LV Horseshoe update-Harrah's backing out of sale?

It looks like Harrah's is no longer interested as the current offer is from MTR Gaming. They are seeking gaming approval.

Please read the papers and report the facts correctly.

Both Las Vegas papers have articles on the deal. Please use the links to the papers, generously provided under the 'LINKS' option on this site, to access the papers for more and more correct details about the Harrah's/MTR deal.

1. Harrah's has teamed with MTR on the purchase.

2. Harrah's will receive the rights to the trademark 'Horseshoe' in Nevada and the rights to the trademark 'World Series of Poker' (WSOP).

3. The leases on the facilities, the gaming license, and the right to the name 'Binion's' in Nevada will go to MTR.

4. Harrah's will be contracted as the operator of the facility, in a series of one-year renewable contracts, under the direction of a dual board. Part of the contract assures guaranteed payments to MTR under Harrah's operation of the facility.

5. Harrah's and MTR are planning for Harrah's to be dropped as the operator in a few years as MTR assumes full control. Part of that probably based on how/when Harrah's will reposition the WSOP and the name 'Horseshoe' in Nevada.

6. Scheduled re-opening is planned for April 1, 2004.

7. Meetings before the Gaming Control Board, on the deal, have already been schedules for March 3&4, 2004.

8. Plans are already in place and working for the WSOP to be held this year, starting on April 22, 2004.

9. If you check rec.gaming.poker, you will find that the WSOP tournament management staff has already been put in place (basically, last year's key staff have been engaged), a contact person and contacts points for reserving rooms for the WSOP have also been posted there, and Matt Savage (co-tournament director) issued (a couple of weeks ago) a request for tournament dealers and contact points for dealers interested in dealing at the 2004 WSOP.

Here is the link to a Las Vegas Review Journal story on the deal -

http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2004/Feb-19-Thu-2004/business/23252872.html

and here is a Dow Jones Business News article on the deal -

[Dow Jones Business News]

MTR, Harrah's Plan To Open Binion's On Or About April 1

Thursday February 19, 4:09 pm ET

LAS VEGAS (Dow Jones)--A subsidiary of MTR Gaming Group Inc.
(NasdaqNM:MNTG - News) plans to buy Binion's Horseshoe Hotel & Casino
in downtown Las Vegas from Harrah's Entertainment Inc. (NYSE:HET -
News) in a deal that is expected to close in early March.

The terms of the deal were not disclosed, but MTR said it will likely
close the transaction with cash on hand. The operator of hotels,
racetracks and gaming operations, has obtained the necessary approval
of its lenders for the deal, however.

At Sept. 30, MTR reported having $29.8 million in cash and cash
equivalents.

In a joint press release, MTR and Las Vegas-based gaming company
Harrah's said they will jointly operate Binion's after reopening it on
or about April 1.

Upon closing, MTR and Harrah's will enter an agreement under which
Harrah's will operate the casino on an interim day-to-day basis.
Initially, the operating pact will run for one year.

Harrah's may extend the operating agreement for an additional two
years, and MTR will receive certain guaranteed payments, net of all
the property's operating expenses.

The companies have also established an intellectual property license
agreement, under which Harrah's will retain the rights to the names
"Horseshoe" and "World Series of Poker." MTR will be able to use
"Binion's" in Clark County, Nevada.

When the operating deal is ended, MTR will take over operation of the
property and will re-brand Binion's in compliance with the
intellectual property license agreement.

Harrah's reported 2003 revenue of $4.32 billion. MTR has not reported
2003 figures, but generated revenue of $231.7 million in 2002.

-Thomas Derpinghaus; Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-5400.

You state "Please read the papers and report the facts correctly."

Hey DB My post had a question mark as did the report received yesterday was equally inconclusive. Spare us your admonitions back there in whatever Iowa McDonald's you're currently working in.

As of today's report MTR will own the casino OUTRIGHT (as I said) and may use Harrah's for management of the casino for a short time. All details not known for several weeks. WATCH THOSE FRIES!!!

Your original posting was -

"LV Horseshoe update-Harrah's backing out of sale?"

"It looks like Harrah's is no longer interested as the current offer is from MTR Gaming. They are seeking gaming approval."

