Today, Century announced that they have entered into a long term deal with Windstar Cruises, a division of Ambassadors International Cruise Group LLC to serve as the exclusive casino operator aboard the vessels.

While terms and the length of the deal were not disclosed the company said, they will run casinos on all of Windstar’s existing ships as well as those put into service over the course of the agreement.

Gambling venues on the Wind Surf, Wind Star and Wind Spirit ships will join those on board the Silver Cloud, a cruise ship of Silversea Cruises; the Mein Schiff, a cruise ship of TUI Cruises, and all vessels of Oceania Cruises as a part of Century Casinos operations.

As part of Bally’s partnership with the Nevada Cancer Institute (NVCI), they will sponsor a “Cash Spin for Charity” program to be aired live on FOX5’s MORE celebrity, lifestyle, and entertainment show weekdays at 9 a.m. and 4 p.m.

During the broadcast, a guest on the show will take part in the Cash for Spin Charity segment and spin the virtual wheel on Bally’s award-winning new Cash Spin(TM) slot machine.

“This is a very exciting new way to elevate our partnership with NVCI and help Nevada Cancer get more exposure in the community about its important mission of providing cancer research, education, early detection, prevention, and high-quality patient care,” said Richard Haddrill, Chief Executive Officer of Bally Technologies. “By incorporating the entertainment value of our spinning-wheel slot machines with celebrity guests, we will be able to raise awareness about a very serious issue for many Nevadans.”

Bally will donate whatever amount the wheel lands on to NVCI.

“Nevada Cancer Institute applauds Bally Technologies for thinking of such an innovative way to support the fight against cancer,” said Dr. John C. Ruckdeschel, Director and Chief Executive Officer of NVCI and the Murren Family Distinguished Director’s Chair. “We sincerely appreciate their partnership and efforts to make Nevada a healthier place to live.”

The Bally Technologies gaming machine featured in the program is Cash Spin, the industry’s only slot machine to feature U-Spin(TM) gesture-control technology that senses both the pressure and speed of a person’s hand gestures as they spin the virtual wheel on the special touch-enabled LCD.

Cash Spin is expected to debut in Nevada casinos next month.

Under the terms of the credit amendment entered into last month, MGM used the funds raised to prepay approximately $820 million in loans as well as related fees and expenses.

The prepayment allowed the gaming company to meet a required 20% reduction to credit exposure of lenders as well as restate a senior credit agreement extending $3.6 billion worth of the debt to February 2014.

Over all the casino operator owes approximately $13 billion in debt.

The secured notes due 2020 are secured by a mortgage on the MGM Grand Las Vegas and substantially all existing and future properties owned by MGM Grand Hotel, LLC and a pledge of the limited liability company interest in MGM Grand Hotel, LLC.

The measure initiated by Black Bear, the developers of the Four Seasons Resort prohibit new gambling facilities within 100 miles of the site as well as forces Penn’s casino Hollywood Slots to obtain voter approval to add table games and changes the formula for divvying up tax revenues from the casino.

“This places us at a great competitive disadvantage,” said John Osborne, general manager at Hollywood Slots.

However the Tribes proposal, which is still being developed seeks voter authorization for both the Black Bear project and a racing casino owned by the tribe, as well as the addition of table games at the Hollywood Slots in Bangor.

Osborne said that Penn is “open to all options” on the competing measure.

The casino operator will team with U.S. Green Building Council officials to unveil the sustainable development program at the Venetian Resort and Sands Expo and Convention Center in Las Vegas this week.

When the program kicks off, the Venetian will be awarded a gold EB certification under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system.

The gaming company has already been awarded the “silver NC” certification for the Sands’ Palazzo Las Vegas Resort.

With the new award the two resorts and the expo hall will become the largest contiguous LEED-certified building in the world.

The gaming venue is a 50-50 venture between MGM Mirage and Boyd Gaming, who have the first right of refusal regarding the new owners.

Under the terms of the settlement, MGM will place its interest in the property and related land in a divestiture trust; however they will remain the sole beneficiary.

The settlement mandates the sale of the trust within 30 months.

