Laughlin casinos sold
Gaming Wire
Published: Sunday, October 22, 2006
Gaming WireMGM Mirage struck a deal to unload its two Laughlin casinos to a group headed by the son of casino building pioneer Tony Marnell.
The side-by-side Colorado Belle and Edgewater, which MGM Mirage acquired as part of its $7.9 billion buyout of the Mandalay Resort Group 17 months ago, were sold for $200 million to a partnership that includes Anthony Marnell III and Sher Gaming.

The deal marks the younger Marnell's most significant move yet as a casino operator. In June, a Marnell-Sher partnership bought the Saddle West casino in Pahrump.

Last year, Marnell announced plans to build M Resort, a $1.8 billion hotel, casino and commercial center, on 79 acres in Henderson.

The transaction with MGM Mirage, which is subject to approval by Nevada gaming regulators, is not expected to close until next summer.

Sale of South Coast

wins regulator approval

A plan by Boyd Gaming Corp. to sell its 1,350-room South Coast in Las Vegas to veteran Nevada gambling figure Michael Gaughan won final approval from the state Gaming Commission.

Gaughan is founder and former operator of Coast Casinos, which Boyd Gaming acquired two years ago in a $1.3 billion merger. He also oversaw the $600 million construction of the South Coast, which he's getting debt-free and without any partners through a sale and turnover of his Boyd stock worth an estimated $512 million.

Although business at the South Coast, which opened in December, has been soft, Gaughan told the commission that a freeway interchange project will help improve access to the property in 2007.

More flights to McCarran

Officials of the top airline serving McCarran International Airport could alter service into Las Vegas to take advantage of a new federal law.

President Bush signed a bill that will eventually eliminate restrictions on long-haul flights from Dallas Love Field in Texas. The Wright Amendment Reform Act will allow Southwest Airlines, McCarran's No. 1 carrier, to launch for the first time one-stop connections from Love Field to Las Vegas.

Southwest will also be able to offer direct service — flights that stop in a connecting city but enable passengers to stay aboard the same plane for the duration of their travel — from Love Field to McCarran.

Southwest spokeswoman Brandy King said that the Love Field-based airline won't make any route changes until the Federal Aviation Administration delivers a letter to Congress saying the new law's provisions won't negatively affect airspace at Love Field. Once the administration sends its letter, Southwest could implement its new schedule within days, she said. “We do want to include our larger cities in our Dallas service,” King said. “If we have any scheduled service that lines up with Dallas through a connecting city to Las Vegas, there's a chance we would make that into for-sale service.”

LINGERING LAWSUIT - Venetian Chairman Sheldon Adelson is still seeking revenge against Las Vegas unions seven years after losing a dispute over ownership of a sidewalk outside his casino, a government lawyer told a federal appellate court. “This is all about Adelson flexing his muscles,” Richard Cohen, a National Labor Relations Board attorney told a three-judge panel of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. Cohen first referred to Adelson as “Adelman,” but quickly corrected himself. John Manier, a Universal City, Calif., attorney representing The Venetian, said the casino was exercising its Fifth Amendment right to not have its property taken for public use without due process. The dispute occurred March 1, 1999, when more than 1,000 members of the Culinary and Bartenders unions rallied outside The Venetian, which was still under construction. The pickets objected to Adelson's claim that a walkway connected to public sidewalks was The Venetian's private property.

PAHRUMP CASINO - The Nevada Gaming Commission approved acquisition of the Pahrump Nugget Hotel and Gambling Hall by Golden Gaming for an undisclosed price. Privately held Golden Gaming, which operates in Nevada and Colorado, is buying the Nugget from Generation 2000, whose owners include Bill Richardson and members of U.S. Sen. John Ensign's family. The Pahrump Nugget, built in 2001 on part of a 40-acre site, has 70 rooms, 553 slot machines, 10 table games, a sports book, poker room, restaurants, bowling alleys and banquet space. Golden Gaming, headed by Blake Sartini, operates three casinos in Black Hawk, Colo., and is Nevada's largest tavern operator with 43 establishments under the name PT's Gold and PT's Pub. The company also operates some 2,500 slot machines at more than 200 locations throughout Nevada. Sartini said some internal improvements are planned at the hotel-casino, which is on the main intersection in Pahrump and about an hour's drive from Las Vegas. He was noncommittal about any further expansion. “We don't want to get too far ahead of the market out there,” he said.