So you’re running in the Zappos.com Rock ‘n’ Roll Las Vegas Marathon and, as you pass the Riviera, your hamstrings burning you like a Donald Trump real estate scheme, you have a sudden urge to lay some bread on that night’s Detroit Lions vs. New Orleans Saints game. You’re in luck … or in Lucky’s Race & Sports Book, more accurately. When Lucky’s sublicensed sports-betting operations at the Riv, it added a walk-up betting window, of which two Colorado runners (pictured) took advantage. You can’t make a quickie wager on the Red Sox during the Boston Marathon, can you? Well … not yet, anyway.
“You had to have a kind of intuitive courage. I’m not well-suited to those kinds of decisions.” — Gary Loveman, to Bloomberg Businessweek, on why he thought $900 million was too high a price for getting then-Harrah’s Entertainment into Macao. Truer words were never spoken, Gary!
As the reviews trickle in from Saturday night’s Las Vegas premiere of Michael Jackson The IMMORTAL World Tour™ we may be seeing an inversion of the Viva Elvis™ phenomenon. In the latter instance, the out-of-towners raved and local critics yawned. In the case of Jackson, the in-Vegas verdict is pretty favorable, 
That nexus in which the media and Big Gaming interact is conspicuously less populous today. First came the news that Sarah Ralston (1961-2011) had died a fortnight ago, following what is characterized as “
Add the superlative Mexican restaurant Dos Caminos to the lengthening list of casualties brought on by the cash-hungry policies of Las Vegas Sands COO Michael Leven, the Grinch Who Stole Comps. On Nov. 14, Dos Caminos folded its last tamale and vacated Palazzo, leaving a conspicuous gap on the casino floor. According the the restaurant’s owners, “in late 2008 the Venetian negotiated and granted to Two Roads a long term cash flow rental agreement,” to tide them through the recession. However, the statement continues, Sands welshed on the arrangement and — in time-honored Sheldon Adelson fashion — filed a lawsuit against the restaurant.
“We do find it disconcerting that it seems virtually everyone is on the same side of the fence. The argument seems to center around the fact that Macau did so well during a period of fiscal tightening in China, just think of the potential when China reverses to loosen monetary policy.” — stock analyst Brian McGill, in an investor note sparked by the report that China will pocket $10.6 billion in casino taxes … more money than Nevada casinos grossed last year.
It’s all over for the current administration at Hooters Casino Hotel. They’ve given up trying to fight efforts by Canyon Capital Realty Advisors to have the money-losing property sold via foreclosure auction. If Canpartners wins at auction, 
At the same time the cast of Viva Elvis™ was getting pink-slipped across town, Boyd Gaming was busting out its new-and-improved version of Mystic Falls, the amusement park centerpiece of Sam’s Town. (Or, to use the official nomenclature, “Mystic Falls Park Sunset Stampede Laser Light & Water Show.”) Upgraded for the first time in 17 years, the renovation might advisedly have extended to include some new versions of the animatronic animals. They’re looking a mite tatty and zombified: scary in not entirely the appropriate way. (Look over right, kids, it’s an irate shareholder!) Boyd boasts that its new laser array offers “more powerful and clearer and projections, while using significantly less wattage.” I can attest to the first part of that statement and applaud Boyd for endeavoring to conserve electricity. We weren’t close enough to see the submersible fountain lights well but there are some impressive 3-D projections as part of the nightly spectacle, along with a new laser on the summit of Mystic Falls Mountain “to project mid-air beam effects throughout the atrium.”
This works as advertised, although making the beams optimally visible necessitates pumping 
You’ve got slightly more than a year to catch 
This is a good time to be in Florida, right? Not if you’re Boyd Gaming and have been trying to unload Dania Jai-alai, souvenir of a half-assed venture into the Sunshine State’s racino market. The company 
Las Vegas Sands dispatched its international overseer, Rob Goldstein (right) and sidekick Dan Briggs to New York as envoys to Wall Street. As reported by J.P. Morgan‘s Joseph Greff, Sands’ outlook is sanguine, particularly with regard to the Singapore and Macao markets. No untoward credit or liquidity issues are anticipated and Sands Cotai Central (whose exteriors look like something Ralph Engelstad would have built) remains on pace to open by late March next year. GDP in China continues to grow by almost 9% and Sands execs don’t think the real estate bubble on the mainland is “still a lot rosier” than the situation back home. There was a lot of chatter about rolling chip volume, which boils down to an anticipated additional $200 million in cash flow from the Four Seasons Cotai. Singaporean gaming, hotel and retail revenues are said to be increasing across the board.
Following in the footsteps of Alex Yemenidjian and Anthony Marnell IIII, the CEO of 
On the subject of Isle, members of its previous braintrust are back in the news. Former CFO Allan Solomon, ex-senior VP Les McMackin and former development veep Greg Guida have all rebanded (
Victor Rocha says it best: “Jack Abramoff is still the scum off the earth.” The unrepentant ripoff artist — to call him a snake in the grass would be a slander upon serpents — claims his only failing was to be just a teensy weensy bit overzealous. The problem, he brazenly asserts, wasn’t his conduct but the laws on the books. His Baron Munchausen-worthy assertion that he generated a 75X return on investment for the tribes he bilked reeks of what would politely be called “balderdash.” (S0 that’s why all those Abramoff-tainted tribal governments got drummed out of office! They were making too much money. Yeaaaahhhh, that’s the ticket.) Asking scumbag Abramoff to render judgment on Newt Gingrich is akin to having Lefty Rosenthal opine on the business practices of Donald Trump. By self-aggrandizingly likening himself to Gordon Gekko, Abramoff shows he’s still living in an egomaniacal fantasy land, with sycophantic ABC News talking heads dancing 
It’s five o’clock in Shreveport … or soon will be. Voters in Bossier Parish handed the casino industry a belated 2011 “win,” balancing the ledger in an otherwise disappointing electoral cycle. A Margaritaville-branded casino (employing a Lake Charles boat purchased from Isle of Capri Casinos) 
Just when you thought it was safe to invest in Las Vegas again, the city went to bed last night to the news that masters of disaster Morgans Hotel Group had purchased nightclub operator Light Group. Given Morgans’ propensity for scandal, disgrace and disaster (including helping to kill Echelon) during its ill-fated Hard Rock Hotel & Casino tenure, executives at MGM Resorts International must have been reaching for the Excedrin this morning. The Morgans gang that couldn’t shoot straight 
Hilariously, Morgans CEO Michael Gross -
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