The settlement is a response to the agencies recommendation that MGM Mirage sever ties with their Macau partner in order to hold on to their New Jersey gaming license.

Last year that recommendation was made in a confidential report that was made public on Wednesday.

The report alleged that Pansy Ho’s relationship and financial ties to her father, as well as “her associations with persons alleged to be associated with organized crime render her susceptible to influence by unsuitable persons” and that MGM’s conduct in pursuing and consummating the Macau joint venture “raises concerns about its commitment to corporate regulatory integrity.”

Chief Executive Jim Murren responded to the report by saying “The DGE’s (Division of Gaming Enforcement) report acknowledges there is no evidence that Pansy Ho has engaged in any wrongdoing or been accused of any illegal activity.”

“The results weren’t good, but they weren’t as bad as expected,” KeyBanc analyst Dennis Forst said.

Pinnacle owns three Louisiana casinos where combined year over year revenue remained flat in February, better than the 9% slide in January, 7% decline in December and 18% drop in November.

A company spokeswoman commented that Pinnacle owns the only two riverboat operations that posted month over month increases for the month.

Boomtown Bossier Casino reported a 5.8% increase while L’Auberge Du Lac increases by 2.1%.

Shares of PNK climbed 6% during trading today to $9.23. Pinnacle stock has climbed 31% over the past 12 months.

In other Pinnacle news, the casino operator has withdrawn their participation in the JPMorgan Chase & Co Management Access Forum in Las Vegas, although they declined to comment on a reason.

Today the global developer of online betting games and internet casino software signed a new multi-year deal with William Hill PLC to license a suite of at least 10 branded casino games including Bejeweled, Cubis, King Kong and Millionaires Club.

Nine games have already been launched on www.williamhill.com with another expected in the coming weeks.

William Hills Site will deploy CryptoLogic’s games through a technology platform provided by Orbis technology.

CryptoLogic will receive recurring revenues based on wagers placed by William Hill’s customers.

Brian Hadfield, President and CEO of CryptoLogic, said, “This deal reaffirms our excellent relationship with William Hill, one of the most respected names in the gaming industry. The rapid roll out of our branded games by William Hill demonstrates the popularity of our games with their customers and the value we bring to our licensees.”

Eight months after opening the $336 million gambling and entertainment venue, Penn says they will spend another $12 million this year to upgrade its offerings.

“We’re not taking a backseat, we’re positioning the casino to compete,” said Hollywood’s General manager Tony Rodio.

The casinos new offerings are a part of the company’s plans to build a loyal customer base.

The re-branded offerings are expected to begin opening in April and continue until 2011, with the opening of an expanded steakhouse and lounge opening on April 3. A 70s-80s club licensed from an Atlantic City nightclub is expected to open later in the month.

On July 1, the Chart Room will be rebranded to a mid priced restaurant and a coffeehouse will replace the deli.

Not only are dinning and nightlife offerings being upgraded in the casinos pavilion area but the Hollywood theme is expected to be expanded from the riverboat onto the common areas to alter the ambiance.

The S&P is currently trading 1.2% higher to 1,164 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average is trading 0.7% higher to 10,715.

With LVS stock posting a return of 19.33% since the February 17 earnings announcement, the gaming company has out gained rival Wynn Resorts and beat rival MGM’s price performance over the past month.

In fact Sands has outperformed the industry as a whole 26.09% since the earnings announcement with the Resort and Casino market seeing a combined 15.33% gain.

Tuesday saw Sands as the focus of some brisk options trading with more than 110,400 contracts changing hands. The surge in volume was more than double the stock’s daily trading volume of 54,834 contracts.

Sands also saw 74% of the volume on the call side, crossing the tape.

On November 09, 2009 SmarTrend identified an uptrend for the gaming giant with stock prices reaching $63.34 and over the past four months, Wynn has returned 12.6% as of today’s recent price.

Wynn Resorts has the second highest cash flow per share in the Resorts & Casino market with cash flow of $3.80 per share for the last year.

Wynn’s cash and short term investment reached $16.16 per share at the end of the last fiscal quarter.

