News

GMA quoted in The Nevada Independent

Caesars rejoins Japanese gaming license hunt a day after MGM wins Osaka approval

by Howard Stutz

Caesars Entertainment said Wednesday it was joining the consortium of developers involved in the proposed Japanese integrated resort project in Wakayama, which includes former Las Vegas Sands executives and Clairvest, a Canadian private equity firm.

The announcement came a day after the city of Osaka endorsed MGM Resorts International’s plans for the country’s first large-scale casino.

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GMA quoted in the Las Vegas Review Journal

Cosmo sold in $5.65B deal; MGM to take over resort operations

by Colton Lochhead

the Blackstone Group is selling The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas in a $5.65 billion deal that will extend MGM Resorts International’s footprint along the Strip.

MGM agreed to purchase the resort’s operations for $1.625 billion, while the underlying real estate of The Cosmopolitan will be sold to a group of buyers that includes a Blackstone real estate investment trust.

The sale comes seven years after Blackstone purchased the resort for $1.73 billion and marks a major return on the $500 million the company invested into the property to renovate nearly 3,000 guest rooms, complete several high-end luxury suites and upgrade bar and restaurant offerings.

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GMA quoted in The Nevada Independent

Indy Gaming: MGM Resorts finally lands Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, 13 years and two CEOS later

Somewhere, Jim Murren is smiling.

In 2008, the then-CEO of MGM Mirage was scrambling to finance the remaining costs to build the massive CityCenter complex, which had a price tag of almost $9 billion.  He approached Deutsche Bank with an ides to take the unfinished Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas off the financial institutions hands. Deutsche Bank had acquired the debt-ridden property out of foreclosure.

MGM and joint venture partner Infinity World would assume control over the Cosmopolitan in exchange for ownership shares in CityCenter. Deutsche Bank would also provide the joint venture with a loan of $1.2 billion to complete CityCenter.

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GMA quoted in the Black Hills Pioneer

Deadwood scores sports betting: Here’s how to play

by Jaci Conrad Pearson

Just in time for the first day of the NFL football season, Deadwood gaming officials have finally succeeded in getting sports betting across the goal line.

While signing up to play isn’t tricky, what to do from there, can lead to a question or two. Here’s how players in this gaming venture in the Gulch can score.

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GMA quoted in the Nevada Independent

‘What’s the endgame?’ No resolution projected as decades-long feud between Culinary and Station Casinos continues

by Howard Stutz

A second-floor meeting hall in the aging downtown Las Vegas headquarters of Culinary Workers Local 226 has long attracted local, state and national candidates seeking support from the influential labor group’s membership.

Oftentimes, Station Casinos is a talking point.

In November 2019, Vice President Kamala Harris, then a California senator who was seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, told an employee from Palace Station she wouldn’t support a bill that would give Station Casinos parent company, Red Rock Resorts, a tax break.  Harris noted she wrote a letter to CEO Frank Fertitta III, expressing that sentiment.

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GMA quoted on SportsHandle.com

For Latest California Sports Betting Proposal, Silence May Be Golden

by Jill R. Dorson

When a group of sports wagering operators in August submitted paperwork in California for a 2022 ballot initiative that would legalize digital betting, the response was oddly quiet.  Just weeks before, after a group of four cities that have card clubs offered up its take on the topic, the state’s tribes were vehemently opposed and both operators and tribes were scratching their heads about who was behind it and how it would play out.

But on and since Aug. 31, the response has been, well, crickets, in what would be the biggest sports betting state in the U.S. to offer live sports wagering.

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GMA quoted in the Las Vegas Review Journal

NAB pulls plug on Las Vegas show; other conventions still coming

by Richard N. Velotta

The National Association of Broadcasters on Wednesday abruptly canceled its October convention in Las Vegas, a decision that disappointed Southern Nevada tourism leaders but is unlikely to snowball into more cancellations, according to analysts.

The event, one of Las Vegas’ top three annual trade show gatherings by attendance, historically has attracted 90,000 to 100,000 broadcasting professionals to the city for several days to celebrate radio, television and streamed content as well as provide educational seminars for engineers and other production personnel.

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GMA quoted in the Las Vegas Review Journal

Downtown hotels’ weekend rates rise as Life is Beautiful returns

by Mike Shoro

The priciest best-available room this weekend in Las Vegas isn’t at the valley’s newest resort or its most upscale.

It’s not on the Strip, either.

As of Tuesday, the title belonged to downtown’s California Hotel, where the cheapest room was listed at $700 a night on Friday or Saturday – excluding taxes and other fees.

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GMA quoted in the Las Vegas Review Journal

Casino stocks drop amid worries over Macao licensing news

by Richard N. Velotta

Stock prices of Las Vegas-based gaming companies with operations in Macao plummeted Tuesday as the market reacted to new travel restrictions imposed by the government and news about future casino licensing.

Share for Wynn Resorts Ltd. fell $11.23, or 10.9 percent, to $92.25 a share in volume more than eight times the daily average.  Wynn operates two resorts on the Macao peninsula and one near the offshore Cotai Strip.

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GMA quoted in the Las Vegas Review Journal

Caesars selling William Hill non-U.S. assets in $3B deal

by Colton Lochhead

Caesars Entertainment is off-loading its non-U.S. assets of William Hill PLC to 888 Holdings PLC in a deal for approximately $3 billion.

When the dust of debt repayments and other capital adjustments settles, Caesars expects to receive net proceeds of approximately $1.2 billion, the Reno-based company said in a news release early Thursday.

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