Gambling Blog

Las Vegas could be as well known for its traffic congestion as for its world-class casinos by 2012, a new report has warned.

According to the study undertaken by Deutsche Bank, visitor numbers to the Sin City will reach 49 million people a year by 2015, a 25 per cent increase on current levels.

Given that today the traffic in down-town Las Vegas is bad enough, with tourists often facing lengthy delays to get around the city, the situation could soon become unbearable if the authorities and gaming community don’t take measures to improve the transportation infrastructure.

“The very basic point is if that doesn’t happen there will be a spectacular disaster financially,” said analyst Bill Lerner, one of the authors of the report.

Recently, plans have been mooted for a light rail system within the city centre, in addition to an improved bus transportation system, known as the Ace system.

However, some casino operators have questioned the conclusions drawn up by the report.

Alan Feldman, a spokesman for MGM Mirage, which operates ten venues on the Strip, said: “It just took every possible thing that could go wrong and highlighted it.”

The comments follow on from the on-going debate concerning the introduction of a high-speed rail link between Southern Nevada and Southern California, with plans for such a scheme having made little progress in recent years.

Slot machine manufacturer AC Coin and Slot have reported that they are onto a winner with their Big Game Show Bonus product.

The machine, which is marketed under the firm’s MEGA Bonus brand, has been phenomenally popular amongst gamers since being introduced in casinos across North America at the start of the year and represent AC Coin and Slot’s most popular product of 2007 so far.

Both MGM Mirage and Ameritar, who were amongst the first casino operators to take up the machine, have reported being very satisfied with the customer response to the game.

“The success of this game is due to the multi-level entertainment value the game brings to the player,” said Jerry Seelig, EVP, general manager and creator of the game.

“Big Game Show offers a slot experience coupled with a game board event and a lottery bonus ball event, resulting in a slightly different activity for players with each event and increased excitement overall.”

The game’s popularity has seen product placements on machines increasing by 75 per cent over the past six months, the company also confirmed.

The forthcoming World Poker Tour season VI will be sponsored by Southwest Airlines, WPT Enterprises Inc have announced.

The deal will see the airline’s branding featured throughout the tour, with Southwest to be marketed as ‘the official airline of the WPT’.

According to a statement released by both parties, it has also been confirmed that Southwest will be marketed prominently during the televised WPT Season VI ‘watch and win’ matches on GSN.

In addition, poker fans will be given the opportunity to win a free a free trip to and from the WPT final round courtesy of Southwest.

Commenting on the initiative, Steve Lipscomb, founder, president and director of the WPT, said: “As WPT is the premiere ‘tour’ on the circuit, Southwest is an ideal brand for us to align with.

“We look forward to initiating what is sure to be a very exciting and innovative partnership.”

Recent US legislation has seen televised advertising for online gambling sites banned, forcing organisers of events to look elsewhere for sponsorship.

Some observers feel that the closure of the Poker Dome in Las Vegas was a direct result of the crackdown on online gambling taking away valuable advertising revenues.

New Jersey’s gambling capital, Atlantic City, is gearing up for what will be seen by many as the luckiest day of all.

Early next month the calendars will read 7/7/7 and the city’s authorities and casino operators are expecting thousands of more visitors to visit and try and get lucky.

Furthermore, the once in a lifetime date will also come soon after the annual Independence Day celebrations, traditionally among the busiest periods in the Atlantic City tourism market.

For some time the Borgata has been offering a $777 deal, which includes an overnight stay in one of its rooms as well as a seven-course meal and full access to the venue’s leisure facilities for two people.

The Tropicana Casino and Resort has, however, raised the bar the highest, offering a $7,777 package for which they will throw in $2,000 worth of shopping credit and £2,000 of dining credit in addition to a night in a bi-level suite and tickets to a top show.

Over in Las Vegas, the city is gearing up for a rush of visitors with different priorities, with anecdotal evidence suggesting that couples will flock to get married on this, the luckiest of days.

Tourism chiefs at the world’s gambling capital, Las Vegas, plan to further boost tourism with their new marketing slogan for the city: “Your Vegas is Showing”.

With the marketing firms and tourism industry both happy with the new phrase, they have put in a request for a trademark, though the bright idea could be thrown off-track if forthcoming focus groups and public surveys don’t react positively.

According to one of the leading figures behind the phrase, it is intended to market Las Vegas as a unique place where people can get away from it all for a while.

“It implies that you are living outside of your everyday life,” said Terry Jicinsky, senior vice president of marketing for the Las Vegas tourist authority.

“There is an implication that it says something about you as an individual.”

Of course, the old saying ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ springs to mind, considering that the 50 year old slogan ‘What happens here, stays here’ is now inextricably linked to the Nevada city and credited with drawing in millions of visitors over the years.

However, proponents of ‘Your Vegas is Showing’ insist that the two phrases can both be used, with the new one to be pitched at a different demographic.

