Las Vegas News - Page 521

The prestigious Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group will manage the hotel anchor at the $5 billion CityCenter project on the Strip, MGM Mirage officials announced Thursday.

The Westward Ho hotel and casino will close Nov. 17 and is in the process of being sold, a company official said Wednesday.

Fine dining, the new profit center in the casino environment, is only going to get bigger in the years ahead as celebrity chefs develop more restaurants and new stars emerge, an industry expert says.

The increased focus on entertainment amenities at gaming destinations outside of Nevada should spur even more growth in Las Vegas, industry insiders said Wednesday.

In spite of all the free gambling lessons offered at Las Vegas casinos, properties across town are now giving fewer lessons than they did 10 years ago when table games were less popular.

About 3.4 million people visited Las Vegas in July, up 5.7 percent from the same month a year ago, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority reported Monday.

Griffin Investigations Inc., which distributes lists of suspected cheaters and card counters to casinos, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, citing a defamation lawsuit.

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority approved a 5 percent raise and $40,000 bonus for its president Tuesday and gave clearer direction to changes planned for the authority and the 2 million-square-foot convention center it oversees.

Las Vegas is no longer the city where entertainers go to die, a panel of Strip headliners told the keynote session of the Global Gaming Expo on Tuesday.

The Venetian's parent company is working with the Harvard University Medical School Division on Addictions to start a program that trains all employees, from senior management on down, to recognize customers and co-workers who show signs of problem gambling.

Las Vegas' travel industry sizzled through the midsummer heat thanks to an unusually robust rush of incoming conventioneers.

Wynn Resorts Ltd. Senior Vice President Arte Nathan says he has enjoyed the thrill of helping developer Steve Wynn open new hotels.

A selection of news and views from inside the industry this week.

Barney Vinson: My buddy Russ had set me up with a possible job at the Dunes Hotel in Vegas.

Sports bettors at the Golden Nugget properties won't be able to bet on the Houston Texans because Tilman Fertitta, the chief executive of the company who own the casinos, is a minority owner of the National Football League team.

State gaming regulators on Thursday recommended the licensure of six executives with the Aladdin Resort and Casino who are slowly moving to transform the property to the Planet Hollywood brand.

Visitor demand for Las Vegas as a destination seemed to fade at the end of the third quarter as room rates remained unchanged from the year before.

Tilman Fertitta of Landry's Restaurants discusses his company's plans for the Golden Nugget properties downtown and in Laughlin.

Forced out of town by Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans Hornets owner George Shinn is exploring whether he can move his National Basketball Association franchise to Southern Nevada, a source close to the talks said Thursday.

Construction is still several months away, but new details of a proposed $400 million upgrade of the Las Vegas Convention Center are gradually taking shape, officials said Wednesday.