Las Vegas Review Journal – Just as the recession began to grip Las Vegas in 2008, gaming executive Terry Lanni made a prediction. During an interview at his offices in the Bellagio, Lanni said a Las Vegas market recovery was not going to be like any other time tourism and gaming businesses experienced a downturn. After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, it took 18 to 24 months for tourists to get comfortable with domestic travel. The recession of the 1980s took a bite out of the tour and travel trade nationwide. An aggressive marketing campaign by the Las…

Mississippi Business Journal – Forbes says Tilman Fertitta is worth $2.4 billion. He became a wealthy businessman by making smart decisions, being opportunistic and having a business-is-business attitude. But even when the owner and CEO of Fertitta Entertainment walks into one of his three Golden Nugget casinos, one thing scares him — the changing landscape of the customers. “One of my scariest things that is young people do not play slot machines,” said Fertitta, who was the keynote speaker kicking off last week’s Southern Gaming Summit in Biloxi. “I go to all these places, it’s not young people playing slot…

Tourists visiting Las Vegas can now get their cryptocurrency in Las Vegas at a Bitcoin ATM located at The D Casino. The site has partnered with Robocoin, a fellow Las Vegas-based company, to place a bitcoin ATM inside its casino. The machine allows users to both buy and sell the currency. Derek Stevens, CEO of the D Las Vegas Casino Hotel, said in a statement: “We’re proud to be the first casino property to accept bitcoin and we’re excited to offer our customers the convenience of a bitcoin ATM.” The D Casino Hotel is located downtown on Fremont Street, distanced from the…

Deutsche Bank AG is cutting itself free of The Cosmopolitan Casino of Las Vegas, a resort and casino, saying it’s selling the swanky but unprofitable high-rise complex on the Strip to Blackstone Real Estate Partners VII for $1.73 billion. The German investment bank said in a statement Thursday that the cash deal remains subject to regulatory approvals. The bank had intended to sell the property from before it even opened in 2010 and had placed The Cosmopolitan in a separate bank division devoted to winding down or selling unwanted investments. The last major Las Vegas resort approved before the Great…

Poker News – If it would not have been for his victory at the €10,000 Turbo Six-Max event during PokerStars European Poker Tour Grand Final in Monte Carlo, Russia’s Vitaly Lunkin’s last trip to Europe’s sunniest shores would have been a disaster. “I spent about €65,000 in buy-ins and I was in the money only three times,” Lunkin told PokerNews. “Had I not won the €10,000 turbo event, my tour would have ended with a loss.” During the month in which he spent time around Italy and France, things did not go too well for Lunkin. Russia’s third all-time biggest…

A University of California, Berkeley law school graduate was sentenced to probation on Monday for beheading an exotic bird at the Flamingo is Las Vegas back in 2012. Justin Teixeira received the four years of probation after completing a prison boot camp program that consisted of 190 days of counseling, educational and physical training programs, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. His sentence also includes 16 hours a month of unpaid work at an animal shelter. Teixeira pleaded guilty to the felony last year for decapitating a 14-year-old helmeted guinea fowl at the Flamingo’s Wildlife Habitat. Thanks to his deal, the…