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Station Casinos, the largest locals casino company in Southern Nevada and operator of the Red Rock Resort, Green Valley Ranch, Station-, Fiesta- and Wildfire-branded casinos, reported second-quarter earnings Wednesday.

Company: Station Casinos LLC

Revenue: $316.6 million (up 1.4 percent from the second quarter of 2012). The company was boosted by two months of operations by Fertitta Interactive, the company’s real-money online poker subsidiary that operates under the Ultimate Poker brand. Station Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Marc Falcone told analysts in a conference call that Ultimate Poker operations have exceeded the company’s expectations.

Earnings: $7.3 million (up 11.4 percent from the second quarter of 2012).

Quote: “Our ability to manage operating expenses without compromising our highest level of guest service led to another quarter of impressive results.” — Station Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Marc Falcone

What it means: Station measures performance by earnings before interest, income taxes, depreciation, amortization and management fees, and reported its best second quarter in five years. Using that measure, adjusted EBITDAM for the quarter was $96.1 million, a 4.7 percent increase over the second quarter of 2012.

Falcone told analysts in the company's conference call that the Las Vegas gaming industry has not fully benefited from some of the state's positive economic trends, but that the Southern Nevada market is performing better than most other domestic gaming markets.

He said he thinks consumers continue to be negatively affected by the higher Social Security payroll tax and that Station's performance has been affected by "irrational behavior by competitors in our market" without specifically naming them.

In addition to beginning to operate the first intrastate online poker site in the United States on April 30, the company announced it had signed an operations agreement with Taj Mahal Associates LLC, which is pursuing an online gaming license in New Jersey. Falcone said Station has submitted its required applications to New Jersey regulators and that he expects to see reviews by November. Falcone said that it's too early to determine the potential size of the New Jersey market.

The company also announced that construction of the Graton Resort & Casino in Northern California is on schedule to open in November.

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All it took was two spins on a 25-cent slot machine for a lucky Delaware native to leave the Riviera with a pinch under $1 million on her birthday.

Mozelle Wallace of Rehoboth Beach sat down at the progressive Wheel of Fortune game Friday to celebrate her 69th birthday.

On her second spin, maxing out her bet at 75 cents, three Wheel of Fortune symbols popped up for the jackpot.

Her payout? $937,608.36.

Wallace said she would like to use the money to help out family, according to a Riviera spokeswoman.

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American Casino & Entertainment Properties, operator of the Stratosphere, two Arizona Charlie's and the Aquarius in Laughlin, reported its second-quarter earnings today.

Revenue: $88.4 million, up 0.8 percent from a year ago.

Earnings: $11 million. The company had a net loss of $2.8 million during second quarter of 2012.

What it means: Stronger casino revenue at the Aquarius offset lower occupancy and casino revenue at the Stratosphere. Net revenue at the Stratosphere fell 1.2 percent, primarily because rooms sold through the company's tour and travel segment fell 65.6 percent, company officials said.

Executives attributed 2012 losses to significant expenses – more than $1 million to refinance debt, payments for repairs at the Aquarius and Arizona Charlie’s Decatur and sales tax audit assessments at the Stratosphere. This year, the company invested $195,000 to operate acePLAYPoker.com, the company’s free poker website, which could generate revenue for real-money play when licensed.

Net revenue at the Arizona Charlie’s properties increased 2.6 percent due to higher slot machine holds and bingo revenue. Volume was flat.

While food and beverage revenue fell at Aquarius, casino revenue increased 4.2 percent and hotel revenue 3.7 percent. The food-and-beverage decline was attributed to the use of a temporary café while a permanent one was built.

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The King of Pop is back for an encore.

Bally Technologies Inc. has unveiled a follow-up to its Michael Jackson King of Pop slot machine. The new game, expected to hit casino floors in Las Vegas within the next two months, is called Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’.

Featuring new bonuses, the machine is loaded with five more of Michael Jackson’s most popular tracks: “Bad,” “Billie Jean,” “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough,” “The Way You Make Me Feel” and “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’.”

Hit the right bonus and you’ll be treated to a personal concert by a digitized King. During free games attached to the songs Billie Jean and Bad, Jackson’s music video pops up on the screen.

The game offers some carry-over features from the original Michael Jackson slot, including a surround-sound chair.

