Rather than sit on the daily fantasy sports sidelines, Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval (R, below) wants to nudge the Silver State into the game. To that end, he’s the keynote speaker for a 
specially convened, all-star hearing by the Nevada Gaming Policy Committee. Among those weighing in will be DraftKings CEO Jason Robins and FanDuel CEO Nigel Eccles, as well as William Hill US CEO Joe Asher. Others on the agenda include Narus Advisors consultant Chris Grove and Director of UNLV’s Center for Gaming Research David Schwartz. Central among the speakers will be American Gaming Association President Geoff Freeman, who previewed his speech in the pages of the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Calling DFS “a compelling upstart business caught in a legal gray area between state and federal laws,” Freeman writes that, by calling for DFS operators to Continue reading
By contrast, Boyd Gaming — unloved on Wall Street — returned 280% and Penn National Gaming rewarded investors’ faith with an astronomical 3,240%. In the course of posting $600 million in net losses, Trump did not have one revenue-positive year. “This is the sort of record usually associated with an Enron or a WorldCom or a Pets.com,” zings MarketWatch. Trump furthermore screwed his investors by paying himself $1.5 million in salary, 
and saying it had “essentially paid” its customers — but not really. “Over the following weeks, the industry saw numerous legal issues arise, increasing the cost of doing business and the decreasing the ability to raise funds. FantasyUp no longer has the capital to fund even minimal operations,” was the official explanation. FantasyUp was also comingling operating funds with bettors’ accounts — a big no-no. (It also 
comes from one customer-service-intensive industry (car rentals) to another, he brings a major prerequisite that his predecessor at Caesars lacked. Simply put, there’s an experiential component to the casino industry that doesn’t show up on a spread sheet. Frissora was able to mollify the NGCB’s concerns regarding the contentious circumstances that surrounded his departure from Hertz Global Holdings, which said Frissora had made “serious missteps” as CEO. That’s a nice way of saying that Hertz had to restate three years of financial results from the latter part of Frissora’s tenure. Other issues included “certain non-fleet assets, allowances for doubtful accounts in Brazil, as well as other items.”
triads. Lo and Kwok interviewed numerous anonymous sources, ranging from law enforcement personnel to triad members. “The study traced the development of Macau’s junket system from its reported beginnings in ferry ticket scalping hustles in Macau; through to the issuing of ‘dead’ or ‘rolling’ chips for VIP gambling in the city’s casinos under the former monopoly of Stanley Ho … on to some of the most notorious publicly known names associated with Macau junket activities. The list includes Wan Kuok Koi, also known as ‘Broken Tooth’ who rose to prominence in the 1990s because of his reputation for violence and his extravagant public image before being jailed for 15 years in 1999,” reported GGR Asia.
$100 million reinvestment 
“[Donald] Trump has got to be the first presidential candidate who’s ever owned a business that sold porn, and certainly the only Republican to have ever (openly) hawked gay porn.” — Josh Androsky, reporting on a stay at Trump International, where the workforce is paid markedly subpar wages by Las Vegas Strip standards.
don’t agree that Revel is a meaningless word, but finding a name that can build brand equity from scratch is no easy task. Whoever thought “Borgata” would resonate and “Revel” would land with a thud? Straub promises to reopen June 15 with 500 hotel rooms and all the original restaurants, which may mean he’s come to terms with those tenants he was trying so hard to drive from the premises. In a symbolic form of rebirth, that weird ball atop Revel (whose origin 
“I’m supportive of both those ventures, but I’m absolutely opposed [to] … any attempt to rob the Las Vegas Convention Center of its desperately needed cash to build anything — whether it’s a stadium, or a launching pad to the Moon, or an amusement ride or any other boondoggle — when we need so desperately to put the money into the convention center.” — MGM Resorts International CEO Jim Murren on proposals to divert $780 million in public monies to build a 65,000-seat stadium behind the Strip.
proof majorities and sent the legislation to Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D). The requirements on DFS sites aren’t particularly burdensome, mainly a $50,000 annual fee to the state and a ban on play by individuals under the age of 18. It’s even tax-free. Oversight will be handled by the Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services. On another battlefront, Indiana, DFS is advancing in the Lege, even though the yearly fee was upped from $5,000 to $75,000 for Year One (and 20 grand a year after that). DFS providers will have to act as agents of the state, withholding winnings from delinquent parents, a requirement the state should hardly be imposing on the private sector.
that MGM CEO Jim Murren got a nice little markup on his desired $1 billion sale price. Of the deal, Deutsche Bank analyst Carlo Santarelli wrote, “If the transaction is completed, while there is economic value creation … we think the impact on sentiment could be more meaningful. In short, MGM has talked about selling non-core assets for several years now. With the profit growth plan in place and showing its merit in results, the sale of Crystals would further reinforce the theme of management delivering on its promises to the market. We think this could go a long way in changing the, what we believe to be, negative sentiment towards 
state Senate. The compromise version of the compact adds slots at parimutuels in five counties (Palm Beach, Brevard, Gadsden, Lee and Washington counties) that have already approved them. That in itself might cause the Seminoles to 
“Thirteen is my lucky number and the new name along with the new logo fit perfectly with my vision. There is a hint of tradition while also suggesting a chic and fun edginess.” —
two lowest-grossing. Oversight of the property now passes from MTR Gaming refugees to TropEnt’s Anthony Rodio, who performed a dramatic turnaround at the Tropicana Atlantic City and gets a chance to repeat his magic at the Taj. “The Taj is one of Atlantic City’s signature properties. Although both Atlantic City and the Taj have had a few tough years, today marks the beginning of the turnaround,” said Icahn in a rare public statement. “Just a few years ago Tropicana was in bankruptcy and its fate uncertain, but since emerging in 2010, we have turned that property around and it has become one of Atlantic City’s few success stories. I am confident we can and will do the same for the Taj.”
Scientific’s performance still played to rave reviews on Wall Street. “Revenues and EBITDA of $737m and $293m exceeded our $675m and $274m, respectively,” wrote JP Morgan analyst Joseph Greff, noting that the interactive-gaming segment outperformed expectations (up 28%) but cautioning that a China lottery contract had expired. Revenue-participation and leased games were up, and the plurality of new-market growth in the U.S. was attributable to slot routes in Illinois. Given a rather flat replacement cycle in the casino industry, “noted that it expects the business to remain solid and experience modest growth, though quarterly results will likely remain lumpy.”
market where the art of the deal has not panned out for him: Las Vegas. He and sidekick Phil Ruffin would build a $100 million — a price that seems unrealistically low — casino 
response, Wynn