casinos in big debt, too: Three have one unlucky lender in common; Monday, April 20, 2009; It’s not just the big boys running into trouble for accumulating too much debt.
Did two gaming titans get too big?: Deals that once made sense led to borrowing that hangs over gaming giants; Saturday, April 18, 2009; Through two mergers proposed five years ago, the Las Vegas Strip largely became the domain of two corporate titans. In 2004, MGM Mirage proposed an $8 billion acquisition of Mandalay Resort Group. Months later, Harrah’s Entertainment announced a $9 billion offer for Caesars Entertainment — a “me too” deal made possible by Wall Street’s heightened interest in the casino business.
MGM Mirage, Dubai World working on CityCenter funding plan: Friday, April 17, 2009; CityCenter partners MGM Mirage and Dubai World are hammering out a plan that aims to guarantee funding for the financially troubled project due to open this year, according to sources who declined to be named.
Gaming analysts break away to form independent firm: Friday, April 17, 2009; Gaming analysts Bill Lerner, Rich Moriarty and Grant Govertsen have left Deutsche Bank to form Union Gaming Group, an independent gaming industry research firm based in Las Vegas.
In the way of casino giants: By law, developers can’t build casinos near churches unless in a zone close to the Strip. Their solution: Expand that area.; Wednesday, April 15, 2009; The Guardian Angel Cathedral has for decades symbolized Las Vegas’ belief that community institutions can flourish alongside its gaming ambitions. Even so, the church now stands in the way of Steve Wynn’s plans to build a casino on the company’s golf course. It’s an unanticipated consequence of a 1997 law that established an unrestricted gaming corridor along Las Vegas Boulevard, while adopting tougher restrictions on casino construction beyond the Strip.
Station Casinos, lenders agree to extend deadline: 30-day extension gives bond holders until May 15 to consider plan; Tuesday, April 14, 2009; Station Casinos and its lenders have agreed to extend by 30 days a voting deadline on a proposed bankruptcy reorganization plan that would leave the current owners, including the Fertitta family and investment partner Colony Capital, at the company's helm, a company spokeswoman said today. The May 15 deadline gives holders of $2.3 billion in bonds more time to consider Station Casinos' offer to buy back investors' bonds and exchange them with new, discounted notes with extended maturity dates.
Leaders of Vegas’ top industry put on a different face: Casino executives take sober tone as new reality sets in; Monday, April 13, 2009; MGM Mirage CEO Jim Murren said last month he harbors no ill will toward people who think the company will fail. “I have no illusions that this is going to be easy,” he said during a conference call with analysts last month. “We will take every question, we’ll take every criticism, and we’ll own it all." He added: “This is not without risk.”
MGM CEO gets $500,000 raise, performance incentives: Friday, April 10, 2009; Under a new employment contract effective Dec. 1, MGM Mirage Chief Executive Jim Murren will receive a salary increase of $500,000 and will be eligible for additional performance-based cash awards of up to $4.25 million.
Dubai World wants assurance of CityCenter funding: Friday, April 10, 2009; Dubai World, which owns half of the financially troubled CityCenter project on the Strip, is pressing CityCenter partner MGM Mirage and CityCenter's bank lenders for a commitment that would allow the project to be completed without fear that the project would be thrown into bankruptcy, according to a source familiar with the plan.
Past power is helping industry giant now: Banks didn’t think they needed collateral in MGM Mirage’s resorts on Strip; Tuesday, April 7, 2009; When MGM Mirage negotiated a $7 billion financing package with its banks in 2004, the company was worth more than $10 billion. The company was in such a powerhouse position that banks didn’t ask for collateral. That’s one reason why these bankers have been so accommodating with MGM Mirage in recent weeks.
Working harder for less? Not if they have a choice: Without big bonuses, some executives are out the door; Monday, April 6, 2009; When times were good, casino executives were richly rewarded with performance-based compensation packages worth, on paper, up to tens of millions of dollars a year.
Australian businessman weighing CityCenter investment: Friday, April 3, 2009; Australian billionaire and casino magnate James Packer is considering an investment in CityCenter, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday. Packer's casino company, Crown Ltd. Of Australia, owns a 19.6 percent stake in the Fontainebleau resort under construction in Las Vegas.
CityCenter contingency plan emerges; investor shows interest: Wednesday, April 1, 2009; The drama surrounding the financially troubled CityCenter project has thickened, with a major investor interested in the $8.7 billion project and MGM Mirage disclosing a contingency plan should CityCenter seek bankruptcy protection.