Both your the heading of your post and the text of your post were wrong, since all Harrah's has ever been 'interested' in from Binion's Horseshoe in Nevada was securing casino-marketing rights to the name 'Horseshoe' in Nevada and the rights to the 'World Series of Poker' (WSOP) and Harrah's indicated from day-one of their agreement with Becky that Harrah's would be selling the transfered casino leases (because Binion's leased and did not own the real estate) and all transfered gaming licenses, liquor licenses, and other permits and licenses assigned to the casino entity as soon as circumstances were convenient for Harrah's. In reality, Harrah's was committed to running the 2004 WSOP at the Binion's location to assure continuity of the tournament and secure Harrah's hold on the WSOP trademark.

The city of Las Vegas and the state of Nevada have a vested interest in an accelerated approval of the transfer of Binion's to new owners, so the 2004 WSOP could be held in the regular April-May cycle and generate greater revenues than previously anticipated for the 2004 WSOP (many tournament poker players would not attend the tournament, if Becky was still in control of Binion's).

Harrah's realized the accelerated approval process would assist their marketing of the remaining casino assets, since a prospective purchaser could realize the advantages of an accelerated approval cycle and a single approval cycle would reduce the overall costs of the process for Harrah's. So, Harrah's is effecting a brilliant, single-cycle process with MTR - getting what Harrah's wanted and selling what Harrah's did not want. MTR is also getting what it wants, since the accelerated approval processes will reduce their total costs for the purchase and prevent delays of transfers. An added advantage for MTR is immediate use of Harrah's as the operator while MTR assembles its own management team for the facility.

As for expertise with potatoes, I would not have to work at McDonald's or Wendy's to know your post was a half-baked version of the root of the story.

http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2004/Feb-20-Fri-2004/business/23258589.html

It's the landowners who aren't happy.

By the way, does the anonymity of the net make you feel strong and powerful or are you just inately rude? Jl was very polite in his repsonses and your responses were a bit overboard. It seems that you have a lot of baggage to get rid of so if it makes you feel better, feel free to make any comments you like - consider it a free therapy session. Oh, and even if either of us did work at McDonald's, there's nothing wrong with that - there was really no need to make derogatory comments about their employees who work hard to support themselves and their families.

Sincerely,
MGP

"Harrah's is trying to get us to lower the price on the argument even Jack (Binion) wasn't making money there," said the article and also was a report on local TV. They spoke of Harrah's upset with landlord as part of willingness to go in only as a management team. Can't send you a replay of the TV news. And I'm not interested in writing volumes on posts. As was said in an earlier post " reports are that the details will take several weeks to come out." Many are following the Horseshoe situation closely as if that does not go well there will be one less reason to go downtown. I just pass along what is being said here by many sources.

Now I get the nosepicker crowd from some Iowa Mcdonalds chiming in with their complaints. They want to claim all kinds of minutiae as criticisms when only bits and pieces of all this story is coming out. I'm just relaying what several sources are reporting here. You go look it up. I'm busy.

Perhaps you would like to know or have particular interest in the fact that one group working with Mayor Goodman wants to open a gay nightclub at Neonopolis downtown. Maybe they'll have a McDonald's there and you guys(?) can transfer there! You and your buddy could then meat there and dream up some more complaints. Now PLEASE (I'm being "polite" too) pay attention to the fries!

...does anybody know whether they will still be offering that fantastic SD game and taking on black chips??

I've skinned that game for well over 100k...

I will try, again, to clarify the 'deal' for you -

You stated -
"Harrah's is trying to get us to lower the price on the argument even Jack (Binion) wasn't making money there," said the article and also was a report on local TV.

My response-
It is called a negotiating ploy. Harrah's deal with Becky had the buyers assuming outstanding debts of the corporation and providing a fixed, buy-out payment to the previous, stockholders. If the Harrah's/MTR team can get leaseholders to take reduced payments on outstanding lease amounts, the team realizes the net as a reduced cost of the deal. Every outstanding debt the team can abate, reduces the cost of the deal to them. Additionally, every leaseholder the team buys-out reduces future complications with the real estate.

