Issue 179
February 16 - 22, 2004
Volume 4
page 2
 

Casino Operator Pinnacle Plans to Invest $550 Million in St. Louis Area
As reported by The Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

Pinnacle Entertainment Inc. is a company in a hurry.

The casino operator is pushing hard to increase revenue, upgrade its mix of properties and make a clean break with its past.

Pinnacle's plan to invest $550 million in casino developments in downtown St. Louis and Lemay are a key part of that evolution, says Daniel R. Lee, chairman and chief executive.

Pinnacle's vision for the region -- the nation's eighth-largest casino market -- contributed to the success of its recent offering of 11.5 million additional shares and the accompanying rise in its stock price, Lee said.

"This speaks highly of the St. Louis market," Lee said. "We explained to the people what we see as the opportunity, and they agreed."

A selection committee for St. Louis County on Tuesday backed Pinnacle's plan for a $300 million casino, hotel and entertainment complex at the old National Lead Industries site in Lemay.

The committee chose the proposal over another by Isle of Capri Casinos Inc., which wanted to build a $300 million development on land just south of the Jefferson Barracks Bridge.

Pinnacle, based in Las Vegas, also got the nod over Isle of Capri last month in the city's selection announcement. Members of the panel were swayed by Pinnacle's desire to make its casino and hotel on Laclede's Landing a destination-style property, with a luxury hotel and spa.

Pinnacle's plans require approval by the Missouri Gaming Commission, whose economic analysts have concluded that the St. Louis area could support one and possibly two new casinos.

If it gets the state's blessing relatively quickly, Pinnacle could open its casino on Laclede's Landing in the first half of 2006 and could complete its project in Lemay in late 2006 or early 2007, Lee said.

 

 

 

 


Exotic auction attracts a crowd at Casino Aztar Hotel
As reported by The Courier & Press

Tens of thousands of dollars in antique furniture, Persian rugs, precious stones and elaborate artwork flew through Gavin Abadi's hands Sunday afternoon at the Casino Aztar Hotel.

An auctioneer for Atlanta-based State Liquidations Inc. for 10 years, Abadi is used to seeing items his company purchases at government auctions, bankruptcy sales and consignments go for a steal when he re-auctions them.

Sunday, he cajoled the crowd into bidding on pieces with quips like "It's not stolen!" and "Office Depot charges more for plywood."

Most items sold far below the value Abadi advertised, including a $6,000 emerald and diamond ring that sold for $700 and a hand-woven Persian rug valued at $12,000 that went for $1,700.

Even a loose pink sapphire that sold for $5,750, the highest bid of the day, went far below the price Abadi gave of "between $30,000 and $40,000."

The sale was sponsored by State Liquidations Inc., an Atlanta-based company. Abadi said the company holds two sales a week, usually on weekends, all over the country. They visit Evansville twice a year.


The 3D gaming mobile phone

The race for better graphics performance on PCs is a long-standing tradition. Now mobile device developers want to take cell-phone graphics to the next level. The ATI Imageon 2300 claims to be the first 3D graphics coprocessor for wireless handsets and smart phones.. It comes equipped with a full-featured graphics engine, including geometry processing of up to 1 million triangles per second, perspective correction, and dithering. The chip also has an MPEG-4 video decoder and video resolutions of up to 2 megapixels - making it ideal for camera phones with high-speed data access.

The result is far better picture quality, even on a 2-inch screen, ATI claims. Are 3D games really something people want to squint at on tiny displays? "Here in North America, we're way behind Japan and Korea," points out Azzedine Boubguira, ATI's director of marketing for handheld products. "For a year and a half they've been running 3D games there," he says, albeit with slow software rendering. Boubguira also notes that when ATI introduced graphics accelerators in laptops, "people laughed at us." Now they are a standard feature.

Mamma Mia!
Luciano Pavarotti

Caesars Palace: Luciano Pavarotti, the world's most popular opera star, performs at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace. Pavarotti will be accompanied by a 66-piece orchestra conducted by Maestro Leone Magiera.

Date: February 28, 2004

Price: from $125

Time: 8:00pm

 

For more information please call: (888) 731-8410

 
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