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LAS
VEGAS - Casino MonteLago, the second casino at the growing Lake
Las Vegas resort area in Henderson, will open May 8.
The 40,000-square-foot
casino doesn't have its own hotel but is attached to the nearby
Ritz-Carlton Hotel, which opened in February. The Ritz-Carlton,
which is part of the Marriott chain of hotels, is separately
owned and managed and marks the debut of the Ritz brand in Nevada.
The casino
will be operated by CIRI Lakeside Gaming Investors LLC, which
was licensed by gaming regulators last year. CIRI is owned by
Cook Inlet Region Inc., a corporation owned by members of an
Alaskan Indian tribe. The licensing process for the parent company
was unusual in that the Nevada Gaming Control Board required
only a few of the company's 7,000 or so shareholders to submit
to background checks.
A separate
management company, Sybro LLC, will run the casino for CIRI.
Sybro partner Dan Reichartz is a former president of Caesars
Palace Hotel Casino.
Casino MonteLago
aims to attract locals with favorable promotions as well as
tourists interested in the high-end getaway. It is larger than
the casino inside Hyatt's Lake Las Vegas resort. Cook Inlet
owns a 50 percent stake in the Hyatt. The casino is also next
to
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In
late June, the Nevada Gaming Commission approved CIRI's application
for registration as a holding company for its ownership interest
in the planned 40,000-square-foot Casino MonteLago at Lake Las
Vegas, Nevada.
The Village
at MonteLago, a separately-run collection of high-end retail
shops facing the Ritz-Carlton, and a condominium complex.
Lake Las
Vegas is some 25 miles east of the Strip. Casino MonteLago is
the most far-flung of the smaller regional casinos that have
opened this year. |
Cayugas'
Casino Plans 2005 Opening
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 Preliminary
site work for the Cayuga Nation's $500 million casino
at Monticello Raceway will start in June with plans to
open the gaming facility by the spring of 2005, the tribe's
partner in the venture said on April 25.
"We're planning an aggressive construction
schedule and to sit down and get the building built,"
said Charles Degliomini, vice president of communications
at Empire Resorts Inc., formerly Alpha Hospitality.
Construction
of the 600,000-square-foot casino on 30 acres adjacent
to the racetrack hinges on the partnership receiving federal
and state approval for the project. Empire Resorts recently
signed a seven-year contract with the Cayugas to manage
the casino, Degliomini said. In exchange, the tribe will
receive up to 300,000 shares of Empire stock over 12 months,
he said. As of Friday's closing price, that would be worth
$2,709,000. Initially, Empire gave 100,000 shares of stock
to the Cayugas to enter into the management contract,
he said. The stock was issued to get the Cayugas to allow
Empire to build one or more hotels that would complement
the casino on taxable property off the raceway site, he
said. The Cayugas can become one-third owners of the hotels,
under the deal.
The
Cayugas, which recently bucked tribal tradition by voting
to get into gambling, do not have a reservation. They
are one of two Indian tribes that were jointly awarded
a $247.9 million judgment against the state for illegally
taking 64,027 acres of former reservation land in Cayuga
and Seneca counties some 200 years ago. The other tribe
in the land claim, the Seneca-Cayugas of Oklahoma, is
taking steps to put in a high-stakes bingo hall in western
Cayuga County.
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