Category Archives: Regulation

Case Bets: A.C. Trop, 21, Ensign, Boulder City, Jacko, etc.

Posted on June 29, 2009 by David McKee

After conservator Justice Gary Stein turned his trusteeship of the Tropicana Atlantic City into a $7.4 million gravy train, the New Jersey Casino Control Commission is belatedly bolting the barn door. It's going to petition the Lege to limit the … Continue reading →

Posted in Atlantic City, Colony Capital, Columbia Sussex, Downtown, Politics, Regulation, The Strip, Tourism | Comments Off on Case Bets: A.C. Trop, 21, Ensign, Boulder City, Jacko, etc.

Case Bets: California, Packer pickle, Macao pix, Holy Cow!, Singapore, RoboPoker, etc.

Posted on June 25, 2009 by David McKee

Editor’s note: An item involving Crown Ltd. contained factual errors, which have been corrected (as you’ll see). I apologize for the misinformation. My thanks to the reader who pulled my head out of my @$$. California gamblers stay and play … Continue reading →

Posted in Atlantic City, Australia, California, Columbia Sussex, Current, Economy, Entertainment, G2E, Genting, Harrah's, Holy Cow, International, Lake Tahoe, Laughlin, Louisiana, Macau, New York, Penn National, Phil Ruffin, Problem gambling, Regulation, Sheldon Adelson, Singapore, Technology, The Strip, Tribal, Tropicana Entertainment | Comments Off on Case Bets: California, Packer pickle, Macao pix, Holy Cow!, Singapore, RoboPoker, etc.

Don't do it, Alex!

Posted on June 25, 2009 by David McKee

Noooooooo! That was my reaction upon reading the Mike Weatherford shocker that the Tropicana Las Vegas may be putting many of its future entertainment eggs in the basket of Anthony Cools. The latter produced an ultra-craptacular topless show, Ooh La … Continue reading →

Posted in Alex Yemenidjian, Entertainment, Harrah's, Internet gambling, Macau, MGM Mirage, Planet Hollywood, Regulation, Tropicana Entertainment | Comments Off on Don't do it, Alex!

A-Yem to the rescue

Posted on June 19, 2009 by David McKee

“No corporate liposuction.” With those words, new Tropicana Las Vegas CEO Alex Yemenidjian not only coined the catchphrase of the year, he implicitly repudiated the policies of forerunner William J. Yung III, whose Columbia Sussex modus operandi was to solve … Continue reading →

Posted in Alex Yemenidjian, Columbia Sussex, Current, Downtown, Election, Entertainment, Labor, Regulation, Tamares Group, The Strip | Comments Off on A-Yem to the rescue

Harrah’s Azov?

Posted on June 18, 2009 by David McKee

Bloomberg News reports the following: Harrah’s Entertainment, the world’s biggest casino company, may build a resort on the Azov Sea, Vedomosti reported Tuesday. Harrah’s may join U.S. construction company Asati in building a complex in Azov-City, one of four gambling … Continue reading →

Posted in Alaska, Atlantic City, Charity, Colony Capital, Columbia Sussex, Culinary Union, Harrah's, International, Regulation, Tropicana Entertainment | 1 Comment

Case Bets: Colony Capital, Siegfried & Roy, Obama smacks poker players

Posted on June 15, 2009 by David McKee

“Bats hang over the doorway to the building that housed Mr. Jackson’s private arcade; guano stains the threshold.” That’s how the Wall Street Journal describes Michael Jackson‘s decaying Neverland Ranch. It gets even freakier from there, with the WSJ receiving … Continue reading →

Posted in California, Colony Capital, Entertainment, International, Internet gambling, Movies, Politics, Regulation, Station Casinos, The Strip, TV | Comments Off on Case Bets: Colony Capital, Siegfried & Roy, Obama smacks poker players

Case Bets: Packer & Ho, Sands Bethlehem, MGM Mirage, Ameristar, Penn, Harrah's, etc.

