On Wednesday the gaming manufacture laid off another 13 employees worldwide including some from its headquarters in Reno in the beginnings stages of a previously announced reduction of up to 10% of their workforce.

“As IGT continues to respond to the needs of the industry, the natural course of business is to seek talent that addresses our company objectives,” IGT spokeswoman Shelle Murach said. “As such, the elimination of some specific roles in our company is a response to the evolving requirements of our business.”

IGT Spokesman Ed Rogich said that the employees affected by this round of cutbacks will remain on the company’s payroll through the holidays and severance packages will begin on January 4.

“We’re trying to do this as humanely as possible so people will be paid through the holidays,” Rogich said.

Approximately 500 jobs will be eliminated under the plan that is expected to reduce cost by $100 million annually.

“We believe the opportunity will eventually present itself,” McDowell said. “We know the Nevada market.”

The state’s gaming regulators have recommended that Isle of Capri Casinos be approved for licensing that will allow them to finalize a deal to purchase less than 1% of Fernley Pioneers LLC who owns a small casino operation outside of Reno.

The deal was designed to position the company for a quick takeover of a gaming property when the “cycle turns” McDowell said. While she did not elaborate on which property they had their eye on, McDowell did tell regulators that they were a local casino operator and felt strongly that when the time was right they would return either through a purchase or management contracts.

The Gaming Control Board has given their recommendation to license Isle of Capri Casino and the Nevada Gaming Commission will vote on September 16.

Earlier this week, rumors had surfaced that the American Gaming Association and Reed Exhibitions would announce that the G2E convention would be moved to Las Vegas Sands (LVS: 30.07 +2.31%) Sands Expo Center.

On Tuesday AGA President Frank Fahrenkopf made the announcement confirming that the eleventh annual Global Gaming Expo will indeed be moved from its long time home at the Las Vegas Convention Center to the Sands Expo Center at the Venetian Resort and Casino.

The event will also be held on an earlier date, Fahrenkopf said that at the request of many of the casino operators and game manufactures that attend the event, next year’s Expo will be held in October instead of November.

“Our operators need to make budget decisions and their budgeting had usually already been done by November,” Fahrenkopf said, “We think this move will help those decision makers plan for the year ahead.”

AGA has entered into a three year contract with Las Vegas Sands to host the event.

The two were arrested last Friday evening after police pulled over their vehicle outside of Wynn Las Vegas Resort and Casino after allegedly leaving the nightclub and according to the reports police noticed the vehicle smelled of marijuana.

Wynn has a strict no tolerance policy and announced Wednesday that Cy Waits, the new managing partner of Wynn’s nightclub operations at both Tryst and XS has been “separated” from the company following his arrest for suspicion of misdemeanor driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

Wynn also released a press statement on Wednesday stating that drugs will not be tolerated and Socialite Paris Hilton had been banned from both Wynn Las Vegas and Wynn Encore following her arrest inside the Resort. While Hilton is claiming her innocence she was charged with felony cocaine possession.

A public input hearing on the plans for the Category III gaming license is scheduled for September 2.

This will be the second attempt to bring a resort casino to the 80 years old property. Two years ago the resorts owners attempted to win approval for a gaming license but was dismissed over the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board’s concerns over Bushkill’s financial strength.

In this round, Bushkill has partnered with Penn National Gaming who has agreed in April to finance, develop and manage the casino if approved by the Board.

“We believe our proven record as operators of a successful resort with the addition of expertise by Penn National in gaming, will allow us to out perform the other applicants in Gaming Revenue and tax revenue to the state.,” said Bushkill Group spokeswomen Gina Bertucci.

Bushkill and Penn National are one of four applicants vying for the remaining license. Penn National Gaming also has a management contract with the Mason- Dixon Resort & Casino competing for the same license.

For the past eight years, Ameristar has uses Aristocrats Oasis system to support more than 11,000 gaming offerings at its casino properties throughout Colorado, Iowa, Mississippi, Missouri and Nevada.

Oasis provides the casinos with accounting, marketing, messaging and player account managing tools.

“We carefully scrutinized every major system available, with the goal of finding the system that best suited our extensive marketing goals. We chose to stay with Aristocrat because we believe the Oasis 360 system is extremely powerful and Aristocrat’s future development path is aligned with our corporate initiatives,” said Sheleen Quish, CIO of Ameristar.

Aristocrat President Nick Khin responded, “This was an exceptionally challenging RFP process in which we were battling head-to-head against every other major supplier’s system. We are absolutely thrilled that Ameristar, with every choice available to it, chose to continue our eight-year partnership.”

The first fiscal quarter for the regional casino operator proved to be a bad one, with a loss of $2.66 million or $0.08 a share.

Wall Street analysts’ on average were anticipating earnings of $0.12 per share on revenue of $262.50 million.

Net revenue for Isle’s first quarter reached only $251.92 down from $257.91 million in the previous year.

