CasinoCity newsletter Issue 23 Volume 1 Page 2

Showboat A/C Closes It's Bowling Center - ATLANTIC CITY, NJ -- Showboat has closed its 60-lane bowling center and will begin gutting it to make room for two restaurants.

The decision, which new General Manager Tom O'Donnel said was rather easy, closes a unique chapter in the city's 23-year casino history.

Opened in 1987, the then-named Showboat Hotel, Casino & Bowling Center was host for the 1988 U.S. Open and three PBA Tour events. The casino hired Hall of Fame bowler Dick Weber as its celebrity host and formed a touring team called the Showboat Girls.

What worked in Las Vegas, however, was soon a flop in Atlantic City. The bowling center stayed open for years only because it was there. The 800-room Showboat, stuck in a no-growth mode the last five years, is also considering a hotel expansion of perhaps 500 rooms to help stem its market-share losses.

London Club International Up For Sale - United Kingdom casino operator London Clubs International is up for sale after being hit by its disastrous investment in the Las Vegas Aladdin gaming complex.

The company has seen it value plummet more than 60% since last year.

"The trouble is that Aladdin remains a poisoned pill. Things are bad there now but a US economic slowdown could make matters worse," said a LCI source who declined to be identified.

The London Club runs a 35,000-square-foot facility at the Aladdin Hotel & Casino. It features a 15,000-square-foot main casino offering baccarat, Pai Gow poker, roulette, blackjack and premium slot machines.

Mohegan Sun to Donate Bingo Equipment - UNCASVILLE, CT -- Mohegan Sun is donating more than $200,000 worth of bingo equipment and supplies to local nonprofit groups on a first-come, first-served basis.

To date, Mohegan Sun has donated more than $125,000 worth of equipment, including eight electronic bingo boards, nine televisions, thousands of reams of paper and bingo daubbers to the New London Senior Center, St. John's Church in Uncasville, the Griswold Senior Center and the Pyramid Shriners in Milford, Conn.

The casino is donating approximately nine bingo boards, several hundred reams of bingo paper and a limited number of small promotional prizes in order to make way for the spring 2001 opening of its Hall of The Lost Tribes, a 20,000-square-foot smoke-free casino. Interested nonprofit groups can contact Bruce Eichelberg of Mohegan Sun at (860)367-0470.

Championship Boxing:
Holyfield vs. Ruiz

The decision in their first meeting was close enough that many felt it could have gone either way, so Evander "The Real Deal" Holyfield (37-4-1, 25 KOs) will put his World Boxing Association heavyweight title on the line against John "The Quiet Man" Ruiz (36-4, 27 KOs) in a rematch on March 3 from the Mandalay Bay Events Center.

Holyfield became the only heavyweight in history to win a world title on four separate occasions when he won the vacant WBA heavyweight title in a decision over Ruiz in Las Vegas on Aug. 12, 2000. The decision was unanimous�but by a razor-thin margin: Two judges scored it 114-113, while the third judge had it 116-112.

Many ringside observers and members of the media felt Ruiz, from Chelsea, MA, should have received the decision. Due to the controversy surrounding the outcome, the WBA held a hearing and mandated a direct rematch.

DATE:
March 3, 2001

TIME:
TBA

TICKETS:
$50, $100, $200, $400, $600, $750

For more information please call Mandalay Bay's Box Office at: 877-632-7400.

Masque Publishing Offers Top Slot Machine Computer Games