Casino News Today

SAN DIEGO, Aug 04, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Viejas Casino is proud to announce they have been voted San Diego’s “Best Casino” for the 9th consecutive year according to the 2008 “San Diego’s Best” Readers Poll. Readers of the San Diego Union-Tribune newspaper voted the best that San Diego County has to offer in 99 separate categories.

“Being recognized as the best casino in San Diego County for nine years in a row is quite an accomplishment, and truly an honor,” said Viejas Tribal Chairman Bobby Barrett. “This honor reflects the hard work and dedication of our team members, who continually strive to improve the experience for our guests, providing them with the best destination in all of Southern California for entertainment, food and fun year after year.”

The architectural design of Viejas Casino acknowledges its origins on Native American soil and takes inspiration from Kumeyaay culture. Inside the casino, guests enjoy thousands of slot machines; over 80 table games such as Blackjack, Pai Gow and Baccarat; a Poker Room; an off-track betting facility; bingo hall; and six wonderful restaurants including the delicious Harvest Buffet. Viejas comes alive each night with live entertainment at one of three concert venues: the V Lounge, DreamCatcher or Concerts in the Park, featuring local, regional and national acts.

In addition to best casino, Viejas was also voted best casino dining. With six wonderful restaurants, guests are provided with an array of dinning options from the casual Mezz Deli to the elegant Grove Steakhouse and delicious Harvest Buffet. With a team of talented executive chefs, Viejas is always looking for new ways to build upon the menus, while continually maintaining quality.

“There is something for everyone at Viejas,” said Lyn Baxter, CEO. “Whether you want to spend a relaxing day shopping with the family or a fun night out with friends, Viejas has something to offer everyone, and we are always looking for ways to make our guests’ experience better. Being chosen as ‘San Diego’s Best Casino’ for nine years in a row is a tremendous compliment.”

An added bonus to guests visiting Viejas is being able to stop at Fabulous Salon and Day Spa located at the Viejas Outlet Center, also voted San Diego’s Best Spa. The spa offers full salon and spa services, and walk-ins welcome.

Viejas Casino is located directly off I-8 on Willows Road, just 35 miles east of San Diego. For more information, visit www.viejas.com or call 1-800-847-6537. Located directly across from Viejas Casino, Viejas Outlet Center features 255,000 square feet of shopping space and is home to more than 60 of America’s favorite brand name stores and eateries. For more information on Viejas Outlet Center, visit www.shopviejas.com or call 619-659-2070.

SOURCE: Viejas Casino

No Comments Yet »

Casino backers from MyOhioNow.com will submit enough signatures on Tuesday to put plans for a $600 million resort on the November ballot, those pushing the initiative said.

Rick Lertzman, who heads MyOhioNow with Brad Pressman, said the group will submit the signatures to Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner. The group will also discuss its fall campaign and disclose the final total of signatures at a media conference in downtown Columbus, he said.

Beachwood-based MyOhioNow is pushing an initiative to develop Ohio’s first gambling casino near Wilmington. The group said in June it had collected more than 400,000 signatures to bring the issue to a statewide vote.

Brunner’s office and each county’s board of elections will verify the signatures over the next several weeks, though the process length can vary, said Kevin Kidder, a media relations coordinator in Brunner’s office.

MyOhioNow’s initiative, proposed with Minneapolis-based Lakes Entertainment Inc., calls for the casino resort to be developed midway between Columbus and Cincinnati. The project would include a 220,000-square-foot casino with as many as 5,000 slot machines, 100 gaming tables and a 1,500-room hotel. The resort would be built off Interstate 71 at Route 73, in Clinton County.

Lertzman told Business Courier sister paper Columbus Business First in June that county officials and commissioners have generally supported the initiative because of the promise of economic revitalization. The group says the casino will create 5,000 jobs and would employ thousands more during construction of the project.

Ohioans on three separate occasions have signaled a distaste for gambling initiatives, defeating referendums in 1990, 1996 and 2006.

No Comments Yet »

A casino-bound tour bus collided with a tomato truck on Highway 152 in Los Banos on Sunday, leaving several passengers with minor injuries and about 25 tons of tomatoes on the highway.

