Sacramento Bee – The signs of decay linger on Virginia Street, the main casino corridor in “The Biggest Little City in the World.” Pawn shops and cut-rate motels line up alongside the high-end hotel towers. The strip is still pocked with shuttered casinos, victims of the recession and burgeoning competition from Northern California’s Indian tribes. But signs of comeback – slow and steady – are evident as well. Construction crews are turning the old Fitzgeralds casino, closed since 2008, into the outdoor-themed Whitney Peak Hotel. A small slot-machine parlor called Siri’s Casino soon will open next door. In nearby Sparks,…

Las Vegas Review Journal – Professional poker standout Phil Ivey has been sued in federal court by the Borgata in Atlantic City, which claimed the $9.6 million he won at the casino in 2012 was earned through cheating at high-stakes mini-baccarat. The casino, which is 50 percent-owned and managed by Las Vegas-based Boyd Gaming Corp., claims Ivey, one of the world’s best known poker players, manipulated a defect in the playing cards through a special manner of dealing that he requested. According to the lawsuit, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in New Jersey, Ivey was assisted in the scheme…

  This Week in Gambling – The industry specialists at Super Casino are patiently waiting for the European Commission to unveil its recommendations on consumer protection and advertising for online gambling. Whilst member states share a common objective of protecting consumers, there are concerns that multiple gambling reforms at national level have yielded different results. It is expected that the executive body will disable this “patchwork of different national approaches” in favour of a new uniform approach across Europe. The European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA), hopes the commission’s recommendations will draw together a common set of principles which provide…

Investors – Las Vegas Sands, Wynn Resorts, MGM Resorts International and others with casinos in Macau could be negatively affected by a slowdown in gambling revenue in the Chinese gaming hotspot. Wells Fargo analyst Cameron McKnight said in a report Monday that channel checks show April gaming revenue in the former Portuguese colony, now the top global casino gambling destination, is trending between 5% and 10% growth, well below the bank’s earlier midteens estimate. McKnight had earlier said he expected a slowdown in Macau gaming revenue in mid-2014, due to a possible slowdown in the high-roller “VIP” segment gaming that…

Caesars Entertainment will tap the Montreal market for gambling customers by combining hotel packages with new charter flights between Atlantic City and upstate New York. Service from Plattsburgh, N.Y., to Atlantic City International Airport will begin April 23 and run through August using jets operated by Republic Airways, which handles air charters for Caesars’ casino hotels across the country. Garry Douglas, president of the North Country Chamber of Commerce in Plattsburgh, noted that the summer charter flights will extend Caesars’ reach into the potentially lucrative Montreal metropolitan market consisting of 3.5 million people. “We are Montreal’s U.S. airport,” Douglas said…

iGaming Business – Land-based gaming operator Caesars Entertainment Corporation and gaming products designer and manufacturer International Game Technology (IGT) are to join forces to launch the first multistate progressive jackpot network in the US. Powerbucks, a multistate wide area progressive jackpot network, has been developed by IGT as an add-on to its MegaJackpots theme that enhances the jackpot pool from one gaming region to another. Under the partnership, Powerbucks will be deployed by Caesars properties in approved jurisdictions, starting with the US states of New Jersey and Nevada. Gamblers in the two states will now be able to access the…