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Posts Tagged ‘Las Vegas’

Secure Money Inc. Under Investigation

Tuesday, November 30th, 2010

Though many states in the US are pushing for gambling changes, there are still some that are holding out. Washington for example is a state that is banning online gambling. Though there are millions of tax revenue dollars to be had with a good gambling plan, the state’s legislators don’t believe that is enough to legalize gaming. This is a move that has been long coming. People are wondering whether or not they can wager for a while now. The answer is no and the state is sending a tough message to those who don’t heed it. Secure Money Inc. is a company based out of Las Vegas and it issued about $2.7 million in checks to various customers over an eight-month long period of time. The company now is being prosecuted for the infraction within the state by legislators. The company also allowed seven people within the state to receive these funds under the heading of “payroll checks.” Overall the activities were considered to be illegal and the company is now under scrutiny by investigators cracking down on gambling issues. The government seized over a half-million dollars worth of revenues as a result of the investigation.

This is just another example of the issues that gambling brings with it. Many anti-gambling activists believe that the cost to have gambling in their state is too hefty to support. For example, though gambling may being in $2 million in tax revenue dollars per month, if the number of addictions and criminal activity incidents increases substantially, a good portion of that could have to go to shoring up resources for issues. For example, if the police force has to be strengthened to manage a growth in illegal activities, that could eat up a huge portion of that additional $2 million in revenue. If ten-thousand new gambling addicts enter the market they are going to need additional resource centers to help them with their disease. This too could end up costing the government more money per month than it is bringing in via gambling revenue. Only time will tell what is going to happen with the market, but overall the Washington market is not ready for gambling and is fighting hard to keep it out of the state .

Global Gaming Expo Happening in Las Vegas

Monday, November 22nd, 2010

With the online gambling market growing so quickly, it is no wonder that the market is ready for a gaming expo. That is exactly what is up for happening this coming week as the Global Gaming Expo comes to Las Vegas. The expo is a showcase of the latest and greatest strides in the market including games, software protocols, bonuses and everything else you can think of regarding gambling. If you want to know what is coming up in the market, then getting a ticket to the expo is a sure fire way to do some investigating. Remember that technology is moving quickly and that movement is bringing about new things to enter the market that no one had ever thought of before. If you love gambling then this is the place to be. In fact, the expo is set to be so popular that there are signs already that it is going to easily be a sellout. Bally Technologies already announced that the company won two bids to provide operational equipment in two Canadian lotteries. The two different provinces are hoping that Bally Technologies is able to streamline their overall gaming protocols and help them to promote to a bigger market as a result. It is estimated that this deal is well worth over $100,000,000 for the company in coming years and it is no wonder executives are ready for the challenge.

This is a sign of how quickly things are changing and how technology is pushing everything in the world of gambling forward. No longer do you have to settle for what is out there—the gaming expo is one place where you should be able to see some things that no one ever before has seen in the market. So far in attendance are going to be major slot machine players and companies that develop and manufacture them. Table gaming experts are also taking up tables there this year plus the online market’s representative will also be there. Together they will paint a picture of what the future of casino gambling is going to be and how they can better serve the overall global gaming public.

Win Las Vegas Trip at Cheeky Bingo

Sunday, November 7th, 2010

If you love winning trips, then consider playing at Cheeky Bingo online bingo room. The casino is offering gamers a great payout of a trip to Las Vegas. One of the places you are going to love if you are a gambler is Las Vegas. The city is known for its premiere gambilng and high night life. If you love gambling and entertainment then you have to at some point of your life at least visit the location once. There is a lot to do there and you are going to love the varied gambling facilities that are going to let you take your chances to win more. Online gambling is highly lucrative and places like Las Vegas are trying to compete– this means that they are creating their own bonuses and specials to keep you interested.

