Stiffs and Georges

Foxwoods Resort Casino CEO Scott “Woody” Butera didn’t close the sale with Milford voters earlier this week, but they didn’t slam the door on him either. Rather than prejudice the issue with a town-meeting vote, local sentiment favors a city-wide referendum. Although casino opponents have dominated the argument so far, hearing from Foxwoods-in-Milford supporters seems [...]

Score one for Colony Capital: It took Rational Group to the cleaners to  the tune of $11 million and there’s nothing Rational can do about it. A New Jersey court ruled that the PokerStars parent company had no one to blame for itself, having agreed to the surrender in black and white: If Rational wasn’t [...]

After a boffo February, the Silver State also posted extraordinary numbers in March. As Deutsche Bank headlined its report, “Different Month, Same Tune.” Analyst Carlo Santarelli cautioned, “we believe the underlying trends are not as strong as the headline would suggest,” pointing toward slippage in slot handle and in table drop (down 10.5%), excluding baccarat. [...]

It was one of the stupefying follies of the Caesars Entertainment LBO that CEO Gary Loveman believed the company could take on $30 billion in debt and continue to expand. Even as he tries to reshuffle old assets into new IPOs, Loveman is finally coming around to what some of us knew years ago: The [...]

What do you do if you’ve got a purchase agreement with Colony Capital and the latter allegedly reneges on you? If you’re Rational Group, which thought it had a $15 million deal in place to purchase the Atlantic Club Hotel, the answer is simple: “We’ll see you in court.” It would certainly be in character [...]

America’s casino officially emerged from the doldrums with the release of the American Gaming Association’s yearly survey, showing a 5% increase in private-sector casino revenue, just $200 million shy of 2007’s record amount. Mind you, we have quite a few more casinos now than we did in ‘07, so the pie much be sliced more [...]

That “thud” you just heard was the price of an Atlantic City casino hitting its lowest level ever. In litigation filed against Colony Capital, spurned buyer Rational Group said it was to have paid only $15 million for the Atlantic Club Hotel. Having done so many things wrong, it’s only apt that Colony CEO Tom [...]

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) is one lucky fellow. Bankrupt Revel threatened to become an albatross around his neck, thanks to a $261 million tax break that Christie helped push through Trenton. Last week, it turned out that Revel hadn’t drawn down so much as one penny from the Economic Development Authority, whose leader [...]

Subtract one casino from the Tropicana Entertainment portfolio: The River Palms Resort & Casino, in Laughlin, just went for $7 million today. TropEnt CEO Anthony Rodio isn’t pulling out of the Colorado River market altogether. He says the company will continue to maintain its presence at the Tropicana Express (a former Ramada), which has been [...]

Even the illusion of a rising tide lifts all boats, it would appear. Yesterday’s big stock-pump by Caesars Entertainment carried Boyd Gaming up with it, as did much-better-than-expected first-quarter numbers from Boyd. Shares that closed Tuesday at $8.94 were riding as high a $11.70 today. As one Wall Street newsletter put it “What to do [...]

If Carl Icahn holds the note on your life, you are in a world of hurt, my friend. Just ask Trump Entertainment Resorts, whose $20 million sale of wretchedly performing Trump Plaza Hotel & Casino suddenly looks very shaky. What’s Uncle Carl’s reasoning? That the casino is “worth more,” although how much more is conveniently [...]

Yeah, Beyoncé is a hard act to follow but who knew that Revel would fall so far, so fast? So enjoy this brief moment when things looked so very promising* …  in the meantime, I’m running down leads on some oldies but goodies: the

Stephen Sweeney (D, right), president of the New Jersey state senate, has the honor of having been the first to call for ex-Revel CEO Kevin DeSanctis‘ head on a platter. Garden State regulators moved quickly to put Mohegan Sun veteran Jeffrey Hartmann in DeSanctis’ place, while the latter and colleague Michael Garrity sail away on [...]

So it was Trump Plaza, denials to the contrary, that issued last week’s inflammatory layoff notice to 1,434 workers. Trump Entertainment Resorts had posted a WARN Act notice, informing all workers at the Plaza that, as of May 10, they might lose their jobs … then tried to blame prospective owner Meruelo Group for the [...]

Revel Atlantic City’s day of deliverance is at hand: CEO Kevin DeSanctis has been ousted, along with Chief Investment Officer Michael Garrity. But there’s no need to shed tears over their fate. They will continue “developing amenity projects” for Revel (since they’ve done such a bang-up job to date) and will retain their sinecures with [...]

“On the U.S. side … we view the State of Nevada as having uninspiring oversight of activities occurring in Macau. For every gap of oversight that exists from the Nevada Gaming Control Board or Nevada Gaming Commission, the U.S. Federal Government may fill it … If the Nevada Gaming Control Board and Commission were to [...]

If you’ll pardon my vulgarity, shit got real while I was tied up with other projects. Last week’s sale of excess baggage Dania Jai-Alai in Florida was just a tiny prelude to this morning’s blockbuster: Echelon is kaput. Instead, Boyd Gaming will liquidate it to Genting Berhad for $350 million. This closes the book on Boyd’s [...]

In the most inevitable headline of 2013, Revel has — brace yourselves — filed for bankruptcy. It will become the latest in a long string of casinos that are owned and run by banks: Two-thirds of outstanding debt will be converted to equity in the property, although I doubt that two-thirds of Revel is worth [...]

Today’s top story is the rumor, first aired on LasVegasAdvisor.com that Binion’s Gambling Hall & Hotel will close in July, lock, stock and million-dollar display. This dovetails with an earlier report that a detailed makeover is in the works. So Binion’s could follow the lead of the Plaza and go the short-term-closure route, rather than [...]

What’s an Atlantic City casino worth? Not too bloody much, especially if the name of Donald Trump is emblazoned across the façade. Trump Entertainment Resorts has parted with unloved, unremunerative Trump Plaza and truly for a pittance — $20 million. This is the most rock-bottom resale price yet recorded for an Atlantic City gambling hall. [...]