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(you know things are bad when they shut down stateline/prim....wonders if the entire (whoops one casino) town of Jean will shut down as well.)

Primm hotel closes rooms during midweek
By Richard N. Velotta
Thu, Oct 30, 2008 (12:46 p.m.)

Sun archives

Headlines from the Vegas gaming industry
The company that operates three hotels in Primm has stopped taking midweek reservations at Buffalo Bill’s in an apparent effort to reduce room capacity and associated expenses.

Representatives of Las Vegas-based Herbst Gaming could not be reached to explain the closure of their Terrible’s-branded hotel Monday through Thursday evenings.

Reservations can be made at Buffalo Bill’s Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights and rooms are available at the two other Terrible’s Primm Valley Casino Resorts, Whiskey Pete’s and Primm Valley. The property’s casino and restaurants are open.

The company’s Web site lists midweek nights at Buffalo Bill’s through December as “sold out,” but customers are able to book rooms in January.

During slow booking periods, hotels occasionally close wings or floors of hotel rooms, but the Herbst move is believed to be the first instance in Southern Nevada in which an entire hotel was closed to reduce capacity.

In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing in August, Herbst Gaming said it was possible the company would seek bankruptcy protection if it could not refinance or restructure its debt. The company incurred that debt when, in 2007, it acquired the Primm resorts from MGM Mirage for $394 million and Sands Regent in Northern Nevada for $149 million.

***if you have stock in Herbst I would think about doing something with it fairly soon***

One wonders how much more tighter slots are going to get. 


Herbst Gaming talking restructuring

By HOWARD STUTZ
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Herbst Gaming said late Thursday it is discussing a restructuring agreement with its lenders after missing a $5.1 million interest payment earlier in the week.

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the locals gaming company also extended its forbearance and standstill agreement with its banks until Feb. 2 in an effort to restructure $846.8 million in debt.

Meanwhile, Herbst Gaming said it lost $101.2 million in the first nine months of 2008, compared with a net loss of $34.1 million for the same period a year earlier.

Herbst, which is privately held by brothers Ed, Tim and Troy Herbst but has public debt, operates 15 casinos in Nevada and the Midwest and a 7,200-slot machine route operation.

In March, the company said it was facing bankruptcy unless it could restructure its debt. Negotiation deadlines have been extended several times this year.

Gaming analysts expect the company to file bankruptcy, or possibly, a prepackaged bankruptcy in which the Herbst brothers would give up control over parts of the business.

Herbst grew significantly in 2007, acquiring casinos in Northern Nevada and completing a $394 million purchase of the three Primm Casinos from MGM Mirage. Also, the company finished an expansion to its Terrible's Casino on East Flamingo Road.

However, the company's gaming revenues were ravaged by a statewide voter-enacted ban on smoking in restaurants and taverns. Herbst's slot route operations lost business; through September, revenues from routes were $186.9 million, down 12 percent compared with $212.5 million for the first nine months of 2007.

The company's casino operations in Primm were hurt this year because high gasoline prices kept visitors from Southern California from making the drive on Interstate 15. Still casino revenues companywide have increased 4 percent in the first nine months of the year.

The company's nine-month loss stems from an operating loss of $16.7 million and interest expenses of $85.3 million.

Contact reporter Howard Stutz at hstutz@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3871.


Moderator removed the duplicate text (double paste) :71- Thanks for posting the articles DDDlx. :89-