2008 August archive | Casino blog

Nevada approves new operating plan for Tropicana

♠ August 26th, 2008 by ♣ admin

Nevada approves new operating plan for Tropicana Nevada approves new operating plan for Tropicana –> << Back Nevada [Enlarge Image] By Gene Koprowski Government gambling officials in Nevada voted this week to approve a management restructuring for Tropicana Entertainment LLC, which owns 11 casinos in America.

The proposal was approved by the state Gaming Commission places the firm under the guidance of a new board and Tropicana Chief Executive Scott Butera, and excludes owner William Yung III.

“We don’t take any advice or direction from him,” Butera told regulators who asked about Yung’s involvement. “He’s anxious to get this resolved and move on.”

An affiliate of Yung’s hotel company Columbia Sussex Corp., Tropicana, had been under his direct control. The changes follow Tropicana Entertainment’s restructuring filing.

Upgrades to the company’s Tropicana hotel-casino on the Strip in Las Vegas and other properties would be done “prudently,” Butera said. Positive employee-management relations are vital now, and a big factor in ensuring that will be ratification of a new contract with Tropicana employees.

Butera reached a tentative deal on a contract with the powerful culinary and bartenders unions covering 750 Trop employees, who have been laboring through a contract extension since May 2007.

Commission Chairman Peter Bernhard said oversight by regulators will provide “several layers and tiers of control.” He also said the company’s new management plans should prevent a “brain drain” of key staffers needed to carry out those plans.

The new managing board is headed by restructuring banker Thomas Benninger.

Tropicana Entertainment has been trying to restructure part of a nearly $3 billion debt load, which stems largely from its $2.1 billion buyout of Aztar Corp. in 2007.

There are offices for the firm stretching across the U.S., from Crestview Hills, Ky., to Las Vegas. The company’s other Nevada properties include the Horizon and MontBleu hotel-casinos on Lake Tahoe’s south shore; and the River Palms and Tropicana Express resorts in Laughlin, on the Colorado River.

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New slot machines for U.K. pubs a hot idea

♠ August 20th, 2008 by ♣ admin

New slot machines for U.K. pubs a hot idea New slot machines for U.K. pubs a hot idea –> << Back slot machines [Enlarge Image] By Gene Koprowski Pub owners in the U.K. may start installing slot machines as part of an industry plan to attract new customers. The plan has been proposed by industry leaders who think installing “one-armed bandits” outside pubs could help invigorate sales.

When the U.K. banned smoking at pubs seven years ago, pub owners have lost £200 million — close to $500 million. The reason — pubs used to have slot machines inside their facilities. Now, the idea is to put the slots right outside the door, so smokers can go outside, do their thing, and gamble too.

Figures from the U.K. consulting firm Marston’s demonstrate that profits for pubs would increase by at least 10 percent if the new gambling plan were adopted.

Keith Smith, from the British Amusement Catering Trade Association, said that introducing gambling machines to pubs could help off-set the “decrease in pub profits as a result of outlawing smoking” at restaurants and bars.

“The vast majority of people who play fruit machines smoke, so the smoking ban is having a very serious impact,” he said.

The British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) would like to see the upper limit of a win on a gambling machine increased from £25 to £35, about $75.

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Record year for slots in British Columbia

♠ August 20th, 2008 by ♣ admin

Record year for slots in British Columbia Record year for slots in British Columbia –> << Back slot machines [Enlarge Image] By Gene Koprowski A new report indicates that the British Columbia Lottery Corp. had record revenues last year of $2.6 billion. The revenues were $64 million more than experts had anticipated,…

…and were boosted by receipts from bingo halls, many of which were just retrofitted with slot machines.

The receipts were a massive windfall for the British Columbia government of $1.1 billion, even after major payouts for prize money.

Online poker, slots popular

The sales figures are also an indicator of a trend in gaming , according to Robin Cook, a spokeswoman for the British Columbia Lottery Corp. “With offerings like online poker, and offline slots, people aren’t as attracted to traditional games.”

There was, in fact, a bit of a reduction in purchases of other lottery games in British Columbia, including Super Seven and 6/49. Revenues from lottery tickets were $976.9 million, slightly less than had been expected, at $1 billion.

