
Don’t mess aided by the Ohio Casino Control Act, the Ohio Administrative Code, or the Casino Internal Controls in the ‘Birthplace of Aviation’ state; they’re watching you, and watching you closely. And so the swank Horseshoe Casino in Cleveland is finding out, after being hit for a second time this present year with fines for not doing things the kosher way.
The fine that is first a slot machine being released to the casino with unapproved software; that was merely a $15,000 hit, which up to a casino, could be such as for instance a cop giving you a ticket for the penny. But now, the price is going up, after numerous additional and violations that are random reported, now the slap has moved to a spank with a total of $180,000.
Various Violations
Among the odd melange of wrongdoings were utilizing dice from unapproved vendors in Fortune Pai Gow poker; encouraging cocktail waitresses to come right into restricted game pit areas; removing, storing and shipping three slot machines along with their software (no indication of to whom or why this is wrong); and…drum roll, please…the worst sin a casino can perpetrate: failing to are the hotline contact number on their ‘When the Fun Stops’ problem gambling adverts. Whoops.
Senior V.P. Not Extremely Concerned
The Horseshoe’s Senior V.P. and manager that is general Marcus Glover, was not acutely apologetic about any one of it, simply saying that ‘[we] have actually taken steps to address the problems and embarked on significant training for personnel.’ With a 6.7% rise in the casino’s gross revenues between January and February (to $22 million), Glover’s most likely not too concerned about their task, regardless.
Revelations
Meanwhile, over at the battered experience Atlantic City, new CEO Jeffrey Hartmann, who had been brought in to clean up the financial mess (and maybe not a moment too quickly, it would seem), has wasted no time doing what the President can’t: cutting costs. He’s been through his payroll, and determined that at minimum 83 of 3,300 employees are doing the same crucial job as someone else, and need to go. That’s only going to save him 2.5% of their payroll, though, and Hartmann says that is it for the present time, as he faces the other side of the coin and figures out how exactly to wind up revenues at AC’s newest and least lucrative casino.
Barely Saved from Bankruptcy
According to documents filed at bankruptcy court in March, Revel was days far from literally running out of money, if you can believe that may happen to a casino. Apparently a judge’s approval of the temporary funding casinopokies777.com plan for $250 million saved the day, and kept it from shutting down and going regarding the auction block. Word is, it mightn’t have fetched much, by casino standards anyhow; somewhere within $246 and $331 million is all that was projected for a feasible purchase price.
Now Hartmann is incorporating a new fancy nightclub as a lure to younger customers, presumably, and closing straight down some non-performing ‘celebrity chef’ restaurants in favor of lower class, but higher revenue-producing, eateries. And while a portion of the casino has recently reverted to smoker-friendly, they now might be evaluating lifting the ban completely; apparently, gamblers whom smoke have more money or something like that. We are going to have to puff on that one for a little while to understand it.
Replica Ny City Park Coming to MGM Resorts Las Vegas
Las Las Vegas is the epicenter of all of the things replicated: the Statue of Liberty..the Eiffel Tower…pyramids and palaces…so why not include a replica New York City park to the mix? We know you’re laughing right now, thinking, a park? In Las Vegas? the desert where it hits 110 pretty consistently from July through September? Yes, a park. Get over it.
Naturally, you’d assume this will be likely to be considered a replica Central Park, the huge, sprawling greenway that divides Manhattan in half in the guts for the island. Well, you’d be wrong; MGM CEO Jim Murren claims the new $100 million park and promenade that is public, which will go up outside its brand New York-New York and Monte Carlo properties, will be based on Madison Square Park. You’ve heard of Madison Square Park, right? No? We haven’t either. Oh well.
New Era in Casino Customer Retention
Looks that the old days when casinos attempted to keep you from knowing just what hour, day or year it was are over; Murren says that ‘tomorrow’s customer doesn’t wish that limitation. They are far more spontaneous.’ Okay.
Murren included that the likeness to the NY park is somewhat metaphoric; ‘We’re not going to relax and play Frisbee on the Great Lawn, but I would personally describe it as a city park having a boulevard that is dramatic’ he said.
Similar to New York…Sorta
The park, which will extend down Las Vegas Boulevard (the Strip) around Tropicana Avenue, will lead customers towards a 20,000-seat arena that is also on the drawing board to go up between the two MGM casinos. Between your two bits of construction, MGM will be using 10 acres to produce this ode to outdoor city life. Adding to its inauthentic authenticity is things like a replica Brooklyn Bridge (minus the gridlock rush hour Manhattan exodus traffic, of program), an alcohol yard (a thing that strikes us as more Berlin-y than New York-y), and different casual New York eateries, because there’s nothing Vegas tourists like to do more than pay three times the going rate for a Reuben sandwich. Construction is expected to be completed by late 2014.
Now, they should go down to Fremont Street and import some homeless people and drug addicts and scatter them hither and yon if they really want to capture New York. And additionally they positively need some guys selling knock-off Chanel purses through the back of a truck.
