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| * April 2007 - Harrah's makes ] its exclusive provider of automated poker tables at Harrah's casinos.{{Fact|date=August 2007}} | * April 2007 - Harrah's makes ] its exclusive provider of automated poker tables at Harrah's casinos.{{Fact|date=August 2007}} | ||
| ==Critics== | |||
| Table Games experts routinely criticize Harrah's and its properties, especially in Las Vegas, for offering the worst player odds on all games, especially ] and ]. | |||
| Harrah's is one of the largest purveyors of 6:5 blackjack games and over 95% of Harrah's blackjack tables in Las Vegas have the unfavorable rule where the dealer must hit Soft 17.<ref>* | |||
| * </ref> | |||
| Harrah's also offers less favorable odds on proposition craps bets in their Las Vegas properties, paying Double on the 12 in the Field instead of Triple and charging a higher vigorish on hardways, craps, and elevens. | |||
| ==Casinos== | ==Casinos== | ||
Revision as of 20:14, 4 November 2007
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| File:Harrahs logo.jpg | |
| Company type | Public (NYSE: HET) |
|---|---|
| Industry | Entertainment & Hospitality |
| Founded | Reno, Nevada (1937) |
| Headquarters | Las Vegas, Nevada |
| Key people | Gary Loveman, CEO Charles L. Atwood, CFO |
| Products | Casino Games Resorts |
| Revenue |  $7.11 billion USD (2005) |
| Number of employees | 85,000 (2005) |
| Website | www.harrahs.com |
Harrah's Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE: HET) is a gaming corporation that owns and operates casinos, hotels, and six golf courses under several brands. The company, based in Las Vegas, Nevada, is the largest gaming company in the world, with yearly revenues around $7.11 billion.
On December 19, 2006, the company's board of directors voted to accept a buyout offer from Apollo Management and Texas Pacific Group for $17 billion, or $90-per-share. The corporation's shareholders approved the proposed buyout in April, 2007. Approval by regulators is needed before buyout is complete.
History
Beginnings (1937-1978)
- The company known as Harrah's Entertainment was founded on October 30, 1937 as a small bingo parlor in Reno, Nevada operated by William F. Harrah.
- 1971 - Harrah's begins public trading with 450,000 shares.
- 1972 - the company is listed on the American Stock Exchange.
- 1973 - Harrah's is the first casino company listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
- June 1978 - Company founder William F. Harrah dies.
1980-current
- February 1980 - Holiday Inns, Inc. acquires Harrah's Las Vegas. Holiday Inn at the time had 1,600 hotels and interests in two casinos, a casino under construction in the marina district in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and a 40 percent ownership interest in River Boat Casino, Inc., a casino adjacent to the Holiday Inn hotel on the Las Vegas Strip.
- 1988 - Harrah's Laughlin opens.
- 1991 - Company headquarters moved from Reno to Memphis, Tennessee
- 1992 - Holiday Las Vegas converted to Harrah's.
- May 1993 - Harrah's Joliet opens.
- November 1993 - Harrah's Vicksburg opens.
- December 1993 - Harrah's Tunica opens.
- April 1994 Harrah's Shreveport, opens..
- October 1997 - Harrah's completes $200 million expansion to Las Vegas.
- On January 1, 1999 Harrah's closed the purchase of the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino and Rio Secco Golf course for $888 million.
- 1999 - The company moves its headquarters from Memphis, Tennessee to Las Vegas.
- June 2003 - Sold Harrah's Vicksburg.
- March 2004 - Harrah's purchased Binion's Horseshoe. On March 11, 2004, Harrah's sold Binion's Horseshoe to MTR Gaming Group retaining the rights to the Horsehoe brand and the World Series of Poker. Later in 2004, Harrah's closed on the purchase of Horseshoe Gaming Holding Corporation.
- June 2005 - On June 13, 2005 Harrah's completed the takeover of Caesars Entertainment. While the companies were not required to divest any properties, they did sell several properties before the merger was completed. This merger made Harrah's the largest gambling company with over 4 million square feet (370,000 m²) of casinos, almost 100,000 employees and over 40 casinos.
- June 2005 - At the end of June 2005, Harrah's Entertainment CEO Gary Loveman announced that the company will consolidate all their brand names under the following: Harrah's, Rio, Caesars, and Horseshoe. Some stand alone names, like Paris Las Vegas are likely to be retained. First up will be the rebranding of the two remaining Bally's properties in the company, but Loveman did not give any exact specifics or a time line of when this will occur.
- August 2005 - Harrah's New Orleans, Grand Casino Biloxi, and Grand Casino Gulfport were closed because of Hurricane Katrina. The Grand's location was largely destroyed, with all of the barge-based buildings containing their gaming areas being torn from their moorings and blown across U.S. Highway 90.
- September 2005 - Harrah's Pride of Lake Charles was severely damaged by Hurricane Rita. One riverboat was pushed completely onshore, and the other is at the Port of Lake Charles awaiting repairs. All of the restaurants and support buildings were destroyed. Harrah's estimates that the rebuilding will take 2 years.
- November 2005 - On November 29, 2005 Harrah's Entertainment announced plans to sell the Flamingo Laughlin to AREP Boardwalk Properties LLC. The $170 million sale closed on May 19, 2006. As a condition of the sale, the property is to be renamed the Aquarius within 6 months.
