Although I was hoping to keep this under wraps a few more days, reader Jeff_in_OKC connected all the dots this afternoon, so I’ll have to scoop myself. Here goes …
At last week’s annual Star Trek Convention, the program contained a full-page announcement that next year the STC is leaving the Las Vegas Hilton and engaging its warp drive all the way over to The Rio. However, the casino’s media page has nothing on the subject. A Google News search for “star trek convention rio” produced all of nothing, as did “star trek convention las vegas rio.” Star Trek blogs were of little help. Two calls to Harrah’s Entertainment and one to convention producer Creation Entertainment have also proven fruitless to date.
So let me float this theory: Continue reading
Those of you for whom Melco Crown Entertainment has been a bumpy ride are about to experience additional turbulence. CFO Simon Dewhurst has stepped down and MPEL board has — rather late in the day — decided “to find a CFO with more of a gaming operating background (versus Mr. Dewhurst’s capital markets background, which may be less relevant to a company with less development related financing needs),” according to a J.P. Morgan investor alert.
Today comes word that a casino-management deal with Dan Gilbert‘s Rock Ventures 
4. Nobody has to rebrand Texas Station and Santa Fe Station “Texas Town” and “Santa Fe Coast” or whatever.
If you’re having to go hat in hand to the bank to ask for a renegotiated home loan, take comfort in the thought that you’re hardly alone. Even plutocrats like Columbia Sussex CEO William J. Yung are having to plead for new loan terms, lest an asset like the Westin Casuarina fall into receivership (
Strippers in your pocket. If you don’t feel like carrying a bulky text — or an e-book on your iPad — to a strip club, take heart. Arnold Snyder‘s Topless Vegas is now 
Having been in “stay the course” mode ever since the death of company founder Craig H. Neilsen, locals giant Ameristar Casinos is putting itself on the block. According to the New York Post, the company has hired an investment bank to explore a potential sale. J.P. Morgan analyst Joseph Greff, in an investor bulletin, notes that Ameristar “already has among the highest property level EBITDA margins in the industry and runs a tight ship,” leaving little room for improvement beyond removing duplications of effort at the corporate level.
“You’re the hub right now, kid.” Thus spake a Los Angeles-based private investigator who’s hot on the trail of some possible malfeasance in the real estate world. It involves a couple of characters who were persons of interest in a caper I covered four years ago for the Las Vegas Business Press— not to be confused with its castrated, present-day counterpart — and had completely forgotten until today. It involved an attempt to raise money over the Internet to buy the Sahara (no, seriously) and turned out to be masterminded by two-time loser Ronald J. Goldberg 
Considering that table games were up and running in Delaware and gradually rolling out in Pennsylvania, it comes as a pleasant surprise to see that Atlantic City was only down 5% in July. Frankly, I was expecting much worse, especially after 
Not even the cachet of Carey Hart and occasional appearances by Pink were enough to keep Wasted Space going. The Hard Rock Hotel is calling it quits on the club, 
Despite being in one of the two hardest-hit regions of America, Detroit has posted casino-revenue gains in five of the last seven months. It’s done this without significant new casino product (unlike Missouri, which is -4% once River City is subtracted) and without new games (unlike Pennsylvania). Given not only the Great Recession but the high unemployment in Michigan, Motown’s three casinos are obviously doing something right.
Garden State Gov. Chris Christie (R-N.J.) may have excluded sports betting as a new revenue source 
It’s not news that Japan has been mulling casino gambling for the umpteenth time. What is news is that the Diet — or rather, the General Assembly of International Sightseeing Industry Development Diet Member Association — has gotten very serious about the subject. The association has released a 68-article “Casino Act” which would create two experimental casinos, with as many as eight more to follow.
However, as I read through the document, all I could think was, “This is going to raise hell in the neighborhood” and