


Issue 60	October 30 - November 5, 2001	Volume 2	page 1
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This Issue

Gaming News
Casino Morongo to Unveil New Entertainment Center With Pankration Championship

NY Governor Eyes Gambling Expansion

International Travel To Vegas
Down 40 Percent

Treasure Chest Announces Layoffs

Delta Downs Vying For Slots

New York-New York Hotel Casino Opens New Sports Book Lounge

The Greek Isle Opens Slots

Columns
Buzz Daly's Player's Guide To Sports Books
A Mighty Package of Information

Show Time
Mandalay Bay Resort Casino will host USO Benefits Concert at its Events Center on Nov. 11

Travel Specials

Check out our entertainment highlights & upcoming tournaments

See the lucky winners

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Casino Morongo to Unveil New Entertainment Center With Pankration Championship

BANNING, CA - In a major expansion, Casino Morongo is unveiling a new 53,000-square-foot entertainment event center that will accommodate more than 7,000 patrons. The sprung-structure center will be located west of its main casino. The first event to debut in the new facility will be a November 11th championship competition called "pankration,'' a unique form of mixed martial arts.

The "Ultimate Pankration Championship'' will feature six-time World Champion Kickboxer Danny "Hard As'' Steele, five-time World Muay Thai Champion Rob "Razor'' McCullough, Super Heavyweight World Champion Zane Frazier, and the return of Ultimate Fighting Champion Marco Ruas.

Tickets are now on sale at the casino and through Ticketmaster. There will be a special press preview with the fight promoters and headline fighters on November 7th at the new entertainment center. On Sunday, November 11th, the doors will open at 4:00 p.m. and the first bout will begin at 6:00 p.m.

"Over the past decade, Pankration style fighting events have reappeared on cable and pay-per-view billed as 'no-holds-barred,' 'ultimate fighting' and 'extreme fighting,''' explained PerforMax Productions' president Alyxzander Bear who has been active in the martial arts training and production industry for over 30 years. "Pankration has developed a remarkable sports fan following and mixed martial arts events have been consistently sold out.''

A pioneer in Indian gaming, Casino Morongo is one of California's top gaming properties. Owned and operated by the Morongo Band of Mission Indians, the facility meets the growing demand in California for recreational gaming by providing more than 4,000 daily visitors with over 100,000 square feet of gaming action.

There are 2,000 slot machines at Casino Morongo that offer more than 80 different games such as Wheel of Fortune, Triple Play Poker, I Dream of Jeannie, Monopoly, Betty Boop and Blondie.

The casino's popular card room offers 48 tables of Blackjack, Pai Gow, Let It Ride, Mini-Baccarat and Three-Card Poker. An additional 13 poker tables are packed with patrons playing Texas Hold'Em, Four-Card Omaha, Five-Card Omaha, Hold'Em and Hi/Low Split.The casino also offers high stakes bingo six days a week.

Casino Morongo is open 24 hours a day to offer both dining and gaming action. The casino is wheelchair accessible and offers free parking for cars, trucks and recreational vehicles. Valet parking is also available.Casino Morongo is located about 90 miles east from Los Angeles on the I-10 freeway past the Desert Hills Outlet Mall and about 20 minutes west from Palm Springs.

NY Governor Eyes Gambling Expansion

ALBANY, NY - New York is betting on a historic gambling expansion to pull itself out of the economic dumps after the terrorist attacks, adding casinos and video gambling and joining a multi-state lottery game.

The all-out grab bag of new gambling options was expected to be approved by the Legislature before the week was out, possibly as early as Wednesday, officials said.

It would mark the largest-ever expansion of gambling in New York.

The package, which leading lawmakers negotiated with Gov. George Pataki, was unveiled Tuesday evening by state Senate Republican Leader Joseph Bruno, an ally of the governor.

The package also included new economic development tools to help New York City recover from the collapse of the World Trade Center.

"We have a deal that is cooking. It is in the oven and people are getting the aroma,'' Bruno said.

He said the gambling package could be worth $1 billion annually to the state within the next three to four years.

Pataki has said the state could lose up to $9 billion

in revenue over the next 18 months because of the attack. The state currently has an annual budget of about $83 billion.

The expansion plan drew criticism from traditional gambling opponents, including the state's Roman Catholic bishops.

"New York has gone over a cliff on this issue,'' said Republican state Sen. Frank Padavan.

The package calls for up to three casinos in the Niagara Falls-Buffalo region to be run by the Seneca Indians and up to three American Indian-run casinos in the Catskill mountains. Video lottery terminals also would be added at race tracks and the state would be allowed to enter the multistate Powerball lottery.

New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani had called for casino sites to be approved for New York City if they were allowed in the nearby Catskills. But Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said his fellow Democrats in the Assembly majority, most of whom come from New York City, were opposed to having casinos in the city.

"The social ills in such a compacted city as New York City would far outweigh any benefits that are received from casinos in New York City,'' he said.