Station Casinos reports widening loss in fourth quarter: Tuesday, March 31, 2009; Losses widened for Station Casinos in the fourth quarter of last year as the company reported net losses at its major Las Vegas casinos. Station today reported a net loss of $3.2 billion in the fourth quarter compared with a loss of $437.4 million for the same period a year ago.
Whatever the secret, they have been packing M in: Buffet, self-serve drink stations, payback rates all part of the success; Tuesday, March 31, 2009; To enter M Resort is to step back in time, to 2006, before the recession slashed discretionary spending. Lines for the buffet and coffee shop snake around banks of slot machines, where most seats are taken. Well-dressed locals pack bars and lounges, some waiting for a seat in busy restaurants. While some suburban casinos struggle to attract more business, the M’s restaurants are serving more than 8,000 covers per night. Weeknights look much like weekends, with long lines for the players club and the buffet.
A financial history of the CityCenter project: Saturday, March 28, 2009; A timeline of the project and its financial estimates.
CityCenter safe — for now: MGM Mirage’s cash payment keeps construction going, but can’t guarantee future stability; Saturday, March 28, 2009; MGM Mirage’s $200 million injection in CityCenter Friday answered questions about the project’s immediate fate.
But the long-term future of the joint venture — and of MGM Mirage itself — remains in doubt as the company struggles with massive debt and a suddenly uncooperative partner, Dubai World. MGM Mirage’s payment allows construction to continue on the project billed as an unprecedented urban metropolis on the Las Vegas Strip — at least until the remaining $800 million in construction funding is due.
CityCenter partner might want more say: Experts say Dubai World’s lawsuit not an attempt to exit, but to exert greater control; Wednesday, March 25, 2009; Dubai World argues in the lawsuit it filed this week that MGM Mirage has defaulted on its CityCenter agreement, giving the foreign conglomerate the legal right to sever the relationship. But gaming industry analysts and other observers say the real purpose of the lawsuit is not to break the partnership.
Site of proposed casino near Chinatown going to auction: Monday, March 23, 2009; Developers are planning to sell 22 acres near Chinatown – the site of a proposed Asian-themed casino – at a bankruptcy auction May 16. The land took seven years to assemble and is zoned for a 28-story, 2,200-room hotel.
Lawsuit clouds future of CityCenter; MGM responds: Dubai World files suit against partner, MGM Mirage over $8.7 billion project; Monday, March 23, 2009; CityCenter's joint venture partner Dubai World is suing MGM Mirage, claiming MGM Mirage breached terms of the joint venture agreement to develop the $8.7 billion project, forcing Dubai World to fork over more money than expected for CityCenter while MGM Mirage's financial future is in doubt.
Sands not so adored in Macau these days: Its image has taken a hit along with profits; Monday, March 23, 2009; Macau was the place where Las Vegas Sands was going to step out from the shadows of its rivals.
Cheap rooms could sell casinos short: Prolonged price cuts, experts say, can harm brands such as MGM Mirage; Monday, March 23, 2009; A business model gaming companies have followed for decades has turned into a precarious balancing act, as casinos slash room rates to levels not seen in more than a decade.
Cheap rooms have been a fail-safe way for gaming chiefs to fill their casinos with gamblers and keep profits up in down economic times.
From MGM to Ruffin: Treasure Island changes hands: Ruffin working toward $20 million discount for paying in cash; Thursday, March 19, 2009; Treasure Island came under new ownership Friday morning. After months of a pending sale, Kansas billionaire Phil Ruffin was to take over the newly purchased property. The Nevada Gaming Commission approved Ruffin’s purchase of Treasure Island Thursday.
Wynns' breakup won’t break up company: Their divorce is expected to be amicable, businesslike; Wednesday, March 18, 2009; Steve and Elaine Wynn are ending their marriage, but the business partnership that built Wynn Resorts into a Strip powerhouse is not breaking up. She wants to continue to play a prominent role in the company, and Steve Wynn wants her to remain active in Wynn Resorts, a source said.
MGM Mirage gets debt waiver, swings to quarterly loss: Tuesday, March 17, 2009; MGM Mirage today reached an agreement with bank lenders that will give the company more time to figure out a solution to the company's cash crunch. Instead of granting bank lenders collateral in the company's assets MGM Mirage has agreed to repay some of the money it owes and pay a higher interest rate.