If you go to CheekyBingo.com you are going to find five and ten cent 75-ball games. They all are a lot of fun and if you love bingo and you are going to love the online structure of the games. The pattern is a traditional “V” and if you get it, you are entered into the special draw for the trip. On November 24th one lucky player’s name will be pulled from the prize draw and that is the lucky winner of the game. This is one of the best things about wagering today– you are going to find that the prizes are even bigger than they were a few months ago. No longer do you walk away with a few dollars, but now you can win huge prize packages like this one. Plus bingo is no longer a small pay game either. Now bingo is gaining the same respect it once had in the market and is coming up with a huge amount of respect from gambling companies. It is a game that is pushing for top notoriety in the world of wagering and companies like Cheeky Bingo are pushing it ahead even more. If you love to wager, then check out this promotion. You may be the next lucky winner to get to Las Vegas the fun way!

Halloween Weekend Brings Casino Gaming Fun

Monday, November 1st, 2010

This was big weekend for gaming companies. Halloween brings a lot of fun with it and part of it means parties and excitement. Many casinos around the nation held parties to usher in fall and celebrate the 31st of October. This is one of the best things about the market right now. It is so competitive that almost every event in the calendar has some promotion built around it. Now that the end of the year is here, it is a time when there is going to be one premiere event after another. Most of them are going to come with their own set of payouts and jackpots, along with prizes and cash draws. Big casinos know that to bring people in, they have to push the boundaries of what they offer and make things even more lucrative than they ever were. This is where casinos come in with their advertising and promotion departments. Both know that they have to work hard to bring in customers who are looking for the best deals. Halloween is not unlike any other time in that there are long lists of things to do. You can scan the papers and the internet to find long lists of Halloween specials. Plus the fact that this Halloween ended up landing on a weekend made things even more exciting.

Las Vegas has long been a party town that celebrated Halloween. If you go there, you no doubt are going to see more than a few opulent costumes. Most casinos have some type of costume party and at them there are a wide variety of wagers and fun games for players. They can enter drawings and come up with even more of a payout to take home and celebrate with. Some casinos in Las Vegas are trying to outdo each other with payouts too by offering big-ticket items like flat-screen TV, trips and cars. They are working to build promotions that everyone will love and dong a great job of it. This following week be sure to check with the headlines and no doubt you are going to find out who the lucky winners are and how they fared during the weekend.

Las Vegas Fighting to Turn Things Around

Saturday, October 30th, 2010

Las Vegas is trying a lot to turn its own market around. It’s no secret that gambling isn’t what it used to be before the recession. There have been a lot of changes in the gambling market over the past two years. Recall five years ago that Las Vegas was flying high. It built a reputation up for itself as one of the biggest gambling centers of the entire world. There were casinos galore for every gamers’ needs and a lot to do beyond that. One of the changes that gambling in the city has taken on over the years is turning from a single’s paradise, to a more family-friendly location. It isn’t without purpose though. Gaming companies in the area purposely changed their business model to include all ages when they realized their demographics were getting older. It worked like a charm for the city and millions of visitors proved it as they packed The Strip all day and night long. Then the recession happened.

With little else but gambling to rely on in terms of revenue, Las Vegas was in a difficult position financially when the recession first began. Suddenly people stopped spending and that of course included gambling at the top of the list. Las Vegas didn’t take it sitting down though- the city started pushing for changes to try to draw people back in. Their first big change was creating the City Center. This was a huge billion-dollar center that included retail outlets, gaming floors, conference centers, office buildings and condominium complexes. It was created by Dubai World and MGM Mirage. Though it was expected to reinvigorate the market, it didn’t. Now Las Vegas officials are on to a new project to try to turn things around. This time it is the Cosmopolitan that is entering the market as a gambling casino. The Cosmopolitan has just shy of 3,000 suites and 1,500 slot machines. They should be available for gaming by December 15th of this year. The city’s officials hope that this too will help to bring in more tourism and more revenue. It may take a while for full revival, but it’s development and expansion that are going to give the city its best chance at a turnaround.

