Last weekend saw Trump Taj Mahal pass into the hands of Carl Icahn, becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of Tropicana Entertainment. That is cause for optimism at the Taj, which has gone from being one of Atlantic City‘s three top casinos to one of its 
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.”
Rodio must now turn his attention to hammering out a Continue reading
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 
“I’m not telling you anything.” — Sheldon Adelson, dissing the Wall Street Journal 
fashion. Despite a decline in the number of visitors to the coast — 14.6 million last year versus 20.7 million in 2004 — gamblers are wagering more, with revenues up 6% in 2015. Scarlet Pearl is the first casino to be built in compliance with a new Mississippi edict that casino resorts must have at least 300 hotel rooms and a signature amenity. (Silver Slipper Casino added a hotel and Island View Casino redid a hotel tower.) The timing of the news could hardly be better, coming as it does when Alabama, Florida and Georgia are all flirting with new or expanded gaming.
Casino and SLS Las Vegas. Under Schreck’s proposal, which passed out of the Nevada Gaming Control Board, quarterly results would no longer have to be publicly reported, just privately shared with the NGCB. In return, the casino owners will have to be relicensed. The measure, if passed by the Nevada Gaming Commission, will enable struggling casinos like SLS to avoid a great deal of public embarrassment. Schreck does have a point, though, when he says that casinos owned by investment houses have to meet a higher threshold of disclosure than publicly owned casinos. Whether sweeping quarterly results under the rug is 
Creek Indians seeks a casino on a one-acre parcel near Pensacola in return of $1 billion in payments to the state, spread over five years. What’s more, the Poarch Band would surrender four parimutuel licenses in holds in the Sunshine State. But if it doesn’t get a casino, the tribe proposes to grow marijuana on the site. Pete Antonacci, Scott’s general counsel at the time, asked the perfectly reasonable question of whether one could build a casino on a single acre, to which the tribe replied that there was “absolutely no limitation or minimum acreage requirement in federal law that would restrict a Tribe’s authority to either engage in Class III gaming or to enter into a compact.”
Entertainment bankruptcy. His report on the company’s attempted restructuring is due at year’s end. At its heart will be several controversial asset transfers. Now, to you and I, selling Total Rewards from your right pocket to your left pocket for the grand sum of $0 may look for all the world like a fraudulent conveyance, but the court may not see it that way.
Station Casinos closed out the year on a strong note, posting its 11th straight quarter of net revenue growth and 19th of improved cash flow. It marked blue-ribbon finish to a year that saw the highest revenues for the company since 2008. Net revenues in the company’s breadbasket, Las Vegas, were up 3% and the tribal-management sector had a breakout 2015, with revenues up 67%. With the company’s IPO on hold again, management 
“The market is simply oversaturated. All we’re doing by opening a new casino is shuffling the deck and moving people who are already gambling to a new spot.” — New Jersey Assemblyman Chris Brown (R), on casino expansion away from Atlantic City.
games to Salem. The bill was reported favorably out of the Ways & Means Committee and now goes to the full Senate. But it’s got the city of Rochester crying foul and saying it merits consideration as a casino site, too. Civic boosters are even brandishing that old shibboleth, horseracing, saying a racino could bring harness racing — which expired in 2011 for lack of state subsidies — back to Rochester Fairgrounds. Such a proposal, however, would need local approval. Eighty percent of Salem residents have gone on record in favor of a casino.
Jersey’s 
“A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian. This is not in the gospel.” — Pope Francis, 
domestic regional gaming portfolio should continue to benefit from continued U.S. jobs growth and lower gas prices. The stock provides for a favorable set-up for investors with potential, positive estimate revisions relating to its strong operating leverage and its exposure to the growing/recovering [Las Vegas] locals and downtown LV markets,” wrote JP Morgan analyst Joseph Greff, who called the quarterly results “very impressive.”