So is former PartyGaming PLC supremo Mitch Garber going to Harrah's Entertainment or isn't he? As of yesterday, it appears that the company is denying [registration req'd.] a London Times report that it had signed Garber to head up a conglomeration of its online and World Series of Poker operations.

Or not. Asked for clarification, a Harrah's flack replied, "There is not a statement and we do not comment on mktplace rumor/speculation."

Since Garber joined PartyGaming in April 2006, several months prior to the odious UIGEA, a Garber-to-Harrah's move would raise some thorny questions for regulators. Following UIGEA's dead-of-night enactment, PartyGaming exited the U.S. market. However, up until that point it had been engaged in some slippery dealings to which it recently 'fessed up.

PartyGaming has put a brave face on its accord with the U.S. Department of Justice, saying it "had no intention of breaking any laws" but its allocution shows that it went to considerable lengths to circumvent American banking rules. The seven-month overlap between Garber's hiring and PartyGaming's cutoff of U.S. play would be certain to put the executive under a regulatory microscope and, at minimum, require some dextrous explanation by Garber.

The company's profession of quasi-innocence is further undercut by the fact that company co-founder Anurag Dikshit has copped a plea that included paying a $300 million fine. Garber's former employer holds that its own deal with the feds was "amicable" and who are we to argue? If somebody was willing to hand me $105 million in return for causing them no further grief, I'd be quite amicably disposed, too.

PartyGaming can't be feeling too much pain in the wallet, as it's talking about making acquisitions. Nor will Garber be on his uppers if a reported Harrah's job offer were withdrawn, considering the generosity of his pay package as an Internet gambling CEO.

S&G will try and stay abreast of this story as it continues to develop ... or unravel.

We can rule out the "Warren Buffet of the Gulf" as a possible rescuer for CityCenter, from the looks of it. Prince Alwaleed of Saudi Arabia is selling much of his hotel portfolio to shore up his sagging fortune, including several of the Fairmont Raffles Hotels he co-owns with Colony Capital. It was an acquisition so expensive that Colony and its princely partner had to turn right around and sell much of it in return for management contracts. Colony's luck in the resort sphere seems to come in two flavors, bad and worse.