Should the public response be one of encouragement rather than confusion, the new marketing strategy could be hitting US television screens as well as the nation’s newspapers and magazines as soon as the fall.

The 24-hour Hollywood Casino Bay St. Louis has confirmed the appointment of Linda Thorpe as its new player development executive as the venue looks to build upon its recent successful renovation.

Ms Thorpe joins the team at the Hollywood Casino with a wealth of experience in the gaming sector, having spent the previous 14 years of her career working at the Grand Casino in Gulfport in addition to Casino Magic in Biloxi.

Commenting on the appointment, Joe Phelps, director of player development at Hollywood Casino Bay St Lois, said: “Linda is a key player development executive in this market.

“I am delighted to have the opportunity to hire such a warm and personable individual to our talented player development team.

“She’s a great addition to our cast members and the players will love working with her, too,” he added.

The recent renovation project of the venue means that it now offer players access to more than 1,000 unique slots, 20 unique gaming tables and a six-table poker room in addition to its hotel, conferencing and other leisure facilities.

The firm behind the new World Series of Poker gold bracelets has revealed that comfort was their key priority for their design.

According to the makers, Corum USA, while the old bracelets were certainly impressive, they were not designed with everyday use in mind, prompting them to model the new breed on the average watch, enabling winners to wear them all the time.

Though the firm declined to disclose the value of the bracelets, it did reveal that each one of the 54 to be given out as prizes for this year’s regular events is made from 18-carat yellow gold, weighing 84 grams, while the prize for the Main Event is made from white gold and weighs and impressive 136 grams.

In addition, all of the bracelets are decorated with diamonds and precious stones.

“The World Series of Poker bracelet is the most coveted prize in gaming and the ultimate expression of excellence in poker,” said WSOP commissioner Jeffrey Pollack.

“These spectacular bracelets by Corum are the finest in the history of the WSOP, and will be cherished by those skilled enough to win them.”

Just recently, poker legend Phil Hellmuth won an unprecedented eleventh bracelet at this year’s series.

MGM Mirage and Kerzner International Holdings Limited have announced that they are to embark on a joint venture to develop a multi-billion dollar resort on the world-famous Las Vegas Strip.

Under the terms of the agreement, MGM Mirage will provide the land for the project, currently valued at around $20 million per acre, while Kerzner and one of its own financial partners will provide the cash equity.

The new venue will be located on the corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Sahara Avenue and, while both parties said that they expected the project to last three years, no details of the proposed resort, including its branding, have yet been confirmed.

“This is an exciting opportunity for our company,” said Jim Murren, President, CFO and Treasurer of MGM Mirage.

“This is a prime location in the heart of a rapidly developing area of the Las Vegas Strip. Partnering with a highly respected global resort operator on such a prime piece of Las Vegas real estate will certainly result in a spectacular project.

News of the development comes soon after MGM Mirage’s majority stakeholder Kirk Kerkorian announced that he has abandoned his plans to buy two of the firms biggest venues, the Bellagio and CityCenter, with his own holding company.

Hollywood stars Shannon Elizabeth, Brad Garrett and Gina Gershon have added their names to the already stellar line-up for the forthcoming Ante Up For Africa charity poker tournament.

The event, which is the brainchild of actor Don Cheadle and designed with the help of poker pro Annie Duke, aims to raise global awareness of the humanitarian crisis currently taking place in Darfur.

Cheadle’s Ocean’s 13 co-stars Brad Pitt, George Clooney and Matt Damon will be in attendance, playing alongside Adam Sandler, Ben Affleck, Hank Azaria and James Woods.

In addition, poker legends including Phil Hellmuth, Erik Seidel and Phil Ivey are among the big names who have already signed up for the tournament.

“Interest in this event is rapidly gaining momentum,” said Jeffrey Pollack, commissioner of the World Series of Poker.

“We encourage anyone who wants to enjoy a very special evening with some of the biggest names in entertainment and gaming while helping to ease the suffering of more than 2.5 million Darfur refugees to pre-register before the event is sold out.”

The event is scheduled to begin at 4pm on July 5 at the home of the WSOP, the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

To coincide with its latest proprietary advertising campaign, AC Coin and Slots, has announced a new branding initiative for its slot machine division.

With the firm already established as a leader in slot machine innovation, with its products installed at gaming venues worldwide, from now on all of its slot games will operate under the brand ‘MEGA Bonus’, it has been confirmed.

In addition, the company has reported that it will be introducing a further 14 bonusing slots under the new brand across the year, including the Super Slotto Celebration, to be launched later this month, and Super Bankroll Bonus, out later this year.

“The MEGA Bonus brand unifies the several different styles of bonusing games that we offer to the market,” said Jerry Seelig, AC Coin & Slot executive vice president and general manager.

“Over the past year, AC Coin has launched 15 different styles of games that appeal to varying types of casinos and casino players. We’ve merchandised these in 280 casinos throughout North America to bring value to our customers-and in turn, to slot players-through superior entertainment.” 