Despite the steep loss chairman and chief executive officer, James B. Perry said, “I believe we achieved solid performance by taking steps to maintain profitability in the midst of poor economic conditions that impacted regional gaming markets across the country during the quarter.”

Perry reiterated the company’s commitment to improving margins, “We are currently engaged in competitive bid processes for projects in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, and at the Nemacolin Woodlands Resort in Fayette County, Pennsylvania. Both of these licenses should be awarded by the end of the year, and we are actively exploring opportunities in other jurisdictions to increase and diversify cash flows.”

Shares of ISLE had fallen to $7.59 in the morning hours, down 14.43% from the previous closing price of $8.87.

The prestigious honor was awarded by Meetings and Conventions magazine for 2010 based on voter’s experiences.

The Venetian is the only property in Las Vegas to consistently receive the “elite” status over the past five years; the Venetian has won the Gold Key award eleven years in a row and the Gold Platter award nine years in a row.

The Gold Key award recognizes the property for staff attitude, quality of meeting rooms, quality of guest services, quality of food and beverage service, proficiency of handling reservations, technical/support equipment and range of recreational facilities, while the Gold Platter award recognizes the resorts catering department for excellence displayed in creativity and culinary experience through staff enthusiasm and professionalism, quality of food presentation, creativity of menu, originality of theme-party concepts, helpfulness and budgeting considerations, excellence of staff service and dining room ambiance.

“This is quite an achievement to be among the top five properties with the ‘Elite’ status in both the Gold Key and Gold Platter categories,” stated Gary L. McCreary, vice president of Catering and Convention Operations for The Venetian. “Our team strives for excellence and this award is a testament to that commitment.”

According to news reports, Marcus Jordan indicated on the social network site that he had spent $35 thousand at Haze, a nightclub at the Aria Resorts and Casino inside MGM’s CityCenter complex.

Marcus and his brother Jeffery were in town with their Father Michael Jordon who was hosting a fantasy basketball camp at the Mirage.

Alan Feldman a spokesman for MGM acknowledged the incident and said that they were looking into the matter.

The Nevada Gaming Control Board is also reportedly looking into the matter. Board member Randall Sayre said that MGM had reported the incident and was trying to determine “where the system broke down”.

Sayre added that they expected a full report to be turned in within the next two weeks.

State lawmakers set a minority inclusion goal of 25% for the Cecil County facility that will become Maryland’s first casino to open since gambling was legalized. However state officials have said that according to reports filed by the Hollywood Casino Perryville only 18% of minority-owned firms have been hired to work on the project.

A spokesman for Penn National Gaming, Eric Schippers, responded to the report by saying that they have actually reached a 22% inclusion rate but that the state has not been given updated numbers yet.

Schippers said that Penn National has not met the goal yet because of restrictions the state had placed on the selection of software firms used to program the 1,500 slot machines.

With another 3% to go and only a few short weeks, Schippers said that they are “working very aggressively to meet the goal.”

According to regulatory filing on Friday, Brackenbury will be resigning from his posts on the casino operators Board of Directors and stock option and compensation committee effective October 5 following the annual 2010 meeting.

Brackenbury has held his potions with Isle of Capri Casinos and its U.K. subsidiaries since January 2004 but informed Isle last week that he would not stand for re-election at the stockholders meeting on October 5. At age 72, Brackenbury will be retiring.

Over the past six years with Isle, Brackenbury has had an active role in Isle of Capri UK Holdings, Inc which sold its casino operation in the Ricoh Arena of Coventry last April.

Isle of Capri Casinos has expressed their appreciation for Brackenbury’s service.

Wynn Resorts was reported to have bought out managing partner Victor Drai from their nightclub venues last week as Drai prepares to take over nightclub operations at rival Harrah’s Entertainment. Waits and his brother were both appointed as Chiefs of Operations to head Tryst at Wynn Las Vegas and XS at Encore.

Wynn Resorts was said to have a “zero-tolerance policy” which would have been the reasons behind the firing of Cy Waits after being arrested Friday night with girlfriend Paris Hilton on charges of Driving under the Influence of Alcohol and Drugs.

Wynn’s spokeswomen Jennifer Dunne said that Wynn was not prepared to comment on the arrests or the future of Waits in their organization at this time.

Dunne said that the matter was under review and that a statement would be released at a later date.

With the addition of table games in operation for just under two weeks during the month, the Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem accounted for approximately $1.6 million of the total table game revenue generated by the state.

On July 18, 2010 the one year old casino added 89 table games including poker, blackjack, roulette and craps to its already profitable 3,000 slot machine casino that was opened in late May 2009.

For the month of July, Sands reported that its total gaming revenue was up 25% from June.

The state’s nine casinos brought in more than $17.5 million in gaming revenue for the month with approximately $350,000 going to local governments and $2 million to the state.