Posted on June 3, 2009 by David McKee

• Smashing guitars — but not over each other’s noggins — James Packer and Lawrence Ho christened City of Dreams. The younger Ho downplayed expectations of foot traffic, saying his $2.4 billion megaresort could get by on far fewer visitors … Continue reading →

Posted in Ameristar, Cordish Co., Current, Detroit, Economy, Election, Harrah's, Horseracing, Iowa, James Packer, Lawrence Ho, Macau, Maryland, Melco Crown Entertainment, MGM Mirage, Penn National, Pennsylvania, Regulation, Sheldon Adelson, Wall Street | Comments Off on Case Bets: Packer & Ho, Sands Bethlehem, MGM Mirage, Ameristar, Penn, Harrah's, etc.

Reid rewarded, Trop rescued

Posted on June 3, 2009 by David McKee

… Sen. Harry Reid's (D-NV) efforts on behalf of the casino industry have not gone unrewarded. If you can follow this formatting garble, you'll see that his donors include not only Tim & Tom, late of the Golden Nugget, but … Continue reading →

Posted in Alex Yemenidjian, Current, Economy, Election, Harrah's, Macau, MGM Mirage, Politics, Regulation, Sheldon Adelson, Station Casinos, The Strip, Tropicana Entertainment, Wall Street | Comments Off on Reid rewarded, Trop rescued

Pansy passes the buck

Posted on June 3, 2009 by David McKee

An understandably sheepish-looking J. Terrence Lanni toasts the opening of MGM Grand Macau alongside business partner Pansy Ho and, front and center, project co-financier Stanley Ho. MGM Grand Macau co-owner Pansy Ho says it's entirely up to MGM Mirage to … Continue reading →

Posted in Atlantic City, Columbia Sussex, Macau, MGM Mirage, Regulation, Stanley Ho | Comments Off on Pansy passes the buck

Pansy Ho: time for Plan C

Posted on May 22, 2009 by David McKee

In my usual cart-first, horse-later fashion, I elicited a legal opinion regarding the scenario I postulated the other night: MGM Mirage spinning off either its Atlantic City holdings or MGM Grand Macau into a quasi-autonomous entity, much as Sheldon Adelson … Continue reading →

Posted in Atlantic City, Boyd Gaming, Carl Icahn, James Packer, Lawrence Ho, Macau, Melco Crown Entertainment, MGM Mirage, Regulation, Sheldon Adelson, Stanley Ho, Taxes | Comments Off on Pansy Ho: time for Plan C

Surrender in Atlantic City?

Posted on May 20, 2009 by David McKee

Yesterday, I mis-reported New Jersey state Sen. James Whelan's proposal for downsizing the state's regulatory apparatus. He didn't call for elimination of the New Jersey Casino Control Commission in favor of the Division of Gaming Enforcement, merely an unspecified removal … Continue reading →

Posted in Atlantic City, Boyd Gaming, Colony Capital, Donald Trump, Economy, Harrah's, Penn National, Pennsylvania, Politics, Regulation, Station Casinos | Comments Off on Surrender in Atlantic City?

Solving the Pansy Problem

Posted on May 20, 2009 by David McKee

Amidst today's crush of news, I forgot at least one other potential solution to l'affaire Pansy. Perhaps MGM Mirage can have its cake and eat it as well, by taking a page from Sheldon Adelson's playbook. It'd be a transparent … Continue reading →

Posted in Atlantic City, Columbia Sussex, MGM Mirage, Politics, Regulation, Sheldon Adelson, Stanley Ho | Comments Off on Solving the Pansy Problem

The MGM/Pansy Ho verdict: It's in and it's bad

Posted on May 19, 2009 by David McKee

After nearly four years of investigation, the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement has released its long-awaited “suitability” findings on MGM Mirage joint-venture partner Pansy Ho. As MGM itself reported to the SEC yesterday, “While the report itself is confidential, … Continue reading →

Posted in Atlantic City, Boyd Gaming, Columbia Sussex, Cosmopolitan, Current, Fontainebleau, Harrah's, Macau, MGM Mirage, Planet Hollywood, Regulation, Stanley Ho, The Strip, Tropicana Entertainment, Wall Street | Comments Off on The MGM/Pansy Ho verdict: It's in and it's bad

