After a decade of legal battles and a year of construction, the Firekeepers Casino is set to open its doors. The casino sits along I-94 near 11 Mile Road in Emmett Township. Inside the massive building there will be 2,500 slot machines, 110 game tables and about 1,500 people earning their paychecks. Now, those employees [...]
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Area businesses are looking for a boost if a casino is built in Toledo. “Definitely, because once people try the food here, they come back,” said Greg Shubeta, owner of Shubie’s Ice Cream & Grill in Rossford. Some area businesses in Rossford are already counting the dollars and sense from Ohio’s proposed casinos, even before [...]
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After more than a year, the Chapter 11 saga of bankrupt Greektown Casino-Hotel is moving toward conclusion, but the casino’s owners aren’t in for a happy ending. Likely to be a victim of the casino’s restructuring will be the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa, which also operates smaller gambling halls in the Upper Peninsula. [...]
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After a 13-day impasse, the Ohio legislature yesterday rocketed a new state budget to the governor that Democrats say makes the best of a bad economic hand dealt to the state but Republicans say is a gamble that won’t pay off. The bill allows Gov. Ted Strickland to add electronic video slot machines at Ohio’s [...]
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Two years ago Gary Hamm and his wife gambled $200 at the Bellagio. About two months ago it paid off. He opened the mailbox at his Tacoma, Wash., home and found an offer from Bellagio for three free nights plus $50 in free play and food and drink credits. “I was amazed, really,” said Hamm. [...]
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Gov. Ted Strickland said Saturday the Republican-controlled Senate rejected his proposal to erase Ohio’s $3.2 billion budget deficit, dealing a strong blow to the already diminishing chances the spending plan would be finished on time. The most crucial component of the Democratic governor’s plan would put slot machines at Ohio’s seven horse racing tracks to [...]
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Michigan’s economy is down, its unemployment is up and the auto industry is in a battle for its life. But when it came to spending on lady luck at casinos, the state bucked national trends until winter set in. Revenue at Michigan’s three commercial (non-Indian) casinos was up 1.3 percent in 2008, while commercial casinos [...]
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After coming up short in a first effort, a Democratic lawmaker has again introduced legislation that would roll back a ban on Internet gambling enacted when Republicans led Congress. The legislation, introduced this month by Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts, would allow the Treasury Department to license and regulate online gambling companies that serve American [...]
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The world economy may be slumping, but don’t tell that to Macau — the former Portugese colony which is set to trump Las Vegas heading out of the worst global downturn since the Great Depression. In the smoke-filled gambling halls of Macau’s MGM Mirage casino, hundreds of Chinese gamblers were crammed around tables flipping cards, [...]
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High-rolling Nebraska philanthropist Terrance K. Watanabe is mounting an unusual defense to charges he failed to pay $14.7 million in Strip gambling debts. He is accusing Caesars Palace and the Rio, both owned by Harrah’s Entertainment, of providing him with a steady flow of alcohol and — in the case of Caesars Palace — prescription [...]
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