- December 2005 - On December 12, 2005, a sale of the Grand Casino Gulfport, for an undisclosed amount, to Gulfside Casino Partnership was announced. Gulfside is the owner of the Copa Casino which is next to the Grand Casino. The announcement also stated that the Grand Casino Biloxi is to be rebuilt from scratch as a Horseshoe casino. Harrah's New Orleans, which didn't receive much damage from the storm, reopened on February 17, 2006 with approximately half of the employees it had before the hurricane.
- April 2006 - On April 23, 2006 a scavenger hunt style promotion called "Treasure Hunt" ended when an accident seriously hurt one employee and tourist, and killed one tourist. The accident happened when a robbery suspect fleeing police hit a mini-van carrying the Harrah's employee and tourists.
- May 2006 - On May 26, 2006, in Biloxi, Mississippi, Harrah's acquired a 19.6 acre site behind, but not adjacent to the Imperial Palace with frontage on Koval Road. The cost for the land was $164.4 million. The site is currently occupied by the Desert Club Apartments.
- October 2006 - On October 2, 2006, The Wall Street Journal announced that private-equity firms were close to buying Harrah's Entertainment in what would rank as one of the largest leveraged buyouts in history. A number of private-equity firms, including Texas Pacific Group and Apollo Management, have been involved in the talks. The offer was for $15.05 billion. The company also announced plans to trade 24 acres on the strip for the Barbary Coast Hotel and Casino.
- November 2006 - On November 7, 2006, the citizens of Rhode Island voted overwhelmingly to reject the building of a Narragansett Indian Tribe casino in the community of West Warwick, Rhode Island, which was to be managed by Harrah's.
- April 2007 - Harrah's makes Pokertek its exclusive provider of automated poker tables at Harrah's casinos.
Casinos
Bally's brand
- Bally's Atlantic City (Includes Wild Wild West Casino & Claridge Towers)
- Bally's Las Vegas
- Note: Bally's Casino Tunica is not under Harrah's ownership, having been sold to Colony Capital as part of the Caesars Entertainment merger deal.
Caesars brand
- Caesars Atlantic City
- Caesars Indiana (Being re branded to Horseshoe)
- Caesars Palace Las Vegas
Grand Casino brand
- Grand Casino Biloxi (Destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, re-opened in late 2006..) it will be renamed Margaritaville Casino and Resort.
- Grand Casino Tunica to be renamed Harrah's Casino Tunica
The name chages of both casino will eliminate the Grand Casino brand.
Harrah's brand
- Harrah's Ak-Chin Casino
- Harrah's Atlantic City
- Harrah's Cherokee
- Harrah's Chester
- Harrah's Council Bluffs
- Harrah's Joliet
- Harrah's Lake Tahoe
- Harrah's Las Vegas
- Harrah's Laughlin
- Harrah's Louisiana Downs
- Harrah's Metropolis
- Harrah's New Orleans
- Harrah's North Kansas City
- Harrah's Prairie Band
- Harrah's Reno
- Harrah's Rincon
- Harrah's St. Louis
- Grand Casino Tunica will be renamed to Harrah's Tunica
Horseshoe brand
Other casino names
- Bill's Gamblin' Hall and Saloon, Las Vegas, Nevada
- Sheraton Hotel and Casino, Tunica, Mississippi
- Casino Windsor (name to be changed to Caesars Windsor in 2008)
- Conrad Resort and Casino, Punta Del Este, Uruguay
- Flamingo Las Vegas
- Imperial Palace
- O'Sheas Casino (Operated as part of Flamingo Las Vegas)
- Showboat Casino, Atlantic City
- London Clubs International, UK
- Margaritaville Casino and Resort, Biloxi, Mississippi
Golf club and courses
- Atlantic City Country Club – Atlantic City, NJ - Acquired from the Caesars Entertainment merger
- Cascata Golf Course – Las Vegas, Nevada
- Chariot Run Golf Course – Laconia, Indiana
- Cottonwoods Golf Course – Tunica, Mississippi
- Grand Bear Golf Course – Gulfport, Mississippi
- Rio Secco Golf Club in Henderson, Nevada
Other assets
- Total Rewards
- World Series of Poker- Buyout through Binion Horeshoe acquisition.
Logos
File:60s.jpg Early Harrah's logo, 50's through early 60's.
File:1970's.jpg Logo used during the late 60's through 1970's
File:1980's.jpg Harrah's bold logo debuted in 1979.
File:Harrahs50.jpg Harrah's 50th Anniversary in 1987.
N/A Harrah's globe logo released in 1995.
File:Harrahs Logo.gif Current logo as of 2001.
References
Shook, Robert L., Jackpot, ISBN 0-471-26323-0
- "Harrah's Entertainment board agrees to $90 a share buyout bid", Las Vegas Sun, December 19, 2006.
- "Harrah's shareholders approve biggest casino buyout ever", The Sun Herald, April 5, 2007.
- ^ "Harrah's Entertainment". answers.com. Retrieved 2007-08-13.
- ^ "Harrahs Entertainment Inc · 8-K · For 4/21/99 · EX-99.1". Retrieved 2007-08-13.
- "Casino Windsor to become Caesars Windsor in '08", Detroit Free Press, December 15, 2006.
External links
- Harrah's homepage (used as a source for some information)