Stanley Ho Says He Transferred Macau Casino Stake

Billionaire Stanley Ho today said he transferred ownership of his stake in Asia’s biggest casino company to family members, seeking to end a dispute for control over a business he spent five decades building.
The tycoon had earlier said the transfer of a 31.7 percent stake in Sociedade de Turismo e Diversoes de Macau SA to five of his children and the woman he refers to as his third wife was done without his consent. The stake in STDM may be worth at least $1.63 billion using today’s stock price of unit SJM Holdings Ltd.
“The big problem has been resolved,” Ho, 89, said in an interview broadcast today by Television Broadcasts Ltd. “My families and I are very happy we have made the decision.”

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Macau gaming revenues jump 66 percent in December

Nevada gaming revenues hit an all-time record of $12.8 billion 2007. Macau came close to doubling that mark in 2010.

Gaming revenues in the Chinese Special Administrative Region grew by 58 percent during the year despite talk of the government taking steps to slow the remarkable growth.

The nearly 40 small and large casinos in Macau collected gaming revenues of 188 billion patacas, which translated into roughly $23.4 billion in U.S. dollars based on currency conversion rates.

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Showboat Casino Hotel fined $20K for allowing underage gambling

ATLANTIC CITY — The Showboat Casino Hotel has been fined $20,000 for allowing underage gamblers to place bets.
The casino also forfeited $2,315 it had seized from people who had signed up for New Jersey's self-exclusion list but who entered and played anyway before being discovered. The list is intended to keep compulsive gamblers from being allowed into the casinos.

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Bellagio Casino Robbed

Las Vegas Metro police spent much of Tuesday morning reviewing surveillance video after a gunman wearing a motorcycle helmet and leather jacket robbed a pit area of the Bellagio casino.

The robber, according to witnesses, parked his motorcycle in the north valet -- an entrance off Flamingo Road east of Interstate 15 -- allowing him to make a quick getaway.

No one was injured during the robbery, which happened just before 4 a.m.

A Metro spokesman told the Associated Press the robber may have escaped with as much as $2 million in chips.

Police said the robber fled on a motorcycle westbound on Flamingo Road away from the Las Vegas Strip

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New Resorts owner: All ailing casino needs is love

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Asked about his plans to save Resorts Atlantic City, the first casino in the United States to open outside Nevada, new owner Dennis Gomes briefly touches on spruced up hotel rooms, guest suites and a snazzier casino floor.

But what the place really needs, he says, is a whole lotta love, with some positive spiritual energy thrown in.

Despite his buttoned-down appearance, Gomes is not your typical casino executive.

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Jamaica approves gaming licenses

Kingston, JAMAICA-More competition is on the way for the decreasing tourism dollar. Jamaica has approved gaming licenses for three properties, with the first one set to come on stream as early as 2012, Guardian Business has learned.

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Foxwoods Debt Talks Test Tribal Bets

With a mid-July deadline looming for a big payment to its lenders, the Indian tribe that runs the nation's largest casino is in talks with banks and bondholders about how best to restructure more than $2 billion in debt that it can no longer afford.

The Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, which owns and operates Foxwoods Resort Casino in Ledyard, Conn., wants bondholders to wipe out a significant portion of its roughly $1.3 billion in bond debt, in some cases paring the tribe's obligations by at least half, people familiar with the matter said.

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Singapore Gambles Low Crime Rate With $10.2 Billion Casino Push

June 23 (Bloomberg) -- Singapore’s casinos have attracted more than three million visitors, created thousands of jobs and spurred spending at hotels, restaurants and shopping malls. They’re also keeping the courts busy.

Since the opening of Resorts World Sentosa in February and Marina Bay Sands in April, the island-state has seen cases of fraud, embezzlement and identity theft. Some offenders were fined or sent to prison, three European suspects have jumped bail and two Africans have been charged for cheating the casinos out of about S$140,000 ($102,000).

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Atlantic City Casino Revenue Declines For 21th Consecutive Month In May

Atlantic City’s woes look set to continue after the city’s casinos posted yet another fall in their monthly revenue, down 9% in May compared to the same period in 2009.

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$42.9 million slot jackpot should have been $20

The correct prize for an apparent $42.9 million slot machine jackpot that a Thornton woman hit at a Central City casino should have been $20.18, Colorado gaming regulators said today.


The errant jackpot appeared on a "Price is Right" penny slot at Fortune Valley Hotel & Casino on March 26 after Louise Chavez made a minimum bet of 40 cents.

