Since the recession, Las Vegas’ fortunes have dipped lower than most other US cities. This all culminated in unemployment hitting a record low in Nevada and came after they’d already been surpassed as the world’s casino capital by Macau. It’s all looking up now though.
The Nevada Gaming Control Board already reported that gambling revenue was up by 21% in June and now Harrah’s have announced an IPO in order to finish their projects in Vegas and Ohio. It’s hoped that it will raise Harrah’s up to $575m to fund the projects and provide them with some much needed wonga. The floatation will also include the shares bought by the Paulson & Co. hedge fund back in June, which they had already announced would be up for sale.
Having been the top spending company on gambling lobbying at federal level during Q2 2010, Harrah’s seemingly need all the money they can get. We’d better not mention the fact that on a federal level online gambling is unlikely to see much of a future for a few years at least. Add to the fact that they’ve now entered the public domain instead of staying public and it’s quite some mess indeed. Saying this though they are on American soil and you’d think would have an advantage when any legislation does go through government.
