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PA Board Changes Won’t Fix Problems

The buzz in Pennsylvania this week is a pair of major developments at the much-maligned state Gaming Control Board. The executive director position, vacant for nearly a year, has been filled by a veteran regulator. Kevin O’Toole, whose 28 years as a gaming regulator took him from the New Jersey Gaming Control Board to New […]

Next Stop: Nowhere!

Plans are moving forward for a high-speed train connecting Las Vegas with Southern California. The Federal Railroad Administration signed off on a draft environmental impact statement, and public hearings on the EIS will be held in Las Vegas tonight. There are also hearings scheduled for two communities in Southern California: Barstow and Victorville.
If you’re wondering […]

The Next Step

Right on the heels of a possible bankruptcy filing at the Fontainebleau, there is a development that may assist lenders in becoming owners of economically distressed properties.
The Nevada Gaming Control Board will consider a  measure to relax its licensing standards for institutional investors.  This measure would permit the lenders to take over properties, hire their […]

Carrot-and-stick game with South Florida Seminoles

Last Tuesday, a sweeping majority in the Florida House voted to approve legislation that would limit expansion of gaming at seven Seminole tribe casinos, expand gaming somewhat outside South Florida, and also give a few much-needed breaks to the parimutuel industry.
The next day, the Seminoles, arm-in-arm with their business partner, Governor Charlie Crist, dropped a […]

Our Troubles Are Over!

Finally, the economic troubles that plagued Las Vegas, Nevada and perhaps the entire country are coming to an end… or so says Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman.

While economists say we won’t start to normalize until sometime next year, the Las Vegas Sun is reporting that Goodman says thing are already better. Speaking to the Las […]

Tribes look to Obama for policy shift

The St. Regis Mohawk tribe of New York State spent more than a decade planning a casino for the Catskill Mountains. But  in 2008, just as George W. Bush prepared to leave office, the project was deep-sixed by then-Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne. Kempthorne, like George W., opposed off-reservation gambling.
Now that Dirk and W. have left […]

The Cannery Touch

A gaming industry in recession? Not in southwest Pennsylvania. And not with Cannery Casino Resorts.

Cannery opened its 300,000-square-foot permanent casino facility yesterday at the Meadows racetrack in Washington County, around 30 or so miles from Pittsburgh. The hundreds who had waited in the rain for the doors to open began applauding as the doors opened, […]

When the Government Gambles

I just got back from my first trip to the Philippines. I was a moderator at the Asia’s GEM conference and trade show, an annual event staged by the Philippines Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR), the government-owned entity that owns and operates casinos in that country.
The conference was held at the Hyatt Hotel & Casino […]

Sands of Time—AC-style

So now, we hear that Steve Wynn is looking to buy back his masterpiece, Bellagio, from the troubled MGM Mirage and bring it into the Wynn Resorts fold. It is a symptom of MGM’s difficulties in completing the CityCenter project that the second-largest gaming operator may be looking to sell off assets, including the Bellagio.
Yes, […]

Icahn Could Get A Bargain in Trop Deal

The “For Sale” sign in front of Atlantic City’s fabled Tropicana Casino could be coming down any time now. A group of lenders that includes billionaire financier Carl Icahn, onetime owner of the Sands in Atlantic City, have offered $200 million for the landmark casino, which includes New Jersey’s biggest (2,100-room) hotel.
The figure is hardly […]