You stated -
They spoke of Harrah's upset with landlord as part of willingness to go in only as a management team.

My response -
If you had bothered to read my previous responses on this thread and had linked to, read, and understood the articles in the newspapers I indicated, or, if you had actually read and could understand the newspaper article you provided a link to in this thread and claim to have read, you would realize that Harrah's only interests in a purchase deal for the Las Vegas Binion's Horseshoe was obtaining the casino trademark rights to 'Horseshoe' in Nevada and rights to poker trademark 'World Series of Poker' (WSOP) and Harrah's was always going to sell the casino after appropriating those trademarks. Harrah's is going-in "only as a management team" because they managed to market the casino to MTR in the original purchase cycle, not because Harrah's is "upset" with the landlords.

You stated -
"Can't send you a replay of the TV news. And I'm not interested in writing volumes on posts. As was said in an earlier post " reports are that the details will take several weeks to come out." Many are following the Horseshoe situation closely as if that does not go well there will be one less reason to go downtown. I just pass along what is being said here by many sources."

My response -
Links to newspaper articles with or without terse, intelligent, summaries of the articles or portions thereof would be helpful and sufficient. Not helpful are inflamed/false statements/twists you put in the posts whether based on the articles, TV-news, or the rumor-mill.

You stated -
"Now I get the nosepicker crowd from some Iowa Mcdonalds chiming in with their complaints. They want to claim all kinds of minutiae as criticisms when only bits and pieces of all this story is coming out. I'm just relaying what several sources are reporting here. You go look it up. I'm busy.

Perhaps you would like to know or have particular interest in the fact that one group working with Mayor Goodman wants to open a gay nightclub at Neonopolis downtown. Maybe they'll have a McDonald's there and you guys(?) can transfer there! You and your buddy could then meat there and dream up some more complaints. Now PLEASE (I'm being "polite" too) pay attention to the fries!"

My response -
You seem to be taking one of the classic, defensive responses available to those whose statements are contradicted by the truth - When countered by the truth, attack the truth-tellers with invectives and name-calling and disparage the truth as "nit-picking". While the invectives and name-callings used do not disprove the truth they are trying to counter, the invectives and name-callings used do provide an insight into the person using them. Classically, invective/name-callers use the portions of themselves which are most offensive to themselves as the insults most likely to wound others because those portions of their own character disgust them the most.

I do not know why you feel people from Iowa or people who work at McDonald's are inferior. Perhaps you are from Iowa and worked at a McDonald's and somewhere in your past, someone you, unfortunately, felt inferior to slighted you for being one or both of those. Neither should provide you with a feeling of inferiority, since Iowans are no more inferior than peoples from any other state. As for working at McDonald's, a job at McDonald's has served as a spring-board to success in life and business for many people throughout the world. So having been a McDonald's worker should not make you feel inferior.

I am honored though, that after only a couple of my posts responding to you in this thread, you feel you can reveal, based on your post, that your detestation of gays and seeming sexual ambivalence about yourself seems to be based on your having been sexually molested when you were working as a fry cook at a McDonald's in Iowa. Now you have started to address your situation, I think you should contact Mayor Goodman's office for assistance locating groups specializing in counseling individuals with your sexual identity crisis. Being the victim of a sexual predator does not make you gay.

Below is a link to the Yahoo Financial page posting of the Thursday, 02/19/04, MTR/Harrah's release about their deal for Binion's Horseshoe in Las Vegas.

I simply mentioned the ongoing reports here in LV on radio, TV, and newspaper about the large interest in the Horseshoe. I have no idea or interest of what happens out there with you people in Iowa (gay or otherwise) or even at Mcdonalds! I have no idea and don't care. Spare us the whining. Take a deep breath a move along.

I think you need to take the deep breath and then instead of just moving along you should follow my previous advice to get counseling for your obviously serious, personal situation.

Your apparent fixation on distancing yourself from your past by repeatedly attacking others with obvious, painful references to your past (being from Iowa, working at McDonald's, and being uncomfortable feeling you are gay), just high-light the depths of the situation you are in. Again, I am sure, if you contact city-hall, personnel there can guide you to support-groups or professionals who can assist you.