Word: casino
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...AFRICAN CONNECTION. They don't make them more controversial than Solomon Kerzner. There's the over-the-top casino he built on a South African homeland, taking advantage of apartheid; the money scandal that linked him to a Prime Minister who had to resign; the succession of wives, including a former Miss World; and these days the Mohegan Sun, a billion-dollar Indian casino in Connecticut that he made happen...
...Indian gaming. He has succeeded in gaming systems with loose rules before. His native South Africa once banned gambling but allowed it in tribal areas carved out by the apartheid-era white government for blacks to inhabit. Kerzner, who began his career as an accountant, opened the first hotel-casino in 1977 in Mmabatho, the capital of the homeland of Bophuthatswana, about 150 miles from Johannesburg. That year he began planning what would become the opulent Sun City resort-casino-entertainment-theme-park complex. When it opened in 1979, Sun City--with four hotels, a 6,000-seat arena...
...soon as the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) formally recognized the Mohegans as a tribe, Kerzner and several partners reached an agreement to develop and manage the tribe's proposed casino. Their fee: more than the legally allowed 40% of net revenues. The deal with the NIGC was negotiated in private, and then chairman Harold Monteau rubber-stamped it. The other two commissioners and several staff members objected, complaining that Monteau had worked out the generous package in secret. Monteau is now a lobbyist on casino issues for more than a dozen tribes...
...Mohegan Sun replicates the outrageous sensibility of Sun City. Its profitability is equally immoderate. This year it became Connecticut's and Indian country's second billion-dollar casino (after Foxwoods) when annual revenue hit 10 figures. The 32% increase over last year follows the opening of a second complex, which makes the Mohegan Sun's total gaming area larger than the combined area of the Mirage, Stardust and Tropicana casinos on the Las Vegas Strip. Kerzner, the Mohegans and the NIGC will not release details of the full management agreement, but based on financial data drawn from government records, Kerzner...
...knows how to compete for government favors. He earned his fortune as a contractor constructing huge infrastructure projects for the Malaysian government. In the mid-'60s while building a hydroelectric dam in the country's Cameron Highlands, he dreamed of developing a resort and casino in the area, which is easily accessible to Kuala Lumpur, the capital. Even though Malaysia is a predominantly Muslim country and Islam forbids Muslims to gamble, he secured the government's approval in less than a day. In the more than three decades since, his exclusive agreement for what is still Malaysia's only casino...