Profits were $263.9 million, according to the British Columbia Lottery Corp.

“The gaming entertainment business has become increasingly competitive and complex,” said the spokeswoman. “There’s competition from neighboring gaming jurisdictions, changing consumer needs, and Internet gaming, as well as rapidly evolving technologies. There’s also a shortage in skilled labor for casinos.”

The company’s strategy is focusing on building high-quality casinos, and adding even more slots in the future. This includes casinos at Hastings Racecourse Casino, as well as the Starlight Casino and the Treasure Cove Casino .

“The revitalization of commercial bingo gaming gained ground with the opening of seven new community gaming centers,” said the spokeswoman.

The province of British Columbia has 30 bingo halls now, but only 12 have slots today. That’s going to grow, and that should push revenues even higher in the next year, the spokeswoman said.

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Voters favor new casino in Ohio, new poll shows

♠ August 20th, 2008 by ♣ admin

Voters favor new casino in Ohio, new poll shows Voters patronize new casino in Ohio, new lop shows –> << Back voters [Enlarge Image] By Gene Koprowski A poll from the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute discovered that 60 percent of 1,342 surveyed likely Ohio voters support an initiative to approve the state’s first gambling casino. Only 35 percent oppose the concept.

A new poll shows that voters in Ohio support the idea of opening a new casino there.
Asked their position on legalized casino gambling throughout the state with 61 percent supporting and 34 percent opposing.
A total of 800,000 signatures have been collected by casino backers MyOhioNow.com, and submitted to the Ohio Secretary of State’s office last week are certified. Voters are voting in November’s general election to approve or quash the plan, which would result in a $600 million resort developed midway between Columbus and Cincinnati, near Interstate 71 at Route 73.
The casino will include a 220,000-square-foot casino with as many as 5,000 slot machines , 100 gaming tables and a 1,500-room hotel.

Related Issues

Another initiative tentatively headed to the November ballot garnered support in the survey too. A proposed mandate requiring seven days of paid sick leave for Ohio businesses with 25 or more employees was supported by 69 percent of respondents, with 27 percent against.

“If the business community is going to stop this proposal from becoming law, it had better get moving because it is going to have to change public opinion,” Peter Brown, assistant director of the polling institute, said.

The poll, conducted from August 5 to 11, also found that Ohio Treasurer Richard Cordray leads his Republican opponent in the special attorney general election. Of those surveyed, 44 percent said they would vote for Cordray, against 26 percent who would vote for Michael Crites, the Columbus lawyer and former U.S. attorney the GOP chose last month as its candidate.

Cordray’s high-profile elected post gives him a name-recognition edge over Crites, who notably prosecuted baseball legend Pete Rose for tax evasion in 1990. But, neither candidate attains household-name status. Three out of five voters said they don’t even know enough about Cordray to form an opinion, while four out of five said the same of Crites. But they definitely know that they want gambling in Ohio .

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Plans for new Pennsylvania casino changing

♠ August 20th, 2008 by ♣ admin

Plans for new Pennsylvania casino changing Plans for new Pennsylvania casino changing –> << Back planning [Enlarge Image] By Gene Koprowski The businessmen, led by Don Barden, of Detroit, are seeking to transfer their slots license to a new group headed by Chicago billionaire Neil Bluhm. Barden would keep a minority stake in the project.

A plan to develop a new casino in Pittsburgh, Penn. is being modified by the developers.

Mayor Luke Ravenstahl and Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato met Tuesday with Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board officials about the new plans.
Onorato and Ravenstahl were hopeful the state would approve the deal in a month or so. The two support the license transfer, provided Bluhm comes through on Barden’s promises.Ravenstahl said that, if the license were revoked rather than transferred, “we’re looking at one, two, three, maybe four years for the reissuing” of the license.

“It could involve the (Pennsylvania) Supreme Court. It could be a process that would take a very significant amount of time,” Ravenstahl said.

According to R. Douglas Sherman, the board’s acting chief counsel, the gaming board’s licensing and investigation bureaus are studying only the ownership restructuring proposal. The bureaus are not looking into the license revocation, though that could happen if their counsel determines that is necessary, Sherman said.