“This encore to the hit Michael Jackson King of Pop game is sure to thrill players and fans of the widely beloved artist,” Bally Technologies’ Vice President of Product Management and Licensing Jean Venneman said in a statement. “We are excited to deliver a game that features some of Michael Jackson’s most iconic songs, along with unprecedented player interactivity and the chance of a life-changing wide-area progressive top jackpot.

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A new high-end gaming lounge is opening at the MGM Grand.

Set to open Aug. 28, Whiskey Down will take over the former space of Tabú.

The 24-hour lounge will feature six blackjack tables, seven video poker machines and a 64-seat bar.

Whiskey Down’s drink menu is flush with a huge collection of brown spirits, including American, Canadian, Irish and Scotch whiskies, as well as specialty cocktails.

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Caesars Entertainment’s online poker website, using the World Series of Poker brand, will launch Thursday morning, company officials said today.

Caesars Interactive will capitalize on the brand with online tournaments feeding into the company’s annual competition at the Rio that runs from late May to mid-July.

The site, WSOP.com, will launch with a variety of poker games, including stud and Omaha hi-lo as well as Texas hold ‘em. And unlike its lone competitor — Station Casinos’ Ultimate Poker — it will offer Mac-friendly computer compatibility.

Only residents or visitors to Nevada will be eligible to play, but Caesars is supporting efforts to enable “shared liquidity” that would involve compacts to allow players from others states to play in Nevada’s games.

The site will launch at 9:19 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time.

Company officials said there was nothing significant about the 9/19 launch at 9:19 a.m., other than it makes it easier for people to remember the time and date of the start-up.

The start-up marks the beginning of the state Gaming Control Board’s field trial of the WSOP.com site, during which the public can play and regulators oversee all aspects of the game. Final approval of the site is expected by the end of the year.

Caesars is banking on its World Series of Poker brand to attract players. Company officials said 12,000 people — many of them from out of state and who could only play when visiting Nevada — already have signed up.

Caesars Interactive, the corporation’s online poker subsidiary, is partnering with 888 Holdings Plc., a Gibraltar-based company with online poker sites operating in the United Kingdom for 16 years, to produce the site.

Mitch Garber, CEO of Caesars Interactive, said the company’s lengthy wait for licensing was the result of Caesars and 888’s widespread network of offices and not because of any technical problems with the site.

“I think this is really the beginning of a domino effect, the same way that the state of Nevada started licensed land-based casino gaming and it proliferated across the United States, North America, Australia, Macau and Singapore,” Garber said in a conference call this morning.

“We believe that the digital age is going to repeat that very same pattern, and Nevada will once again play a leadership role,” he said.

“Already, we see that the state of New Jersey has legalized online poker and online casino games and we have made an application for a license in the state of New Jersey as well,” Garber said. “Delaware has legalized online poker. This momentum, we believe, is real, and the state of Nevada is at the very cutting edge and the beginning of what we think is going to be a very large wave of future legalization of online poker and online gaming.”

The company had hoped to be operating before the start of the 2013 World Series of Poker, which culminates with the final table of the Main Event in November. Regardless, the company took advantage of having thousands of poker players in town for that event to generate interest and sign up players.

Players must be at least 21 years old, age verified and vetted through responsible gaming screening.

Players must set up accounts and transfer funds through credit and debit cards or automated check-handling accounts, but players can’t deposit or withdraw cash from casino cages.

At the launch, here’s what the site will offer:

• Cash games, sit-and-go’s, satellites and multi-table tournaments.

• Buy-ins for cash games that start as low as 1 cent and tournaments that start at $1.10.

• Daily $100 and $25 freerolls for players of all levels.

• Limit and no-limit hold’em with full table and short-handed games. Omaha also will be offered, including Omaha hi-lo, as well as seven-card stud.

Caesars not only will leverage the World Series of Poker brand but also the Caesars properties and the company’s Total Rewards loyalty club, which has 43 million members.

The site will also have its own loyalty brand, called the Action Club, that will reward players for their online play and can be converted to Total Rewards points that can be used for rooms, dining, show tickets, merchandise and World Series of Poker buy-ins.

Caesars will advertise the site with television spots during sporting events and late-night television, as well as with building wraps, LED screens, branded key cards, banners at Caesars properties and in the company’s casinos and poker rooms.

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