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September 8, 2012

MGM Resorts Chairman Sees Strong Companies

Filed under: Casino — Tags: , — OCE News @ 2:05 am

While many Las Vegas companies, and gambling institutions are noticeably weary about the economic conditions that surround them today, MGM Resorts International Chairman Jim Murren said on Tuesday that the company is in the strongest financial position that they have been, since the financial crisis in 2008. You also went on to say that he hoped that this trend would improve, and that the company could begin to see the profits that they saw before the financial collapse.

The comment does seem to be a little bit odd given the recent announcement. The company recently announced that they lost $145.5 million in the second quarter of this year. The losses were twice that per-share of what had been estimated by Wall Street analysis, and by analysis throughout the world. However, on the heels of the announcement by the chairman, shares for the company saw the largest increase that they had seen in the last year. The company reportedly has a cash balance of $1.7 million at this time, with a total long-term debt of more than 13.4 billion. Although this may seem like a lot, the chairman did say that they seem to be a level that they were not concerned with, and was actually lower than many points they have been at throughout the company’s history.

The chief financial officer for the company,, Dan D-Arrigo also stated that they were looking to refinance more debt at lower rates. The improved balance sheet would do a lot for the company, and would allow them to make investments in other areas of the company in an effort to increase their revenue, and further the decrease of their debt.

In a conference call with investors, as well as analyst, the company said that they were looking to renovate a number of restaurants and their locations, and generally make changes that they see as beneficial in the future. MGM overall as seen in net income of $3.44 billion, for a total of $6.22 per share. Many of their earnings came from placing funds in the Macau stock exchange, and seeing excellent returns on those investments.

September 6, 2012

Investor Purchases Acreage in Las Vegas

Filed under: Casino — Tags: — OCE News @ 2:02 am

John Paulson, best known as a hedge fund manager for the Raintree Investment Corporation, has purchased more than 875 acres of land at Lake Las Vegas for a total of $17.3 million. This information was released by a source that was close to the deal. The land lies in a hilly area of the North shore, commonly known as Rainbow Canyon. Of the land that was purchased, a little over half of it is considered to be developable. In total, there was a recent piece of legislation passed by the city of Henderson that would allow up to 3500 homes to be built on the land that was purchased. The area is surrounded by a number of high-profile resorts and casinos, which make it an attractive place for people to settle if they are looking to move to the Las Vegas area. Recent home builders research has stated that the land will be able to be sold at $200,000 an acre, which will likely be 10 times that of the sales price.

In all, Lake Las Vegas is more than 3600 acres. It was originally conceived by developer Ron Boeddeker, who had to abandon the project when he filed for bankruptcy in 2009. There are total of three develop courses on the land, however two of them are closed at this time. Only one, the South Shores golf club is currently available for play.

A Ritz-Carlton also opened at Lake Las Vegas in 2003, but much like the developer, they filed for bankruptcy in 2008 and eventually went on to close. The entirety of Lake Las Vegas looks like an abandoned town at this point, with many different attractions having gone out of business. Perhaps this investment by John Paulson shows that he believes that they are going to be able to revive the area, and bring it back to profit once again. Although, the area is not currently in development as the resort attraction that it once was, turning it into a residential area could be a solid plan.

John Paulson also owns or holds interests in a number of other Las Vegas in Nevada businesses including MGM resorts international and Caesars entertainment. Paulson became a billionaire in 2007 when he was able to play against and leverage the failing of the US subprime mortgage market.

September 4, 2012

Full House Resorts Disappoint Analysts Overall

Filed under: Casino — Tags: — OCE News @ 2:01 am

Full House Resorts, Inc. was expected by analysts to do much better than the reported second-quarter earnings. The company’s results, have been blamed on a weak overall economic recovery across the nation, as well as competition increases that were not taken into account by the analysts. The second-quarter earnings reported by the firm totaled $700,000, which comes to about four cents per share of the company. During the same period last year, the company was able to bring in more than $1.4 million overall, which was one of the best quarters that the company has seen.

However, the company did see a large increase in revenue. This June, they were able to bring and $27.4 million, compared to last June when they brought in $25.2 million. Analysts were expecting slightly increased earnings, likely somewhere in the range of five cents per share. The company was not able to live up to expectations of the analyst, but are hoping for things to pick up in the next quarter.

“Given a stagnating economy and new competition in Ohio, we were satisfied with the results of our Rising Star Casino Resort and very pleased with the strong performance at our Northern Nevada properties,” said Andre Hilliou, Full House Resorts CEO.

Revenue from their Stockman and Grand Lodge Casinos combined were $5.2 million in the second quarter. This was up from just 2 million last year, so the company is seeing some locations see an overall increase in revenue. However, overall they have seen it dive across the board.

The company saw revenues dip across multiple locations, and is hoping to see these numbers fall at some point in the future. They remain hopeful about the future, stating that their upcoming Silver Slipper casino should help them to increase their overall revenue, and give them more locations to work with moving forward. The acquisition of the casino cost them a total of $70 million and was announced in April.

September 2, 2012

Las Vegas Sees Healthy Increase in Visitors In June

Filed under: Casino — Tags: — OCE News @ 2:00 am

Las Vegas is still a city reeling after the 2008 financial collapse. Over the course of the last two years, any positive numbers about growth throughout the city, be it in revenue, or in total visitors, can be seen as very good news. Now, midway through 2012, it looks as if Las Vegas is going to be able to keep pace with the projections that stated that they would reach 40 million visitors this year. At the time, that number was thought to be a bit high, with previous years not coming close to the 40 million mark. So far this year, a total of 19.9 3 million visitors have visited the city, which is up a total of 2.5% over the previous year.

During June, the city saw 2.1% growth over the previous year in 2011. However, just because there were more visitors, does not mean that the overall occupancy of the hotels climbed. In fact, many hotels saw their occupancy fall. The overall citywide hotel and motel occupancy for the city was down half a percent, but is remaining flat over the previous year. It will be interesting to see if these numbers go up as the year goes on.

Although compared to the previous year, the occupancy has been down, June’s average daily was up 8.5%, which gives hope to many of the casinos. Although many casinos and hotels have seen their occupancy stayed fairly level over the course of the last year, none of them compare to the levels that they were saying prior to 2008, which is where they are hoping to climb back up toward.

One of the reasons for the uptick in visitors as well as revenues of some casinos is the conventions. Convention attendance in June was up and a .7% when compared to the previous year. A number of different industries have come to the city in recent months, including the International Communications Industries Association, which brought more than 34,000 people into the city overall.

It will be interesting to see if the city as a whole is able to keep these numbers climbing, in an effort to rehabilitate the strip, which was hit hard by the 2008 financial collapse. Since that time, it has been a slow climb back to where we are now, but it does appear to be heading in a positive direction. This will be great not only for the employees in the city, but for individuals throughout the state as a whole.

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