Archive for the 'Donald Trump' Category

PokerStars blows it; Wynn woos Philadelphia

Monday, May 20th, 2013

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 [...]

Nevada: The recovery continues; Elsewhere: Not so much

Friday, May 10th, 2013

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. [...]

PokerStars: Sell … or else!

Wednesday, May 8th, 2013

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 [...]

Icahn nixes Trump deal; Steve Wynn’s fugitive friend

Tuesday, April 23rd, 2013

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 [...]

A chilly wind in Atlantic City; They gave a casino and nobody came

Thursday, April 11th, 2013

One doesn’t really think of going to shore in March, so it’s no surprise that Atlantic City casino revenues were — excluding Revel — down 14% last month. The latter grossed $10 million, pulling it almost dead even with the Golden Nugget and a bit further behind the Atlantic Club. The surprise bulletin of the [...]

Revel: What’s -$2 billion among friends?

Friday, March 22nd, 2013

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 [...]

Trump: No longer WARN’d

Tuesday, March 19th, 2013

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: Don’t cry for him, Argentina; Are Twinkies the new Caesars?

Wednesday, March 13th, 2013

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 [...]

Trump: And then there was one

Thursday, February 14th, 2013

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. [...]

Ader strikes at IGT; Government bailout for Trump rejected

Monday, January 28th, 2013

Rumbles of mutiny against International Game Technology CEO Patti Hart have been growing in volume for quite some time. Those growls rose to a shout today with an e-mail blast from The Ader Group, soliciting shareholder proxies for the March 5 meeting at which the IGT board of directors stands for reelection. Former Wall Street [...]

If Gary Loveman ran America … plus the usual Trump mockery

Thursday, January 24th, 2013

That’s essentially the ‘what if’ scenario taken on by Las Vegas Sun columnist J. Patrick Coolican (virtually the only person left at the Sun who’s worth reading). He’s weighed the pros and cons of the Loveman Gang, er, Business Roundtable agenda for Medicare and Social Security. He finds a fair amount of merit in its [...]

November in Vegas: The house lost; Players jilt Caesars in A.C.

Thursday, January 10th, 2013

There’s no other way of saying it (although many are trying). Strip casinos got their clocks cleaned in November as Lady Luck favored the punters, not the house. A 13% dropoff on the Strip was driven by a perfect storm of factors. Sports books relearned the old lesson that it’s not whether you won or [...]

Pinnacle makes pricey Atlantic City exit; Fertitta’s Downtown mess

Wednesday, January 9th, 2013

A Wall Street Journal story from yesterday evening reports that Pinnacle Entertainment has found a buyer for its 19 acres of Boardwalk land. These were cobbled together at huge cost — $270 million or $14 million an acre — by former CEO Dan Lee (left). His successor, Anthony Sanfilippo, is reportedly flipping them for approximately [...]

CityCenter’s clearance sale; Ameristar’s secret admirer

Thursday, December 27th, 2012

After a long, abyssal plunge, Las Vegas‘ real estate market has bottomed out — or so knowledgeable people tell me. Seems that the banks ’round here ignored Mitt Romney’s (bad) advice to dump the “shadow inventory” en masse into the marketplace, which would have sent housing prices into an incredible downward spiral. No, they’re keeping [...]

A Christmas wish list …

Monday, December 24th, 2012

For those of us who missed it this year, the best Christmas tradition of which I know.
First and most importantly …
To you, the reader, who makes this possible, a year of happiness, health and wealth, whether material, intellectual or spiritual.
Atlantic City: Good luck in a year that will end with ‘13.’
Boyd Gaming: New TV commercials.
Caesars [...]

Bad timing

Wednesday, November 21st, 2012

Is it any wonder that Trump International and other Donald Trump-branded hotels are struggling when they wait until the day before Thanksgiving to blast this offer to their customer base? Wouldn’t you think people had made their Black Friday and other holiday plans by this point? I’m looking forward to Trump rolling out a special [...]

More Tales of Trump; Tribes vs. Tribes

Tuesday, November 20th, 2012

Penn Jillette, never known for circumspection, has a field day with Donald Trump in his latest tome, Every Day is an Atheist Holiday. Like any patriotic American, he can’t resist a pot-shot at Trump’s combover, which is described as resembling “cotton candy made from piss” (although I think the latter might actually look better). You [...]

Smooth transition at Bally; Trumpalypse in Toronto

Wednesday, November 14th, 2012

Late-breaking stories usually bode ill but it’s nothing of the sort at Bally Technologies, where a transfer of power was announced during the waning hours of the day. CEO Richard Haddrill (left) steps aside and up, moving to chairmanship of the board at year’s end. President/COO Ramesh Srinivasan will become the new CEO. The latter [...]

Un-Lucky by any name; Shame on Trump Entertainment

Tuesday, November 13th, 2012

Since there is no problem in today’s America too trivial to be resolved with gunplay, let the record show that 31-year-old Kevin Jones Jr. was mortally wounded at the Lucky Club Casino early this morning. Jones was pronounced dead at a local hospital. How his alleged assailant, convicted felon Shonta Holland, came to be in [...]

Wynn comes to Philadelphia … again; Atlantic City: About as expected

Monday, November 12th, 2012

Now we know why Steve Wynn was careful to mend fences with Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter (below) in 2010 when negotiations to take over the doomed Foxwoods Casino Philadelphia project abruptly feel apart and Wynn skipped town. He’s back with “Wynn Philadelphia,” a 300-room, 100-table, 2,500-slot knockoff of Encore Macau, to be built in stages [...]

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