California Highway Patrol officers say the bus driver may have fallen asleep behind the wheel, causing the accident. The accident was reported around 9:25 a.m. in the highway’s eastbound lanes near Volta Road.

Mike Panelli, CHP spokesman, said the collision occurred after the bus, which was carrying 30 passengers bound for Chukchansi Gold Resort and Casino, struck the right rear side of the big-rig truck.

A total of 13 passengers were injured during the accident. One was flown by helicopter to a local hospital with minor to moderate injures. The rest of the passengers were transported to local hospitals via ambulance, Panelli said.

While the damage to the bus was substantial, Panelli said no one appeared to be seriously hurt. “Based on the damage to the bus, it could have been a whole lot worse,” Panelli said.

Bus passengers told CHP officers that the driver, 32-year-old Javier Banuelos, of San Jose, appeared to be falling asleep at the wheel, causing the bus to drift into the center median, Panelli said.

Meanwhile, the tomato truck, also traveling eastbound, was slowing down to turn left onto Volta Road.

Panelli said the bus driver had swerved back into the eastbound lanes of the highway — but failed to see the tomato truck slowing down.

The accident dislodged the tomato truck’s tubs, spilling the tomatoes onto the median and one lane of the highway. The driver of the tomato truck was uninjured, and the driver of the bus received minor injuries, Panelli said.

Panelli said the bus is owned by a San Jose tour company.

Nick Carlucci, owner of Firebaugh-based Cartel Transport, said his company’s tomato truck was no more than 10 minutes away from a processing plant when the accident happened.

Carlucci said he arrived at the scene within five minutes of the accident. He reported seeing passengers with bumps and bruises and others complaining of soreness. “You could have had a catastrophe, with 30 people on that bus,” Carlucci said.

Panelli said alcohol does not appear to be a factor in the accident. The CHP closed one lane of the highway, which backed up traffic for hours. Both lanes were clear by 1 p.m.

No Comments Yet »

Employing a dealer rejected by the province and three other violations have earned Halifax’s casino operator a total of $75,000 in fines from the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board.

The board is sharply critical of the Metropolitan Entertainment Group and its parent company, Great Canadian Gaming Corp., in the decision, dated July 31.

The board even increased the fines for two of the violations from the penalty jointly recommended by the operator and the Labour Department’s alcohol and gaming division, which ensures the casino complies with provincial regulations.

The biggest fine was $25,000 for employing a part-time dealer whom the province had turned down for registration in June 2005. All “gaming assistants” must be registered with the province, but can be turned down if there’s reason to believe they might not follow the law or have withheld certain information.

The recommended fine was $10,000.

The board said the dealer in question was a part-time employee from June 2005 to Jan. 4, 2007, but was absent for at least part of that time.

The alcohol and gaming division found out she was still employed when the casino notified officials she was back at work.

“It is difficult to understand how an individual who was refused registration as a gaming assistant could be employed at the Halifax Casino for any period of time, let alone the timeframe noted above,” the decision said.

“The violation appears to be a direct result of oversight on the part of both Great Canadian, the parent company of the licensee (and as the Board understands it, an experienced casino operator with other locations in Canada), as well as MEG.”

The board said the casino operator failed to meet the important requirement that employees meet qualifications to work there. It said the registration process helps protect players from possible cheating by an employee.

The board was also concerned that the operator and Great Canadian allowed two of the parent company’s employees to audit the Halifax casino without registering with the alcohol and gaming division. The audit happened in October 2006.

“Surely, it is reasonable to expect that at least one of these parties would exercise adequate due diligence to ensure that full compliance with the regulatory requirements in Nova Scotia was achieved,” it said.

The board said that not giving notice suggested a “lack of concern, or inadequate oversight,” it said. It bumped up the proposed fine to $15,000 from $5,000.

The other violations were allowing an unregistered employee of an unregistered gaming supplier to replace a slot machine bank sign on Jan. 15, 2007, and having an unregistered employee of an unregistered supplier conduct employee training from Feb. 12-14, 2007.

The board agreed with recommended penalties on those counts of $15,000 and $20,000, respectively.

The board noted it had fined a former casino operator $15,000 and $5,000 for not registering non-gaming related suppliers in 2000 and 2004, respectively.

 djackson TheChronicleHerald.ca

No Comments Yet »