It’s bad enough to find out that one has unknowingly disseminated false information. Whenever an S&G item goes belly-up, I try to run a correction/emendation/whatever ASAP. But to knowingly spread phony news and then take a victory lap when it gets mistaken for the real thing … that requires some gall. Which would explain this low-class [...]

Well, it was fun while it lasted. However, my sourcing for the Wynn-buyout-of-New Frontier item (see the aptly titled "Too Good to Be True?") has pretty much collapsed. My apologies to you all. It had the virtue of providing a plausible explanation for why the plug was pulled on the Ruffin/Ed-Ad deal … but no [...]

Here are two items hot off the rumor mill and courtesy of a very reliable source … Did Phil Ruffin’s sudden decision to pull out of a long-in-the-works $1.2 billion deal to sell the New Frontier to El-Ad Development seem a little, well, crazy? It could be crazy like a fox. Why sell to El-Ad for [...]

That’s the conclusion reached by the Motley Fool’s Jeff Hwang, who reports on depredations inflicted upon Horseshoe Tunica, possibly undoing much of the brand equity created by Jack Binion. Even though the Texas Pacific/Apollo Management buyout hasn’t gone through, Harrah’s continues to behave as though it were a done deal. It’s enough to make me [...]

Earlier this week, Business Press Editor Ian Mylchreest and I met with a couple of entrepreneurs, visiting from Macao. Our conversation yielded a few tidbits, such as that retail business is booming at the American-run casinos over there ($1 million a week at Louis Vuitton, if I remember correctly, maybe more) but languishing at the [...]

From today’s "Raving E-Mail Newsletter," issued by the good people at Raving Consulting, comes the tale of a casino that got it right. Casino personnel at Mohegan Sun found $406 in credits on a slot machine, contacted the woman who had left them and sent her a check by registered mail. I find this refreshing in [...]

Following the "Wynn Responds" dispatch (3/9/07), I have been contacted by quite a few people identifying themselves as Wynn Las Vegas employees and saying, in no uncertain terms that Wynn’s official position is … uh … let’s say "factually challenged." They take particular issue with the contention that surveillance video is available for employee viewing [...]

Las Vegas nightlife got a double dose of new venues last week and at least one of them can be counted a success. Lucky Strike Lanes opened a branch at The Rio, even if some kinks in the system remain to be worked out. But when you’ve got automated scoring, glow-in-the-dark bowling shoes and a [...]

It’s an occupational hazard in business reporting to see only the promise of success but Las Vegas’ #1 newspaper went overboard with the DJs spinning another golden oldie. In this case, it’s the dubious assertion that the "second Strip" on Harmon Avenue is "progressing swiftly and surely." Pardon my apparent cynicism, but this platter has been [...]

I thought I’d leave you with a little food for thought over the weekend, especially any legislators in Carson City who might be on the bubble over whether or not to do the right thing by your tip-earning constituents … "There is a tradition in Nevada whereby a dealer, waitress, or any other tip-earner is rewarded [...]