“There is one license that has been issued, it is not out for bid,” Sherman said. “There’s a joint application to restructure the ownership interest, that’s what’s before the board and that’s all that’s before the board at this time.”

The project’s prime contractor has said if work does not restart by Wednesday subcontractors will have the right to terminate their contracts, driving up costs and complicating the construction schedule.

Bluhm spokesman Dan Fee said his boss has hoped the gaming board would approve his deal with Barden by week’s end. He stressed that those comments were not an ultimatum.

Sherman said there’s no timetable for the board to act on the application.

Barden has blamed rising steel costs and lenders made wary by the mortgage crises for his inability to finance the nearly $800 million project . Bluhm is proposing to invest $170 million and get nearly $600 million from lenders to become majority partner in the deal, with Barden keeping a 20 percent interest.

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Gambling revenues soaring in Missouri

♠ August 20th, 2008 by ♣ admin

Gambling revenues soaring in Missouri Gambling revenues soaring in Missouri –> << Back revenues [Enlarge Image] By Gene Koprowski Missouri’s casinos are growing. The most recent report from the Missouri Gaming Commission show that overall casino gambling revenue rose 7 percent in July to $146.9 million, up from $136.9 million last year at this time.

The casinos are doing well, even as Missouri’s unemployment rate remains bizarrely high. The state’s June unemployment rate hit a three-year high of 6 percent in May before dropping slightly to 5.7 percent in June, the most recent figures available.

“Casinos were considered some time ago to be recession-proof,” Gene McNary, executive director of the Gaming Commission, said Tuesday.

McNary said a significant percent of casino gamblers in Missouri are senior citizens on fixed income who set aside a certain percentage of money for entertainment - and gambling is their primary entertainment.

The Lumiere Place Casino, St. Louis, which opened just last December, had revenue of $14.3 million last month. The market leader, Ameristar in St. Charles, whose revenue of $26.7 million was a 6 percent improvement over a year ago.

Overall, the four Missouri casinos in the St. Louis area saw admissions rise 21 percent and gross revenue rise 16 percent in July compared to a year earlier.

Lumiere’s revenue impact on the St. Louis casino market has exceeded expectations, McNary said, noting a study performed by the University of Missouri-St. Louis projected the new casino would grow the market by 2 percent. Instead, revenue has grown about 10 percent since Lumiere Place opened.

Statewide, the biggest gainer was the Mark Twain casino in northeast Missouri’s La Grange, whose revenue increased 14 percent in July. The casino was closed for nearly two weeks in late June due to Mississippi River flooding but reopened July 1.

“Maybe people who didn’t have a chance to gamble in June and saved their money to gamble in July,” McNary said.

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South Africa legalizes online gambling

♠ August 1st, 2008 by ♣ admin

South Africa legalizes online gambling South Africa legalizes online gambling –> << Back Africa [Enlarge Image] By Gene Koprowski South African President Thabo Mbeki has signed a National Gambling Amendment Bill into law, just a few months after the bill was approved by the Parliament.

The legislation will be implemented at a date chosen by the President, according to the president’s office.

With Mbeki’s assent, South Africa has now become the latest nation to legalize online gambling . It could still be some time before operations begin as officials work out on how to implement all of the new legislation in the bill, experts tell Online Casino Crawler.

The legislation was drafted in response to a study conducted by South Africa’s National Gambling Board. The bill amends the 2004 National Gambling Act to legalize online gambling along with establishing a licensing and a regulatory system.

The measure creates a legal system to monitor gaming sites online in order to prevent money laundering along with initiating programs to stop addictive gambling before it starts.

Under the bill, all online players need to be registered with a licensed interactive gambling provider and submit an affidavit ensuring that they are older than 18.

The measure also allows for the creation of an electronic monitoring system to help root out potentially addictive behavior and restrict credit extensions to players.

According to South Africa’s National Gambling Board, which will enforce the new measures, revenues from all forms of non-Internet gambling in the nation increased to $1.8 billion last year, up from $811 million in 2001/2002?

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