Isle of Capri Casinos said consultation had begun with employees with regard to the possible sale or closure of the site at the Ricoh Arena. It is blaming the „restrictive regulatory landscape in the UK“ after only being granted the license in 2005 and opening the casino a year later. The Ricoh Arena said it is confident of finding a new domestic operator.

While Station Casinos plans to file for bankruptcy in March, a joint venture of the casino company plans to seek financing and break ground within weeks on a USD 200 million American Indian casino in Michigan. Station Casinos spokeswoman Lori Nelson said its tribal gaming contracts wouldn’t be affected by the restructuring because contracts are held separately from the casino company’s financing structure.

The latest sign that Las Vegas bets are buckling under the tough economy? One of the strip’s marquee casino operators is on the ropes. Las Vegas Sands Corp., the owner of the Venetian Hotel and Casino, has warned in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that if it can’t raise the money it needs to meet certain debt agreements, it could „raise a substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern“ — or, in other words, to keep doing business.

Most gaming companies are dropping expansion plans amid the economic downturn, but not MGM Mirage. The casino operator said Thursday it had agreed to provide up to USD 1.6 billion to complete its joint venture CityCenter project on the Las Vegas Strip if outside financing cannot be secured. MGM Mirage and joint venture partner Dubai World have each agreed to make additional equity contributions of up to USD 959 million, the company said in a regulatory filing.

New York (AP) — Casino mogul Sheldon Adelson said Wednesday he is seeking to raise USD 2 billion in debt financing from Asian banks to complete work on expansion projects planned by Las Vegas Sands Corp. in the Chinese gambling enclave of Macau. Adelson disputed reports that that Las Vegas Sands, which operates the Venetian and Palazzo resorts in Las Vegas and the Sands Macao and the Venetian Macao in China…

Philadelphia (AP) — Empire Resorts Inc. said Tuesday that a joint-venture partner in an upstate New York hotel and casino project has received USD 250 million in financing from an insurer with close ties to labor unions. The casino developer said Concord Associates LP has received financing from Union Labor Life Insurance Co. to build the USD 1 billion Concord-Empire Resorts Hotel and Casino in the Catskills. The project is expected to generate union construction and local jobs.

New York (Reuters) – Prices of U.S. casino companies‘ bonds are collapsing, a sign more bankruptcies may be on the way as lenders take flight and high fuel prices curb travel to gambling resorts. Investors have lost an estimated 14.2 percent on casino bonds year to date, the second-worst performance of any junk-rated sector after diversified media companies, which are down about 15.9 percent, according to a new report by JPMorgan.

New York (Reuters) – Tighter credit conditions have delayed financing for a massive casino, hotel and retail project planned for the Chinese territory of Macau, the head of project partner Taubman Centers said on Friday. The [[USD]] 1.3 billion in financing was to have been completed by now. „Given the current capital market conditions, it has taken much longer,“ Taubman Chairman and CEO Robert Taubman said.

Facing an idle construction scene and gaming board scrutiny of his financing, Detroit developer Don Barden last week surrendered a 75 percent interest in his Majestic Star casino project in Pittsburgh to Walton Street Capital Fund 6, an investment firm headed by Chicago billionaire Neil Bluhm, and a consortium of affiliated investors. In a hearing before the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, Barden outlined the equity deal…

Atlantic City, New Jersey – With tight credit markets threatening or slowing casino projects here and around the country, the developers of the USD 2 billion Revel casino-hotel are turning to the city for help. The City Council is scheduled to introduce an ordinance Wednesday night that would allow it to issue USD 56 million worth of bonds to provide money for Revel to redesign and widen access roads to the project.

We hope that casino owner Don Barden thought ahead and entered the World Series of Poker, which started Thursday in Las Vegas. If he’s lucky and plays his cards right — perhaps a long shot, the way things have been going lately on the North Shore — he could convert a USD 10,000 entry fee into an USD 8 million first prize, as an immigrant social worker did last year by besting 6,300 other contestants.

The general contractor of a planned casino in Pittsburgh said he is optimistic financing will come through to keep the project moving, but acknowledged there’s a scenario under which construction could be temporarily halted. Don Barden, the operator of the planned Majestic Star Casino, has until June 30 to pay contractors for work, said Dan Keating III, chairman of Philadelphia-based Keating Construction, the general contractor on casino project.