Tuesday saw option players buying up bullish bets at a faster pass than normal, with 12,000 calls crossing the tape. Double the equity’s expected daily call volume.

With March dated options expiring after the market closes on Friday, the March 75 call saw the highest traffic with 4,136 calls.

By buying these options, traders are betting on Wynn to exceed the 75 strike by expiration on Friday.

Shares of Wynn are currently trading around the $74.32 area, above its 50 day moving average of $65.45 and above its 200 day moving average of $57.58.

Bible was elected to the board during the March 8, 2010 board meeting.

The casino operator said that Bible will resign from his role as President of the tourism lobbying group Nevada Resort Association effective immediately to avoid any conflict of interest.

Resort Association Chairman Keith Smith said Bible will be leaving immediately but will assist in the transition to name his replacement.

Bible has headed the group for more than a decade and previously served as chairman of the Nevada State Gaming Control Board as well as several other positions in state government organizations.

Bible’s appointment is subject to regulatory approval.

“Bill’s wealth of expertise and familiarity with a wide range of financial and regulatory matters in both hospitality and gaming will serve as a tremendous asset to our company,” MGM Mirage Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jim Murren said in a statement Tuesday.

According to the agreement both parties will jointly fund publicity and promotional activities targeting trade partners, international media and overseas markets.

Marina Bay Sands President and Chief Executive Officer Mr. Thomas Arasi said, “Marina Bay Sands will deliver once-in-a-lifetime experiences to visitors from all over the world. We’re excited about our partnership with Singapore Airlines which brings together two premium, iconic brands synonymous with the Singapore brand and symbolic of the country’s tourism industry.”

Marina Bay Sands will also join the list of hotels available under the airlines Singapore Stopover Holidays program, offering overseas customers special accommodation rates, complimentary airport-hotel transfers, as well as discounts on shopping, dining and selected attractions in Singapore.

“With its central location, extensive entertainment offerings and state-of-the-art facilities, Marina Bay Sands is set to become an iconic landmark and attraction for tourists visiting Singapore. We are pleased to be working with this integrated resort to promote Singapore as a major convention and tourist destination, and Singapore Airlines as the carrier of choice for overseas visitors,” said Mr. Huang Cheng Eng, Singapore Airlines’ Executive Vice President Marketing and the Regions.

The prestigious title was awarded MGM after being ranked by their industry peers for social responsibility, product quality and global competitiveness.

MGM is one of only two gaming companies to make the cut this year, but marks the ninth year being named.

“We are pleased to be recognized by our business peers as one of the leading companies in the hospitality industry,” said James J. Murren, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of MGM MIRAGE. “Our ranking is testament to all of the hard work that our 62,000 employees do each day to ensure that we consistently deliver the highest quality products to each and every customer.”

Shares of MGM Mirage decreased 3.56% to $11.38 on 18.13 million shares yesterday, after the company which owns the City Center project in partnership with Dubai World, disclosed the threatened mechanics’ lien in a filing to U.S. regulators on Friday.

While analyst polled by Reuters expected the gaming company to report a loss of $0.01 per share for the quarter, the net loss came in at $7.63 million or $0.32 per share, compared to $0.68 million or $0.03 per share in the previous year.

Operating loss from continuing operations increased to $9 million compared to losses of $0.6 million in the fourth quarter 2008.

Century wrote-down $9 million during the quarter on Casinos Poland to bring the value of the Company’s investment in CPL in line with management’s estimate of CPL’s fair market value based on expectations of CPL’s future cash flows.

Future Cash flow of the Polish operations have suffered a decline in value primarily due to an increase in gaming tax rates from 45% to 50% and the expectation that all slot arcades will be required to cease operations at the end of their current license period.

During the fourth quarter of 2009, the Company recorded a gain of $1.6 million that was previously deferred from the disposition of its South African casinos (CCA).

With the proceeds from the sale of CCA, the Company repaid approximately $15.9 million in third party debt in Colorado and purchased the Silver Dollar Casino in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

In conjunction with the repayment of the third party debt in Colorado, the Company wrote off approximately $1.0 million in deferred finance charges.

Today, Anthony M. Sanfilippo will take on the role effective immediately as well as join the casino operator’s board of directors.