This week both the Taj Mahal and the famous White House Sub Shop announced that they have entered into an agreement to open a second location within the resort.

“We’ve been approached numerous times by other casinos to bring our product into their venues,” commented Mary (Sacco) Conley, owner of White House Sub Shop. “The timing is right and the opportunity to open our second location at Trump Taj Mahal Hotel and Casino seems a natural fit–pairing two Atlantic City icons together in one location.”

The White House Sub Shop has been in operation since 1946 and has attracted its share of celebrity patrons over the years.

“The White House Sub Shop is an Atlantic City favorite,” said Mark Juliano, CEO, Trump Entertainment Resorts. “We are all excited to have this opportunity to bring this venue in to share with our guests and give them a taste of Atlantic City’s history and world-famous subs.”

Boyd Gaming is allowing B Connected and Prime Rewards card holders the chance to win $30,000 in prize money each week in Las Vegas’ longest running football contest.

There are no accumulated points and each week the contest starts anew, meaning locals and out of town guest can equally participate and increase their winnings with multiple weeks of participation.

The total prize pool for the Pick the Pros contest running throughout the 2010 regular professional football season from September 12, 2010 through January 2, 2011 is $500,000.

Registration is free and participants will pick only a straight up or down winner for each professional game. The hire the cardholder ranks the more free entries they will receive each week.

The top prize will be awarded to the member with the best outcome on the their picks with a grand weekly prize of $10,000 and an additional $20,000 split between all top players on a weekly basis.

Penn National has been chosen as an investor and operator of the proposed $75 million Mason Dixon Resort & Casino in Cumberland Township and has filed a petition with gaming regulators that a rival proposal does not meet the necessary criteria for the license.

Penn said that the proposal submitted by Penn Harris Gaming to develop a resort casino at the Holiday Inn Mechanicsburg “fails to meet the standard for year-round amenities” and does not meet the minimum requirement of at least 275 rooms.

Penn Harris Gaming has proposed using an RV lot to supplement the lack of rooms at the 239 room hotel.

Penn National also cited the hotel sites proximity to their Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course, which is approximately 20 miles away.

More than 1,500 guests were evacuated from the resorts five pools and more than 100 reported having breathing problems after a valve controlling the flow of sodium hypochlorite to the lazy river malfunctioned and did not shut off properly.

Staff members were alerted of the problem shortly after 1 pm when guest started complaining of difficulty breathing, they were immediately evacuated and 10 ambulances and the hazmat team responded.

Richard Brenner hazardous materials coordinator with the Clark County Fire Department said that the chemical went into the water and fumes in the air had made guests sick but expected them all to be ok.

While the leak only affected the lazy river pool, all of the resorts five pools were closed to error on the side of caution.

After approximately three hours the water was tested and determined to be safe and hazmat crews allowed the pools to be reopened at approximately 4:30 pm.

In 2007, Joe Francis lost $2.8 million at the casino and had only repaid $800,000. The lack of payment prompted a 2008 lawsuit by Wynn Resorts. Over the years Francis and casino owner Steve Wynn have battled back and forth in court over claims of intimidation, threats of violence and slander.

Last year a Judge ruled that Francis was responsible for the debt, a ruling that he has appealed.

The new case claims that Francis had a deal with the casino that included a discount on gambling losses, however the casino is not applying that agreement to the $2 million debt.

Court documents say that Francis was not informed that the high roller discount had been rescinded and is asking the court to force Wynn Las Vegas to uphold the agreement that would discount his debt.

The Global Gaming Expo is expected to unveil plans for “significant changes” to next year’s event on Tuesday.

The casino industry’s largest annual trade show and conference where gaming developers unveil their newest product lines is now in its 10th year and will be held between November 15 and November 18 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, however next year the event may be moving to the Sands Expo Center.

News reports are saying that Tuesday’s news conference will be given by American Gaming Association President Frank Fahrenkopf Jr., Reed Exhibitions Senior Vice President Courtney Muller, Bally Technologies Chief Executive Officer and the gaming association’s vice chairman Richard Haddrill as well as Las Vegas Corp. President Michael Leven.

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off includes movie clips and special features based on scenes from the cult classic where the player can Fake the Parents and Kick the Car.

Conan the Barbarian is the latest addition in the Crazy Jackpot series with a unique special feature that lets the player choose the speed of the spin.

Rickety Cricket is a fun 3D animation game with five reels, grassy landscape and critters while Cash and Clovers features crazy leprechauns.

The newest game in the DC Comic’s line is Green Lantern featuring animated battles that pay out based on the outcome.

Two of the newest game offerings cater to the Football fan; Football Frenzy allows the player can choose one of 8 national teams to play for. With Striker Fortune pays out based on the advantage over the opponent team.

Vegas Three Card Rummy features a poker variation of the traditional Gin Rummy game while Bonus Deuces Wild Bonus Video Poker offers a progressive jackpot and OverPoker allows the player to control cards and hands played.