"Another one bites the dust"

Posted on May 15, 2009 by David McKee

That’s how a reader informed me of Las Vegas-based Golden Gaming‘s decision to bail on Wyandotte County in Kansas. Considering that you’ve got Harrah’s Entertainment, Ameristar Casinos, etc. firmly entrenched across the state line in Kansas City, Mo., and Isle … Continue reading →

Posted in Ameristar, Boyd Gaming, Cordish Co., Current, Economy, Golden Gaming, Harrah's, Isle of Capri, Kansas, Penn National, Regulation, Station Casinos, Wall Street | Comments Off on "Another one bites the dust"

Perp Show

Posted on May 14, 2009 by David McKee

If you're bald, weight 285 lbs. and have one arm in a cast, you're not exactly inconspicuous. So how was it that that such a hefty man was to infiltrate a VIP area of Planet Hollywood and bust into Peepshow … Continue reading →

Posted in Atlantic City, Boyd Gaming, Cirque du Soleil, Colony Capital, Current, Donald Trump, Economy, Election, Entertainment, Fontainebleau, Harrah's, MGM Mirage, Planet Hollywood, Politics, Regulation, Taxes, The Strip, Tropicana Entertainment | Comments Off on Perp Show

Bleak Horizon

Posted on May 5, 2009 by David McKee

Anybody who thought Columbia Sussex CEO William J. Yung III was exiting the casino industry, let alone going quietly, got a bracing dose of reality today. The older of Tropicana Entertainment‘s two leases in Lake Tahoe, the Horizon, is in … Continue reading →

Posted in Columbia Sussex, Lake Tahoe, Regulation, Tropicana Entertainment | Comments Off on Bleak Horizon

Harrah's takes out the garbage; Yemenidjian's return

Posted on May 5, 2009 by David McKee

Congratulations — I think — to new Harrah's Entertainment General Counsel Timothy R. Donovan. A graduate of The Ohio State University, Mr. Donovan comes to Harrah's by way of the garbage industry. Considering that picking up the trash around Harrah's … Continue reading →

Posted in Alex Yemenidjian, Atlantic City, Current, Harrah's, Indiana, Regulation, The Strip, Tropicana Entertainment | Comments Off on Harrah's takes out the garbage; Yemenidjian's return

Chump change for Trop

Posted on April 29, 2009 by David McKee

While there has been no shortage of bad decisions in the casino industry of late, the Dunce of the Year winner for 2008 and presumptive favorite for 2009 has got to be Tropicana Atlantic City conservator Gary Stein. This former … Continue reading →

Posted in Atlantic City, Colony Capital, Cordish Co., Donald Trump, Economy, Regulation, Tropicana Entertainment | Comments Off on Chump change for Trop

Case Bets: Isle exits U.K.; no room at the Trop; Carlino channels Astaire, etc.

Posted on April 24, 2009 by David McKee

Isle of Capri Casinos is coming up for air, literally extricating itself from underneath Ricoh Stadium in Coventry, U.K. As part of CEO James Perry‘s attempt to refocus a company that spread itself too thin under his predecessor, he’s walking … Continue reading →

Posted in Atlantic City, California, Colony Capital, Columbia Sussex, Current, Detroit, Economy, Florida, Goldman Sachs, Illinois, International, Isle of Capri, MGM Mirage, Penn National, Regulation, The Strip, Tropicana Entertainment, Wall Street | Comments Off on Case Bets: Isle exits U.K.; no room at the Trop; Carlino channels Astaire, etc.

Garber to Harrah's? Apparently not

Posted on April 16, 2009 by David McKee

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 denyinga London Times report that it had signed Garber to head up a conglomeration of its … Continue reading →

Posted in Colony Capital, Harrah's, International, Internet gambling, MGM Mirage, Regulation, The Strip, World Series of Poker | Comments Off on Garber to Harrah's? Apparently not