Texas Gaming Reexamined; Trump Plaza Deal on Hold
Texas lawmakers who for years have actually rejected measures aimed at legalizing slots and enabling full-scale casinos become built in the state for which poker’s most famous game is named may finally have to budge, after a study by the Texas Association of Business (TAB) showed that expanding legalized Texas gaming in the Lone Star State could bring in an extra $11.8 billion in revenues annually.
It’s all rather ironic in their state that probably hosts more roller that is high games than you can shake a stick at. Or, maybe that’s the issue; they don’t wish the competition. We hear a complete large amount of those games are pretty lucrative for the ‘hosts’.
Casinos Will be Allowed
If the new bill makes it through a Texas Senate committee hearing, it could enable for slot machines to be set up in 13 state racetracks, in addition to the creation of six full-scale casinos: three with Indian tribes, and three more in Dallas, Houston and San Antonio. But even with the study that is big-ticket it isn’t a done deal; many previous gaming measures happen shot down.
Nevertheless the TAB won’t decrease without a fight.
‘For a long time, Texas has propped up neighboring economies at the expense of our very own; exporting jobs, revenue and investment as one of just 10 states that prohibits casino-style gaming,’ said Bill Hammond, TAB’s president. Hammond says his group’s study demonstrates that building the six casinos could produce 74,000 jobs, add $3.4 billion in earnings, and generate that $11.8 billion in annual financial activity.
Where’s Trump’s Mortgage?
Meanwhile, back Atlantic City, the Ca company that has been planning to buy Trump Plaza for 1/10th what Trump originally built it for 30 years back, now says it is delaying the deal while Trump Entertainment scrambles to acquire a release of its mortgage that’s being held by its senior lender that is secured.
Meruelo Group has been in negotiations to purchase Trump Plaza since February, and offered $20 million, which is bargain basement casino prices by any standards, with the vow to invest about another $100 million on much-needed improvements to the casino-hotel that is now-dated. The offer had been the latest to indicate how badly Atlantic City is doing in the gaming department; Resorts Atlantic City and the Trump Marina have also gone for close to nothing in recent years.
Contract’s Still On
Meruelo Group, which has the Grand Sierra in Reno, Nevada, isn’t throwing in the towel yet on the deal, however. The company said in a statement that is recent it’s ‘heartened’ to see that Trump Entertainment offers an option to them to shop for the Plaza later on into the year if Trump can get things squared up with their present lender. Meruelo says it remains ‘fully committed’ to the deal, and (for reasons only they understand), appears forward to becoming area of the (endlessly failing) Atlantic City casino community.
New Poker Flick ‘Runner Runner’ Timed for Pre-WSOP Final Table Release
You can’t just make a movie anymore; you need to tie it in with some greater event to milk all of the publicity you perhaps can from it. The writers of the poker classic Rounders have teamed up again for the screenplay of a new poker film called Runner, Runner, which will showcase the trials and tribulations of several Costa-Rica-based online poker sites, as well as feature megastars Ben Affleck and Justin Timberlake with that concept in mind. And to get the absolute most bang for their buck, the movie’s manufacturers are cleverly planning a release date of September 27, simply in time to build up lots of buzz before the ‘November Nine’ of World Series of Poker’s final Main Event table hit ESPN and somebody walks away with a cool $8 or $9 million.
An additional bonus, if most of the stars align, will likely be if Nevada’s online poker business happens to be kicked off by then.
Plot Summary
The movie’s title, of course, refers to what happens as soon as the last two community cards regarding the dining table in Texas Hold’em known as either the ‘turn and river’ or ‘fourth and fifth roads,’ either make or break your hand, which type of sums up the glory and agony of poker in a single often used player expression. Timberlake apparently plays an university brainiac who pays his Ivy League tuition by grinding online poker cash games on a Costa-Rican site, while Affleck, we gather, plays the ubiquitous Russian mobster who owns said site. Affleck appears about because much like any Russian mobster we’ve ever regarded as Timberlake looks like a black guy in the hood, but this will be Hollywood and hot guys with bankrollable names draw investors, so we won’t quibble with this specific small detail excessively.
On the Set
Although it’s expected to happen in Costa Rica, Runner Runner ended up being actually filmed in Puerto Rico, and makes generous and good use of recent online poker history, with references to Ebony Friday, recently indicted ‘poker princess’ Molly Bloom (who ran a few of the high-stakes games of which the film’s producer, Leonardo DiCaprio, was reportedly a frequent host, and of which Affleck had been believed to be a frequent player). In a odd ‘life imitates art’ twist, Bloom’s recent indictment was component of a much larger Department of Justice roundup of some 34 Russian mobsters with, whaddya understand, some pretty extensive online that is big-time gambling.
‘Twill be interesting to see exactly how Runner Runner plays with the masses, now that Black Friday is mostly wrapped up; with Ray Bitar’s present $40 million cash and asset forfeiture, all the while as he awaits a heart transplant that is much-needed.