Loveman sighting creates stir in Macau

Harrah's Entertainment Chairman Gary Loveman spent about 24 hours in Macau on Wednesday, signing papers for the casino company to buy the Orient Golf Course on the Cotai Strip.

While checking into The Venetian Macau, Loveman was noncommittal about why he was in the Chinese enclave.

Loveman's unannounced appearance quickly spread among several gaming analysts attending a conference in Macau.

The speculation ended a few hours later when Harrah's announced its purchase of the golf course, which would give the company the second-largest site on Cotai next to the holdings of Las Vegas Sands Corp.

Harrah's Entertainment has built a reputation by looking for new ways to ease the flow of customers from property to property.

Now this effort has moved to the employees.

The gaming giant introduced a new employee hot line last week for its on-call banquet servers, allowing them to work at the company's multiple properties.

Debbie Munch, Harrah's spokeswoman for the Las Vegas area, said the workers benefit from more job opportunities while the properties benefit from a deeper pool of experienced servers.

Before the change last week, workers were tied to the property at which they were originally employed.

Harrah's Entertainment is receiving support for its philanthropic endeavors from the two private-equity firms that are taking the gaming giant private through a $17.1 billion buyout.

Karl Peterson, a partner at Texas Pacific, Rick Press of Texas Pacific and Apollo Management founding partner Marc Rowan were in the crowd when Harrah's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Gary Loveman bestowed Harrah's Foundation's $30 million gift to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas' William F. Harrah College of Hotel Administration.

Welcome to fabulous Mesquite.

It's likely people driving the desolate stretch of Interstate 15 between North Las Vegas and St. George, Utah, don't expect much from the town.

And they certainly don't expect a surprise party. But that's exactly what one tourist got Friday, just for stopping by.

City Mayor Susan Holecheck was on hand to welcome the 750,000th person to stop in the Mesquite Visitor Information Center since it opened in 1990.

Mesquite isn't exactly the Entertainment Capital of the World, Sin City or whatever hyperbolic phrase people are using as a synonym for Las Vegas. But it is, drumroll please, known as the midway point between Los Angeles and Salt Lake City.

The Inside Gaming column is compiled by Review-Journal gaming and tourism writers Howard Stutz, Benjamin Spillman and Arnold M. Knightly. Send tips about gaming and tourism to insidegaming @reviewjournal.com.