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Atlantic City casinos report 25 percent drop in profits

ATLANTIC CITY — New Jersey casino regulators say Atlantic City's 11 casinos saw their gross operating profits decline by 25.2 percent in the first quarter of 2010.

Gross operating profits totaled $111.2 million for the three-month period. That's down from $148.7 million from the same quarter last year.

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Greenbrier Resort casino to open in June

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The picture postcard view of The Greenbrier resort's white hotel facade offset with tulips in spring splendor is gone, replaced by cranes, dust and construction workers in a dash to finish an underground casino beneath what used to be the front lawn.


"It's basically crunch time," said Todd Fishon, the resort's vice president of casino operations.

A harsh winter has pushed back the opening of the 89,000-square-foot Casino Club to June and the exact date will be determined soon, he said.

The casino is being built underground so it won't take away from the ambiance and scenery of the 6,500-acre resort, which has entertained kings and presidents and once housed a secret bomb shelter intended for Congress.

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Massachusetts passes Gambling Bill

Casino and racetrack operators yesterday began to angle for one of the gambling licenses just approved by the Massachusetts House, promising to spend hundreds of millions of dollars building gambling complexes that would provide hundreds of new jobs.


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Casino Vote In Boston Could Launch Mohegan Sun's Palmer Plan

Massachusetts legislators are scheduled to debate a bill Tuesday that would allow for resort-style casinos in the Bay State, as well as slot-machines at existing racetracks.


Expanded gambling in Massachusetts is sure to have significant effects in Connecticut, because Massachusetts residents spend more than $700 million annually at Foxwoods Resort Casino and Mohegan Sun.

Mohegan Sun, owned by the Mohegan tribe, has already positioned itself to take advantage of expanded gambling in Massachusetts. It has a 99-year lease on more than 150 acres in Palmer, east of Springfield, and a proposal to build a casino there with thousands of slot machines, as well as table games and a hotel.

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Florida & Seminole Tribe sign gambling deal

TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Charlie Crist, the Seminole tribe of Florida and once-reluctant lawmakers have signed off on a gambling deal guaranteed to bring at least $1 billion to the state over the next five years.


And after that, Florida would be poised to become the Las Vegas of the Southeastern United States, according to the House's chief gambling negotiator Bill Galvano.

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MGM Mirage CEO Says Investors Making Recovery Bets on Casinos

March 10 (Bloomberg) -- MGM Mirage Chief Executive Officer James Murren said investors betting on a U.S. economic recovery are returning to casino debt and equity.

MGM Mirage, the biggest casino owner on the Las Vegas Strip, yesterday sold $845 million of bonds to repay some loans under an arrangement it previously struck to extend the maturity on borrowings.

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Caribbean casino competition for The Bahamas

Warning bells rung yesterday for this nation's gaming sector following Jamaican lawmakers' approval of amendments to its Gaming and Casino Act — reinforcing the need to review old regulations, say industry executives.

Head of the Bahamas Hotel Association (BHA) Robert Sands said the move in the neighboring country will go a long way in decreasing this nation's competitiveness unless actions are taken to allow permanent residents and people on work permits in The Bahamas - at the very least - to patronize the local casinos.

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Man enters plea over charges tied to $3.75M in markers

A Wisconsin businessman pleaded not guilty Monday in district court to bad check charges stemming from $3.75 million in gambling markers.

Christian Peterson, 41, of Verona, Wis., pleaded not guilty to two counts of drawing and passing a check without sufficient funds with intent to defraud and one count of theft in connection with four markers – one at Caesars Palace for $3.45 million and three totaling $300,000 at the Hard Rock Hotel.

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Casinos lost money for second time in history

CARSON CITY – For only the second time, Nevada casinos posted a loss – but this time it was the biggest.

The state Gaming Control Board today released its “Gaming Abstract” for fiscal year 2009, which ended June 30, showing a net loss of $6.7 billion among the 260 major casinos in Nevada.

Clubs along the Las Vegas Strip, which makes up 53 percent of the gambling revenue in Nevada, registered a $4.1 billion loss. The only bright spot, from a financial standpoint, was that people drank more. Sales of booze rose by 2.5 percent while revenue tied to casinos, rooms and food dropped. But 36 percent were recorded as “comp” drinks.

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Hawaii lawmaker again debating legal gambling

Gambling interests spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on lobbying and public relations in Hawai'i nearly a decade ago, tempting state lawmakers with new tax revenue from a grand resort and casino.

Nothing happened.

This year, with no similar lobbying blitz, state House lawmakers have opened the door to legalized gambling, either through a single casino on O'ahu or casinos on Hawaiian home lands.

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