Monday, November 9, 2009

Riviera owner posts drop in 3rd-quarter earnings

Owners of the Riviera hotel-casino on the Las Vegas Strip say they're trying to restructure $281 million in debt to avoid filing for bankruptcy protection.

Riviera Holdings Corp. offered no assurance Monday that a Chapter 11 filing can be avoided.

Documents filed with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission showed revenue at the Las Vegas Riviera fell from $30.2 million in the third quarter of 2008 to $22.6 million in the three months ending Sept. 30 of this year.

Occupancy at the 2,075-room Las Vegas Strip hotel fell from 87 percent to about 77 percent, while average room rates dropped under $60.

Riviera Holdings also owns a casino in Black Hawk, Colo. Quarterly revenue there was up from $10 million in 2008 to $12 million this year.