Industry News Archive Page 11

The casinos of Mississippi are finally on the rebound. With properties reopening a year after Hurricane Katrina and the promise of new development, the market is set for a major transformation.

Republicans last week held a “field hearing” in rural Iowa to gather feedback from voters on the proposed online gambling ban that passed the House of Representatives this summer, but is on hold in the U.S. Senate.

Pinnacle Entertainment is breaking into the Atlantic City market in a big way. The Las Vegas based gaming company announced a deal today to buy the underperforming Sands Casino Hotel...

Mobile phones are emerging as a new platform for the online casino industry, and are expected to be an $8.8 billion business during the next four years, according to a new research report by a leading IT consulting company.

Harrah’s is looking across the pond for its latest acquisition. With a burgeoning casino market in the United Kingdom, the purchase of an existing casino operator will give the ubiquitous gaming company a leg-up on the competition.

In a deal signed this week, the Governator Arnold Schwarzenegger is giving several Native American tribes permission to expand California casino gaming. The new deals with two tribes will quadruple the number of slot machines are each allowed to operate while also upping the state’s share of the profits.

The Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA), a leading trade group in Washington D.C., is fighting against the proposed law that would block electronic transfers between U.S. gamblers and Internet casinos, Onlinecasinocrawler.com has learned.

Online sports gaming is no longer limited to picking the winner of the NCAA tournament, or the probable champions of the NFL and NBA.

Luxury hotel and casino company Kerzner International (NYSE:KZL) is going private. In a deal approved this week by shareholders, the acquisition of the company is going to an investor group led by the Company's Chairman of the Board, and Butch Kerzner, the Company's Chief Executive Officer.

Merger frenzy is emerging in the online casino industry, analysts said, as online casinos acquire European operations to diversify their sources of revenue, and reduce their reliance on U.S. revenues.

LAS VEGAS -- Casino resort developers are continuing to ratchet up the stakes in a furious game of one-upsmanship with a bevy of new projects that will bring the most expensive resorts ever conceived to the Strip. There is more than $30 billion in projects under construction right now and dozens more on the drawing board.

With the implosion of Betonsports.com (BOS) for American customers almost complete, lots of online gamblers are wondering if they should continue playing with online casinos.

The Interactive Gaming Council (IRC), a leading industry group, is working with an Ontario-based pollster to examine problem online gambling in Canada, as part of a strategy to develop “player protection” measures for the Internet gambling industry.

Rumors are swirling that Boyd Gaming is looking to scale back or cancel its multi-billion dollar project Echelon Place. However, reports coming from the company deny the $4 billion mega-resort complex on the Las Vegas Strip is in jeopardy.

A new survey, released this week, by the Munich-based consulting company, MECN, indicates that the recent woes afflicting the online gaming industry are likely to be short-term to medium-term threats, not long-term woes.

Investors around the world continue to clamor for shares in online gambling companies – shaking off the news of an indictment against the former chief executive officer of BetOnSports.com,

Biloxi is officially back. Last week Harrah’s Entertainment announced the reopening of the Grand Biloxi Casino Hotel and Spa while MGM Mirage has set August 29 as the date it will reopen its Beau Rivage Resort & Casino

The online gambling community in Gibraltar, a small island near Spain with close ties to Britain – is booming, with upwards of 12 percent of the territory’s workers being employed by online casinos, sources are telling OnlineCasinocrawler.com.

BetOnSports former CEO David Carruthers was released from prison Wednesday after posting a $1 million bond. Carruthers has been locked up for the last month on nearly two dozen racketeering and fraud charges.

A new study released this week shows that a “substantial” number of American adults would rather play casual online games -- online fare like Bingo --than watch television during their free time.

Owners of Atlantic City casinos took a big hit in July according to the official figures released this week by New Jersey’s Casino Control Commission. The city’s 12 casinos reported $480.5 million in casino win last month, which was a 4.8 percent drop compared to July 2005.

The jackpot, which was the largest poker tournament payout of all time was won after a grueling 236 hands that stretched nearly 14 hours into the wee hours of the next morning.

Though Curruthers was quite a vocal advocate for the legalization and regulation of online gaming, more than a billion dollars in value of online gaming stocks on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) were lost after his legal hassle emerged.

This year the Macau Special Administration Region is predicted to bring in about $6.8 billion. To put it into perspective, the Las Vegas Strip’s mega resorts generated $6 billion in revenue last year.

With less than a month away from opening his newest mega resort -- this time in the Chinese Province of Macau -- Steve Wynn has hired renowned industry veteran Jack Binion to run Wynn Resorts’ Asian operations and development.

Listing the accomplishments of the Senate thus far this year, and the goals for the September session, before Congress adjourns in October to campaign for re-election, Sen.

Trump Entertainment Resorts (NASDAQ: TRMP) is transforming itself after freeing itself from the brink of bankruptcy. Now, the company is expanding the casino brand into new markets and reinventing its Atlantic City properties.

Pinnacle Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE: PNK) is suing a trio of its insurance carriers refusing to pony up what the gaming company thinks its owed due to damages to its Casino Magic Biloxi property.

The U.S. Congress should postpone all legislation planned for online gambling until a study is conducted to examine the impact of the $12 billion industry on the American economy, leading legislators on Capitol Hill are now telling OnlineCasinoCrawler.com.

Online gaming grows more interesting week by week -- as site producers around the world react to the unprecedented legal hassles of the U.S. government.

The Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority (MTGA) and its Mohegan Sun casino -- the world’s largest -- is riding high after reporting a record third quarter earnings this week.

Singapore has closed bidding for its second major casino gaming integrated resort, and it looks like it will be a four way race to see which consortium is picked to build the next multi-billion casino and entertainment project.

A new report by the Munich-based consulting firm, MECN, GmbH, indicates that the online gaming industry is passing through its toughest challenges ever, and is eyeing "casual gaming," including online bingo, fantasy sports and skill gaming as future growth opportunities.

Because gambling on the casino floor isn’t nearly enough, Las Vegas Sands Corporation is rolling out at a portable gaming system that will allow its guests the opportunity to play their favorite casino games at the pool, while eating and even in the lobby bathroom.

The French Parliament is considering the legalization -- and regulation -- of online gambling, making a move to help the nascent Internet industry there compete with the cyber-casinos across the English Channel in London, experts are telling OnlineCasinoCrawler.com.