We associate Sega with video games but once upon a time, it was in the slot business. Those old machines do look awfully quaint unless …
… you juxtapose a Sega one-armed bandit with über-mega-hot European sex goddess Edwige Fenech (who gets named-checked in Quentin Tarantino‘s Inglourious Basterds and had a cameo in Hostel 2). The lines, the elegance, the Continental suavity — and the “fruit machine” suddenly doesn’t look so bad, either. Some unrecognized marketing genius at Sega definitely knew a “cool factor” when he saw one.
Fall of the House of Sussex. Also once upon a time, Columbia Sussex launched a two-pronged, ultra-megabuck assault on the hospitality industry. One half of this pincer movement was Continue reading
“Your political schizophrenia [sic] in this situation is a perfect example of the business-as-usual approach on the part of many insiders in today’s political world. Your desire to have it both ways entirely ignores any notion of honest, integrity-based positions grounded upon principled beliefs. It is this kind of conduct that disgusts people about today’s politics. One of these days, you are going to meet yourself coming around the corner, and it will be one hell of a crash.” — former Nevada Gov. Robert List (R), to political hack-for-hire (and, 
Think you’re so big, Las Vegas? Well, Singapore just went all “In your face” on Sin City. One area tycoon recently blew $50 million at Marina Bay Sands and/or Resorts World Sentosa. Not to be outdone, a Singaporean zillionaire 
Although everybody was revenue-negative compared to September ’09, Trump Taj Mahal and even Trump Marina were practically flat (less than a percentage point off last year’s pace). While the Marina may have hit bottom, Resorts Atlantic City has not; it fell 21% and into last place. In first place, Borgata was a full $10 million down from 9/09, but it also has more to lose, grossing as much as the bottom four casinos put together. It was hard hit at the tables, holding only 12% for a 39% falloff in revenue — somewhat ameliorated by only a low-single-digit drop in slot winnings. That was far better than the market average for slots (-10% on a comparable falloff of coin-in), if much worse than average (-16%) at the tables.
Roger, after all, is the same guy who let Harrah’s Entertainment off easy for 
“We are no longer the nation that used to amaze the world with its visionary projects. We have become, instead, a nation whose politicians seem to compete over who can show the least vision, the least concern about the future and the greatest willingness to pander to short-term, narrow-minded selfishness.” — Nobel laureate Paul Krugman on 
Nevada had another big casino bounce — $944.5 million, its largest since February’s $947 million. However, some of the positive auguries are real and some are misleading. To get the big one out of the way, Strip slot revenues were up 13% — but on lower coin-in, which means that somebody’s been tightening the slot hold again. Back out approximately $28 million in slot win that’s a holdover from the final weekend in July (Nevada uses some arcane slot-accounting rules) and the increase dwindles to a fraction of a percent. With the exception of last February, slot handle has down every since month since the end of 2007.
They’ve been busy little beavers at Penn National Gaming, which is — would you believe it? — now the third-largest operator in the U.S. Never mind that Penn bought a horse track in Ohio, on top of building two casinos there, and it just rolled out table games in West Virginia and Pennsylvania. Fresh off opening Maryland‘s first slot parlor (after threatening not to, in a momentary fit of corporate pique), Penn is making a play for Louisiana‘s one open gaming license, has bought half-interests in three Texas parimutuels and — to cap it off — made its much-touted Big Vegas Acquisition.
So is Herbst family hubris about to claim one or more victims in Primm? LVA sources report that perhaps 240 cars were there on a recent weekend, a sixth of them at Whiskey Pete’s, which wasn’t taking room bookings either — or seeing much play in the casino. Locks were seen being affixed to the front and back doors of Buffalo Bill’s and customers were told there would be a mass layoff on Nov. 22, followed by demolition of Whiskey Pete’s — an antediluvian hotel, it must be said — in January. If this scenario bears out, it will mark a tragic culmination of a series of events that began with Herbst Gaming grossly overpaying for the three borderline properties, a boneheaded business decision that accelerated the collapse of the company into receivership and the banishment of the Herbsts themselves.
Given the fiscal advantages outlined by Hoium — “low start-up costs, high margins, high growth potential … everything a company dreams of” — you have to wonder why it took the casino sector so long to coalesce around this issue. Harrah’s Entertainment has been the boldest in the ‘Net-bet arena but audacity may be morphing into rashness as 
Although the Maryland public 
Earlier this week, LVA received a tip that Herbst Gaming would be tearing down Whiskey Pete’s in January and closing Buffalo Bill’s as well. After receiving a somewhat guarded reply from Kirvin Doak, which is handling PR for the creditor-owned casinos, we were able to track down Herbst 
Former Harrah’s Entertainment veep and Santo Gaming founder Anthony F. Santo is six days into his stewarship of Tamares Group‘s downtown Las Vegas casinos. But he’s not putting all his eggs in Tamares’ basket. His company was handed the reins to Grand Sierra Resort & Casino, the former Reno Hilton (left). It was picked up in the fire sale that followed Harrah’s takeover of Park Place Entertainment, for $150 million. Its new owners went belly-up, leaving the property in the custody of the J.P. Morgan firm. Now, JPM covers the casino sector but doesn’t relish joining the ranks of houses like Deutsche Bank that were press-ganged into actual casino ownership because they made some really bad loans (*cough*Cosmopolitan*cough*).
“The court has not reached this conclusion lightly. It is acutely aware of the perilous nature of the world in which we live. But the 
1,075. That’s the magic number of feet below which Lake Mead cannot drop lest Hoover Dam should become inoperable — plunging Clark County into darkness — and