Sunday May 24th 2009

Companies may be hired to run sold-off properties

Randall Fine is busy enough right now...He knows, however, as the financially challenged casino industry weaves its way through restructuring over the next couple of years, his life may become a little more complicated...Fine, managing director of The Fine Point Group, a Las Vegas-based casino management company, took over operations of the bankrupt Greektown Casino in Detroit in January...With several casino operators already in some form of bankruptcy restructuring, and others potentially close, Fine and his competition could be called upon to operate casinos that have been pared off by debt-laden casino corporations seeking to shed assets to satisfy creditors...Greektown, the smallest of Detroit's three casinos, is owned by the Sault Tribe of Chippewa Indians and has been in bankruptcy for more than a year, owing some $777 million to creditors and lenders...Since Fine's company took over, Greektown, with 2,600 slot machines and 21 gaming tables, has grown its market share 13 percent. Monthly gaming revenues have exceeded projections, blowing past an independently prepared financial plan by 100 percent in April.

Click to read the complete article from Sunday's edition of the Las Vegas Review Journal.