PIERRE, S.D. (AP) - A bill intended to wean South Dakota government off video lottery revenue failed to pass the House Taxation Committee Thursday. The panel voted 9-4 to kill the measure. Supporters of the measure said video lottery has a high social cost in the state and revenues are dropping anyway. They said the bill would have helped decrease the state's dependence on … [Read more...]

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - Kentucky can license and regulate Instant Racing, a slot-machine type of game where people bet on the outcome of an old horse race without knowing which contest they are betting on, the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled Thursday. Justice Daniel Venters said there wasn't enough information for the justices to determine whether Instant Racing qualifies as a horse race or is … [Read more...]

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - The head of a state Assembly panel pushing for a study of whether casino gambling should be expanded to the Meadowlands sports complex had harsh words Thursday for Atlantic City, saying casino executives had drained profits from the seaside resort for decades and now want the state to rescue them because the industry has soured. Assemblyman Ralph Caputo, an Essex County … [Read more...]

(Bloomberg) -- MGM China Holdings Ltd., the Macau casino operator, boosted the budget for its new resort in the city as fourth-quarter profit rose 35 percent, beating analyst estimates. The stock gained in Hong Kong. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or Ebitda, rose to $238 million from $176 million a year earlier, according to a statement yesterday from … [Read more...]

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) - New Mexico lawmakers have dealt a setback to the Navajo Nation by rejecting a gambling compact that would have allowed the state's largest American Indian tribe to open three additional casinos. The Senate voted 31-10 against the agreement Wednesday, which the House had approved the day before. The compact required approval of the Legislature and the U.S. Interior … [Read more...]

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Lawmakers considered bills Wednesday that would likely end greyhound racing in Iowa amid a push to halt the casino subsidies that have propped up the sport for years. The House State Government Committee and a Senate state government subcommittee approved similar legislation to phase out dog racing at Iowa's two tracks, in Council Bluffs and Dubuque. But senators said … [Read more...]

Casino dealers at three of the Strip’s most popular resorts have overwhelmingly approved a multi-year contract with Caesars Entertainment Corp. Dealers at Paris Las Vegas, Bally’s and Harrah’s voted 342 to 27 late Tuesday to approve the five-year deal, which retains grievance procedures, seniority rule and paid time off, among other issues, according to a union official. “It was certainly … [Read more...]

MGM Resorts International ended 2013 on an upbeat note. Company Chairman Jim Murren told investors Wednesday that 2014 is off to an equally good beginning. The casino company, which operates 10 resorts on the Strip, said it reduced its fourth-quarter net loss while growing revenues more than 9 percent during the three-month period that ended Dec. 31. Murren called 2013, in which MGM … [Read more...]

While there are risks to the economy locally and nationally, the fundamentals behind the recovery are good and have improved tremendously over the last few years, according to an economist with Beacon Economics. Christopher Thornberg, a founding partner at Los Angeles-based Beacon Economics LLC, and Bruce Simon, City National Bank’s chief investment officer, presented their forecasts Wednesday … [Read more...]

Nevada finally has its third real money Internet poker website. RealGaming.com began its soft launch phase this week, joining Ultimate­Poker.com and WSOP.com in offering regulated online gaming to gamblers within Nevada’s boundaries. The website is owned by Michael Gaughan’s South Point hotel-casino and is offering tournament play and cash games across multiple platforms, including PC and … [Read more...]

Hakkasan Group, owners of the Hakkasan nightclub and restaurant inside the MGM Grand Las Vegas, has acquired Las Vegas-based Angel Management Group, which operates several nightlife and dayclub venues on the Strip and Atlantic City. Terms of the deal were not announced Wednesday. Hakkasan is based in London and the transaction provides the company with day-to-day operational capability and … [Read more...]

LAS VEGAS (AP) - MGM Resorts International's fourth-quarter loss narrowed, helped by reduced expenses. The casino operator owns and runs properties in Nevada, Mississippi and Michigan, including 10 casinos on the Las Vegas Strip. It also has a 51 percent holding in a Chinese gambling enclave in Macau. "Las Vegas is truly recovering, MGM China continues to grow, our balance sheet has improved … [Read more...]

Las Vegas-based Galaxy Gaming has been licensed in Arizona to place non-traditional table games and wagering enhancements in Indian casinos. Arizona is one of the faster-growing Indian gaming markets, according to the most recent Indian Gaming Industry Report by Casino City. In 2011, the state’s 22 Indian casinos produced $1.76 billion in gaming revenues, a 7 percent increase over 2010. The … [Read more...]

