Carl Icahn could make another big score soon: Tropicana Entertainment has been cited as a likely takeover candidate by Wall Street analysts. The combination of saturated markets 
and low interests has led stock pickers to predict that the industry will grow by contraction, leaving us with fewer, bigger companies. Eldorado Resorts is tipped as a company that might have some assets it wishes to divest and Sheldon Adelson could always have yet another change of mind and put Sands Bethlehem back on the market (again). The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas is spreading buyout rumors and I can’t tell you what I know but ignore any talk that involves MGM Resorts International. The Cosmo won’t come cheap but if you want a cut-price megaresort there’s always Revel, although the latter comes with head-case owner Glenn Straub. And some analysts put regional operator Wild Rose Casinos in play, which might be a logical fit for Boyd Gaming, if its appetite isn’t sated, or for a small-to-mid-cap operator like Golden Entertainment or Eldorado.
* Lawrence Ho isn’t a man given to selling out or giving up quickly but he’s liquidated the last of his interest in money-losing Tigre de Cristal casino near Vladivostok. Reports Casino.org, “At the moment, the resort reportedly does solid business on weekends, but attracts little traffic from Monday through Friday.” Exponentially increasing taxes was the primary 
disincentive to keep doing business under Vladimir Putin‘s regime, which had laid a heavy hand on businesses, but there were other factors. One of the most imperative is the flourishing of an illegal-casino business in Vladivostok itself, depriving punters of the incentive to drive out to Tigre de Cristal. Another Ho disincentive was the governmental mandate that casinos act as tax collectors, deducting tax-withholding levies from player jackpots, a bad idea that has been floated in the U.S. but always rejected by saner heads. Taiwan‘s First Steamship Co. looks like it will be the next owner of Tigre de Cristal. We’ll see if they like doing business under Putin any better than Ho did. First Steamship says it’s a “long-term investment.” We’ll see how durable that commitment proves to be.
* Although Internet gambling is new to Pennsylvania, a few companies have a leg up — primarily due to previous experience in New Jersey. One of these would be Caesars Interactive and another would be Neil Bluhm‘s SugarHouse Casino, which had the 
foresight to establish an Atlantic City beachhead in hopes that ‘Net betting would come to the Keystone State. PlaySugarHouse.com presently piggybacks off the Golden Nugget‘s Atlantic City cyber platform but would be able to work off its own servers in Pennsylvania. It is also likely to be able to host other Web casinos on aforementioned servers, doubly benefiting from the change in Pennsylvania law. Only Caesars — at Harrah’s Philadelphia — can say the same. What’s more, overlapping ownership of SugarHouse and Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh will strengthen Bluhm’s hand still further.
Parx Casino, despite having opposed Internet gambling in the Legislature, ironically, is one of the best-positioned to capitalize it. An executive team with a European background and understanding of the online market are credited for Parx’s strong potential. Early 
advocate but long-shot contender Valley Forge Casino just got an infusion of marketing moolah and brand recognition when it sold to Boyd Gaming, a transaction that’s win-win for both parties. Mount Airy Casino has been teamed with online provider 888 for three years now, an alliance that gives the former instant credibility. The alliance is made even stronger by the fact that 888 is expected to host Harrah’s Philadelphia as well. That’s a network with a lot of potential. Now it remains to be seen whether Sheldon Adelson, up in Bethlehem, keeps yelling “You kids get off my lawn” or grudgingly enters an industry he claims to detest.