Sanfilippo joins Pinnacle from Multimedia Games Inc, where he served in similar roles and has also has managed and developed gaming operations in Louisiana, Missouri, Indiana and Nevada.

Sanfilippo has been given options to buy 650,000 shares of the company, the options will vest over five years and have a 10-year term. Today he has announced that he will exercise his option to purchase 125,000 shares at Friday’s closing price of $8.64 per share.

Pinnacle stated that most of Sanfilippo’s compensation will be tied to the company’s future performance.

Last November John Giovenco took over the role as interim CEO after the resignation of Daniel R. Lee following an investigation by the Missouri Gaming Commission for a confrontation with a St. Louis County councilman. Lee was later cleared of wrong doing.

Giovenco will continue to serve on Pinnacle’s board of directors.

Richard J. Goeglein, who had been appointed as interim non-executive chairman, will take the post permanently.

Last fall, Centaur LLC filed bankruptcy to restructure the company and protect the $50 million it has set aside to pay for the slots license.

Centaur is going through “a corporate restructuring, but we remain fully committed to the project,” spokeswoman Susan Kilkenny said last week. The financial restructuring “will help clear the path to make the project a reality.”

However if Penn is to become an investor, under a 2004 state law they can have no more than a 33% stake in the casino because they own 100% of a racino in Harrisburg.

When asked about a possible investment Eric Schippers, a spokesman for Penn said that he could not commit “on market speculation or new business opportunities we may or may not be pursuing.”

The primary general contractor, Perini Building has notified City Center’s co owners MGM Mirage and Dubai World of their intent to file a mechanics lien for $492 million for unpaid construction fees.

However the casino operator claims that the contractor has not been paid due to construction defects in the projects Harmon Tower.

An investigating is being conducted to determine the amount the contractor should be liable for.

“City Center believes that its actual obligation to the general contractor is substantially less than the amount claimed and that it is also entitled to significant offsets against the claimed amount,” MGM said in its filing.

During construction of the Harmon Tower, it was discovered that reinforcing bars had been improperly installed on some floors, resulting in the tower being reduced from the original 49 story plan. The Tower remains unopened as construction has not been resumed.

MGM stated that the indent to pursue all of their rights and remedies, including arbitration.

In the meantime, a six month amendment to the company’s credit facility has been obtained to cover the amount of the threatened liens.

On Wednesday executives representing the casino operator and the Missouri Gaming Commission announced that Pinnacle will voluntarily surrender its gaming license for the President casino on the aging Admiral riverboat, on July 1, 2010.

John V. Giovenco, interim CEO for Las Vegas-based Pinnacle, said in a statement that it was “in the best interests of our shareholders and our company to settle this issue. We intend to focus on maximizing shareholder value at Lumiere Place and our new River City Casino.”

The Gaming Commission agreed to let Pinnacle surrender the license under an agreement that states that Pinnacle would not be considered “unsuitable”, that disciplinary actions would be dropped and that Pinnacle’s other gaming licenses would not be affected, leaving the door open for future bids to be made.

An earlier investigation resulted in the DGE recommending that the Casino Control Commission direct the company to disengage itself from any business association with its Macau partner after finding Pansey Ho to be an unsuitable partner.

“We have the utmost respect for the DGE but disagree with its assessment of our partner in Macau,” said Jim Murren, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “Regulators in other jurisdictions in which we operate casinos have thoroughly considered this matter and all of them have either determined that the relationship is appropriate or have decided that further action is not necessary. Since the DGE takes a different view, we believe that the best course of action for our company and its shareholders is to settle this matter and move forward with the compelling growth opportunities we have in Macau.”

The settlement is subject to approval by the New Jersey Casino Control Commission who is expected to hold a hearing on the matter on March 17, 2010.

If the settlement is approved, MGM will cease doing business as a gaming license in New Jersey.

MGM’s 50% interest in the property and leased land will be placed in a divestiture trust, to be sold within a 30 month period.

MGM MIRAGE will be the sole economic beneficiary of the trust and will be permitted to reapply for a New Jersey gaming license beginning 30 months after the completion of the sale.