MGM Resorts International ended 2013 by reducing its quarterly net loss while reporting a 9.5 percent increase in revenues. The casino company, which operates 10 resorts on the Strip, said Wednesday its net loss in the fourth quarter that ended Dec. 31 was $38.3 million, or 8 cents per share. In the same quarter a year earlier, MGM Resorts lost more than $1.22 billion, or $2.50 per … [Read more...]

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) - New Jersey is swinging for the fences in a long-shot effort to overturn a federal ban on sports betting in all but four states, asking the U.S. Supreme Court to declare the ban unconstitutional. With a federal appeals panel ruling against the state, New Jersey is appealing to the nation's highest court to consider two legal questions: Does the Professional and Amateur … [Read more...]

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) - A proposed tribal-state gambling compact that would allow the Navajo Nation to open additional casinos cleared the House on Tuesday. But one more hurdle remains before the Legislature adjourns this week. The compact must be approved by the House and Senate, as well as the U.S. Interior Department, to take effect. The House approved the proposal on a 36-30 vote and sent … [Read more...]

When the Las Vegas Wranglers move to new ice downtown, team owners will invest $4 million in a 45,000-square-foot, fabric-shell structure to house a hockey rink and seating for 3,500 on the roof of the Plaza Hotel casino, across from the Fremont Street Experience. The five-year deal between the Wranglers, a Double-A minor league hockey club in the ECHL, and the Plaza came together in three … [Read more...]

Someone claiming to be the hackers who knocked Las Vegas Sands Corp. off the Internet for nearly a week has posted an 11-minute video purporting to show stolen internal company information and taunting the international casino operator. The video was emailed to several media outlets and was posted to YouTube.com late Monday. However, YouTube removed the video from the website before 3 p.m. … [Read more...]

The 65,000-square-foot day-club and nightclub pool deck on the roof of the redeveloped Cromwell will open Memorial Day weekend, Caesars Entertainment Corp. announced Tuesday. The area, which is being designed an operated by Victor Drai, is located on the 11th floor of the Cromwell and includes Drai’s Beach Club • Nightclub, offers panoramic views of the Strip. The 188-room Cromwell is being … [Read more...]

Casino giant Las Vegas Sands Corp. said Tuesday that hacking into their websites and internal systems last week went deeper than the company had previously known. All of the Las Vegas-based company's sites were down for six days after hackers posted images apparently condemning comments CEO Sheldon Adelson made about using nuclear weapons on Iran. Sands said hackers crashed its email system … [Read more...]

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Pennsylvania casinos took in $58.7 million from table games last month, down just over 1 percent from January 2013. The state collected $8.4 million in taxes. The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board released monthly figures on Tuesday. Combined January revenue from slot machines and table games totaled about $230 million, down 7 percent from the year-ago period. State … [Read more...]

BOSTON (AP) - Massachusetts gambling regulators agreed Tuesday to designate Longmeadow as a surrounding community for a proposed $800 million resort casino in Springfield, but they rejected similar petitions from Northampton and Hampden. The state's 2011 gambling law makes communities located near casinos eligible for funding - provided by the developer - to mitigate any negative impacts on … [Read more...]

Las Vegas Sands Corp., owners of the Venetian and Palazzo on the Strip, has restored its websites about a week after they were apparently taken over by hackers. The Las Vegas-based gaming company pulled down the sites, including Internet portals to the company’s Strip resorts, on Feb 13. Visitors to the websites were told that the sites were undergoing maintenance. Ron Reese, a Las Vegas … [Read more...]

William Hill PLC on Monday was forced to clarify media reports that its chief executive will leave the British bookmaker by the end of the year, saying a planned timetable to replace Ralph Topping at the end of next year is still on track. Topping is scheduled to retire at the end of 2015, but The Times and Daily Telegraph in London reported Monday that he may step down by year’s end. Topping, … [Read more...]

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - The Florida Lottery reports that more people bought tickets for its scratch-off games last week than ever before in history. Lottery officials said Monday that $78.5 million in scratch-off game tickets were sold the week beginning Feb. 10. That's $4.5 million more than the previous record, which was set in March 2012. The top sellers were the 100x The Cash and the … [Read more...]