Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2003 | 11:14 a.m.
Bookmaking company sold
Media company SportsLine.com Inc. has reached an agreement to sell its bookmaking subsidiary to a group of Las Vegas-based investors.
The investors in Las Vegas Sports Consultants include Ellen Whittemore, Jeff Patterson, David Whittemore and Ken White. The purchase price wasn't disclosed.
Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based SportsLine.com sold the gambling service as part of an agreement with Viacom Inc.'s CBS to create a college sports website. The company, which is part owned by CBS, announced its intent to sell the service in February.
The National Collegiate Athletic Association, the governing body for U.S. college sports, had criticized CBS' affiliation with SportsLine.com because the company owned two gambling services.
Viacom and CBS have also pledged to support the NCAA's campaign against sports betting.
The company sold the second gambling subsidiary, Vegasinsider.com, to U.K. company Sports Information Ltd. in June.
Las Vegas Sports Consultants sells gaming information and analysis to regulated sports books. Vegasinsider.com offers sports information, news and analysis for gamblers.
SportsLine operates the CBS SportsLine site as well as the official sports websites of the NFL, PGA Tour and NCAA.
Stratosphere election set
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) will hold an election Dec. 5 at the Stratosphere hotel-casino to allow 19 parking valets and parking booth attendants to decide if they want to be represented by Teamsters Local 995.
A petition to hold the election was filed Oct. 24 by the Teamsters. The Teamsters hopes to represent 19 full-time, on-call and regular part-time parking valet and parking booth attendants at the hotel. The petition says at least 30 percent of the workers want to be represented by the union.
Mike Magnani, secretary-treasurer of the Teamsters Local 995, declined to comment on the petition. Michael Gilmartin, a spokesman at the Stratosphere, also declined comment.
Former workers file suit
RENO -- Former workers at the Sundowner hotel-casino have filed a lawsuit against the owners of the shuttered Reno casino for wages lost when the business closed three weeks early.
Attorney Ken McKenna said the lawsuit filed on behalf of 52 workers also seeks severance pay, unpaid vacation and payment of medical bills through Oct. 17.
According to the suit, owners George Karadanis and Robert Maloff issued a memo to workers Oct. 2 stating the business would be closed Dec. 1 and that health insurance would expire Oct. 17.
But the casino closed Nov. 9, three weeks before the announced closure date, because owners said they couldn't afford to keep it open. Three hundred people lost their jobs.
McKenna also alleges not all medical claims filed before the Oct. 17 cutoff date are being paid.
Rob Whittey, the Sundowner's chief financial officer, said workers are being paid for owed vacation days and for medical services.
Casino legalization considered
BANGKOK, Thailand -- Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said Wednesday that a public hearing on whether to legalize casinos in Thailand will be held early next year.
"If people say yes, we will open it. If no, then we won't. It's fair ... this time it will be settled because I hate anything ambiguous," he said, without setting a specific date for the hearing.
Legal gambling in Thailand is limited to the national lottery and weekly horse races at two tracks in Bangkok. Nevertheless, betting is widespread.
Building casinos has been debated for decades, but the issue has been considered too politically and socially sensitive to implement because of gambling's links to the Thai underworld.
Officials, including Thaksin, early this year spoke favorably of legalizing casino gambling on a limited basis. They said the government could benefit from funds that would otherwise go to illegal gambling dens or casinos located in neighboring countries.
Thaksin said his concept of a casino "will be more like an entertainment complex" that is privately owned. He said gambling would generate 30 percent of revenue, with the rest from the complex's other facilities.
He added casinos might be allowed in three locations, but didn't elaborate. Pattaya, a seaside resort 70 kilometers (44 miles) southeast of Bangkok popular with foreigners, has been heavily touted as a likely site for a casino.
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