News on the new initiative comes as the Meadows Racetrack and Casino in Pittsburgh reported that its new slots parlour generated around $5 million in revenue in its first week of operation.

Global Casinos Inc has confirmed its acquisition of the Colorado-based Doc Holliday Casino in a deal worth around $3.85 million in cash.

The deal to buy the limited stakes gaming casino in Central City, Colorado, remains, however, subject to the satisfactory completion of numerous material contingencies.

In addition to Global Casinos needing to complete an equity and debt financing application, the acquisition is also dependent upon being granted regulatory approvals from the Colorado Division of Gaming and the Local Liquor Licensing Authority and the completion of audited historical financial statements of the Doc Holliday venue.

Commenting on the move, Clifford L.Neuman, interim president of Global Casinos, said:  “We believe the acquisition of Doc Holliday is a good strategic fit for Global Casinos and offers potential opportunities when combined with our existing operations at the Bull Durham Casino in Black Hawk.

“Doc Holliday has been a consistently strong performer in the Central City market which we believe will make a positive contribution to our bottom line going forward.”

The Las Vegas televised gaming venue The Poker Dome is to close, its operators have confirmed, adding to the troubles of the city’s Neonopolis mall.

The planned closure comes less than a year after the venue was opened, with owners Hollybrook Regency aiming to take advantage of the recent upsurge in interest in the game and use the Dome as the setting for the $1 million poker challenge, in collaboration with the gaming site MansionPoker.net.

With the closure of the Dome, no more high-stake poker matches will be broadcast across the US.

While both Neonopolis developer Rohit Joshi and the city’s mayor Oscar Goodman have both expressed their disappointment at the departure, they are eager to see the vacant space used up quickly in order to turn the fortunes of the ailing city-subsidised mall around.

“I feel like I’m a Neonopolis-basher,” said Goodman, who is currently open to offers for the mall.

“But I am certainly not happy.”

Despite the mall’s location on the intersection of the popular Fremont Street and Las Vegas Boulevard, the Neopolis has so far failed to attract corporate tenants, though city officials remain confident that they will achieve their goal of turning it into an up-and-coming entertainment district.

Phil Hellmuth’s success at this year’s World Series of Poker (WSOP) looks set to continue as the self-proclaimed ‘Record Man’ looks to join poker legend TJ Cloutier with a record number of final table appearances.

Just recently, Hellmuth secured his record eleventh WSOP gold bracelet and now has his eyes on breaking his own record for career cashes in event number 28, the $3,000 No Limit Hold’em.

While Hellmuth’s success is all too predictable, this year’s event also continues to see amateurs and low-ranking players take big prizes.

The latest shock victory came courtesy of Chicago-based amateur Ben Ponzio.

The radio DJ had originally booked to fly home from Las Vegas the day before the final but stayed on to compete in the final and scoop the $600,000 top prize.

“I didn’t want to take an extra vacation day until I knew I would get this far,” Ponzio said.

However, he added that his victory will not change his life.

“Sure, I’m going back to work,” he said.

“Six hundred thousand [dollars] is a lot of money. But it’s not enough to live on the rest of my life.”

Despite the recent general slowdown in the city’s fortunes, Las Vegas’ largest downtown casino, the Golden Nugget, has reported strong profits for the first quarter of 2007.

The casino’s corporate owners, the Houston-based Landry’s, revealed to investors that the venue, alongside its sister venue in Laughlin, made a profit of $21 million in the first three months of the year, in comparison to $16.3 million over the same period in 2006.

In addition, the revenue generated by the two casinos stood at $70.7 million for the first quarter, up from $63.4 million in 2006.

These latest figures come after Landry’s has spent in excess of $100 million upgrading the Golden Nugget, making it by far the strongest venue in the otherwise struggling marketplace surrounding Fremont Street.

“They are putting forth the most effort right now,” said Anthony Curtis, publisher of the Las Vegas advisor.

“The Golden Nugget stands out as the only thing that shines down there.”

Recent research has revealed that the overall gaming market in Las Vegas has been level or in decline for the past decade, though the eight per cent growth in casino winnings in April ended ten consecutive months of decline in the market.

This year’s World Series of Poker (WSOP) continues to see some of the bigger names being defeated by relative newcomers, with several players claiming their first bracelets in the face of tough opposition.

One of the biggest shocks so far came as the 21-year old amateur James Mackey earned his first bracelet as well as around $730,000 after winning a $5,000 No Limit Hold’em event.

The Columbia, Missouri-based player admitted that he had to take time off from his college studies in order to attend the event and plans to return to school despite his winnings.

Eli Elezra also scooped his first gold bracelet, though the 46-year old pro has been playing at WSOP events since 1999.

Elezra’s victory, which saw him walk away with $198,000, was even more important to him as it came against ‘the Prince of Poker’ Scotty Nguyen.

“He is such a great player,” said Elezra.

“To win this is amazing. But to win against a player like Scotty - that makes it all the more meaningful to me.”