Las Vegas Losing Edge on Premiere Gambling Center

Friday, October 29th, 2010

For a long time the gambling market has been suffering as a result of the recession—hopefully things are turning around though. Nascent signs of a turnaround are showing and they are proving to be great news for the gaming public so far. This year there has been a turnaround in gambling in Las Vegas. It started off slow though—gaming companies were prepared for the worst of times to visit them during these times. It wasn’t without warrant either. Gamers just were not visiting companies with their funds. For a long time gamblers were hard pressed to pay their bills, much less pay other bills. Now things are turning around though and that is great news for all involved. Las Vegas recently reported numbers and noted that it brought in $168 million. That is good news for the city because of the hefty deficits and shortfalls in budgeting that it has been experiencing in past years. Since the recession the city has had a hard time with recovery and hasn’t rallied as of yet. This could be a beginning sign though that it is ready for some changes to come about.

Remember that Las Vegas is a premiere gambling center in the US. The problem though is that it has left some of that prowess behind since the recession. No longer is it a singled out leader in the market, but rather it has had difficulties pushing forward to hold the title of top gambling center in the world. Countries like Macau and Gibraltar have pushed Las Vegas off it number one slot. It’s no secret that since the recession, Las Vegas has been down and is showing small signs of turning things around, but nothing monumental. Though the city brought in $168 million, the Singapore Marina Bay Sands for example brought in $241.1 million in revenue. It excelled beyond the estimate on what it would potentially do and over-performed. It’s comparisons like this that are causing experts to question whether or not Las Vegas can rally and regain its position as a number one gambling spot in the market. Or, will it take a backseat to newer cities that are making their own marks on the industry?

Nevada Sees Small Growth in Market

Thursday, October 28th, 2010

The state of Nevada has long been having problems rallying in the gambling market. It’s no secret that the state was hit particularly hard by the recession. The main problem was that it is built on one market—gambling and has been relying on income from gambling for sustaining itself for decades now. Nevada has no secondary market to speak of. State legislators made the same mistake that Detroit Michigan did. Detroit was a city built on automobile manufacturing. It had no true secondary market—believing that automobiles would always be in demand in mass numbers. Once the recession happened though, things changed. Part of the recession was a huge automobile industry crash, thus shutting down all but a few manufacturers. Detroit suffered because thousands were out of jobs, and there were no new jobs to replace those. This is what has harped on the Detroit economy for so long and the same thing happened with Las Vegas and Nevada as a whole. The state relied too heavily on just one market and when it took a hit, state legislators were hard pressed to find replacement markets that just didn’t exist—even at the nascent stages of development.

For a long time now Nevada officials have been waiting for good news. They want to hear that the market is turning around for them. Though that has been a long time in coming, there are some signs that it could be coming quickly. New numbers are showing that more gamers are returning to Las Vegas—slowly, but surely. Of course Nevada officials would like a turnaround to happen much quicker, but that doesn’t mean they won’t take the positive changes in small doses. It could mean that they will take that much shorter a time to turn life around for residents. It isn’t without a lot of anticipating that these changes are coming to the market. This past month there was an 11.5% growth in gambling revenue. It still doesn’t bring gambling back to what it was pre- recession, but it still is a movement in the right direction. The Strip received the biggest jump in revenue with 21% up from last year’s revenue stream.

Nevada Looking to Cosmopolitan for Revival

Wednesday, October 13th, 2010

Las Vegas is still suffering. The recession was particularly hard on the area because of its one industry of gambling. Though gaming operators were hopeful, they have yet to see the numbers even come close to what they were pre recession. Their first order of business was to create City Center. This was a billion dollar facility that was to open with huge numbers. Originally it was hoped that City Center would be the savior of the struggling market. It is a multi-use urban complex. MGM Resorts International and Dubai World were the ones to bring the project to the city and planned huge offerings with it. There are 2,400 condominium units, 4,800 hotel rooms, a high end retail location, entertainment center, conference center and retail center for rental. Overall it was an $11 billion investment into the city. The problem is that though the city officials had a lot of hope in the building, it proved to not perform as expected.

Las Vegas official’s next wanted to go back to the drawing board and bring yet another large gambling center upgrade to their market. Now the Cosmopolitan Hotel is the center of the change. Nevada Gaming Commission officials want to push forward and get the hotel a gaming license. The casino is scheduled to open right before the holidays in December of this year. The resort has 100,000 square foot of casino space and holds just over 3,000 rooms. Though parts aren’t going to be finished until next year, it still is a lofty project that most likely is going to be instrumental in changing the market. Las Vegas officials are pushing as hard as possible to return the city to its former gaming excellence. It could take time though. Now that officials are investing so much money into its development, they are heftily hoping that the aggressive marketing they are embarking on will pay off. Only time is going to tell whether or not the moves of officials are going to pay off in the end financially. There is a lot of competition in the market right now and that is pushing against the La Vegas economy.

Nevada Finally Sees Some Growth in Revenue

Wednesday, October 13th, 2010

It has been a long time coming, but Nevada may finally have some good news. Officials are watching their revenue changes closely and hoping that the numbers continue moving upwards. The month of August may just be the beginning of something good. Numbers are in and showing an increase of 11.5% since last year the same time. That translates into $945 million in revenue. This is great news because of the harrowing time the city has had with recovery. Though it used to be a gambling Mecca, it now has seen decreasing numbers and had to go through a total cutback to maintain budgets and overcome the deficit. Some companies in the state have tried to focus on expansion to other cities and other countries. They are hoping that they can bring up revenue in these other areas to help defray losses in Las Vegas.

Of course Las Vegas used to be a center for gaming, but now that the market has opened up so much, it isn’t the case anymore. In fact, the Macau area is pushing to take over all of the gambling industry and doing it relatively easily. In fact in one month the city showed a 40% growth in revenue! That is huge in any market, and even in the billion dollar industry of gambling it is a huge growth rate. Las Vegas is having a hard time to compete and maintain its own position in the market. Officials are hoping that the recent changes are enough to push for a return to the old numbers. So far City Center and Cosmopolitan Hotel’s expansion are both coming together to help the economy take on the competition. Though City Center has not performed as officials had hoped, it still isn’t something that they are giving up on easily. They are still hoping that the market is able to recover quickly and come back to revenue streams that were received pre-recession. Now that more areas are open to the gambling market, this is pushing it to a mainstream activity. No longer is gambling just a pastime for a select demographic. Now it is one of those things that everyone can take part in. Hopefully the future will be bright for Las Vegas.

Positive Change for Las Vegas Market

Wednesday, October 13th, 2010

For a long time now the Las Vegas gambling market has been suffering. The recession was difficult on the gambling industry because people’s discretionary funds were severely cut. Consider that the recession brought a lot of problems for the consumer. Not only did millions lose their jobs, but they also were cut off of credit cards. Credit card companies shut down a lot of their lending policies and shored up rules on lending. They suddenly closed doors to consumers. We were in a credit-dependent society and the lending freeze all but stifled the market. Consumers were left to manage their finances without the help of credit. With job losses even bigger, they also were left without the necessary funds to pay every day bills. People had to cut back on spending and that included leaving their gambling lifestyles behind. This was a particularly hard problem for the Las Vegas market because it had no secondary industry to rely on. The city had long been a gambling city and officials considered it impervious to changes in the market. That was not the case. For a long time now Las Vegas has been looking for some turnaround and hoping that the market would regulate itself. That time may be coming now that new numbers of growth are finally in.

Recently there were positive changes in the market when Las Vegas operators posted rises in stock prices. This was a welcomed report and there was an increase of 12% in the market prices. Gambling revenue cake up 21%, which translated to a $544 million rise in revenue. Again—this is great news for gaming operators because it could be the nascent sign of growth they have been hoping for since the beginning of the recession when things declined so sharply. They know that there is huge and exciting revenue to be had with gambling and are hoping that this is the time when things are going to truly turn around. If this is the beginning of the end of the recession, we could see Las Vegas’ numbers rise and reach the former levels of revenue stream they had prior to the recession. Only time will tell whether or not this was a one time change, or if it is something here to stay.