HORSESHOE CLEVELAND TO OPEN AS OHIO’S FIRST CASINO IN MAY

Total Investment in Cleveland Area Exceeds $1 Billion

February 15, 2012 (CLEVELAND) – The Ohio Casino Control Commission today announced that Horseshoe Casino Cleveland has been given the green light to open the week of May 14, 2012. The announcement confirms that Northeast Ohio will be home to the State’s first casino since a statewide gaming ballot measure was approved in November 2009. The casino developer and owner, Rock Ohio Caesars (ROC), is also developing a casino in Cincinnati which is slated to open in spring 2013.

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“We’ll be ready,” said Marcus Glover, general manager of Horseshoe Cleveland. “On behalf of our entire team who will start exciting new casino careers, I couldn’t be prouder to debut this first-class entertainment destination to the City, to the State and to the Nation in May.” Glover also commended the Ohio Casino Control Commission for its diligence to promptly define timelines for casino openings in Cleveland and Toledo. “The Commission’s efforts allow us to move forward with several critical steps needed prior to our launch,” he said.

Cleveland Investment

Horseshoe Cleveland is being developed inside the Historic Higbee Building in downtown Cleveland as a high-profile addition to the city’s impressive sports, entertainment, music and cultural attractions. “From the time that we embarked on this $350 million casino development we have looked for ways to create a more powerful impact for downtown Cleveland and our guests,” said Dan Gilbert, chairman of Rock Gaming LLC, majority owner of the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers. “We have doubled down on our commitments to Ohio. We believe more than ever that Horseshoe Cleveland – combined with the many other new and exciting developments under way in Cleveland – will be a big shot in the arm for this hard-working community.”

Additional developments include a parking structure and arrival center adjacent to the Higbee building which will serve casino guests and the public alike, the December 2011 purchase of The Ritz-Carlton, Cleveland, and an attached five-story commercial office building at 250 Huron Road. The Ritz will continue to operate the 205-room hotel under a long-term management contract and the office building will be utilized for casino administrative space and other services. These additional acquisitions and projects bring the casino project’s direct investment in Cleveland to more than $570 million.

Since his purchase of the Cavaliers in 2005, Gilbert and his ‘Family of Companies’ operate 10 businesses in greater Cleveland that employ more than 2,000 team members. The businesses include: operation of the Quicken Loans Arena; the AHL Lake Erie Monsters; the NBA Development League Canton Charge; the AFL Cleveland

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Gladiators; the Cleveland Clinic Courts Player Development Center; a Quicken Loans Web Center; Veritix, an electronic ticketing company; and Bizdom U Cleveland, an entrepreneurial accelerator. Investment in these businesses exceeds $450 million, bringing Gilbert and his partners’ total Cleveland-area investment to more than $1 billion.

Preparing to Open Horseshoe Cleveland

Gaming equipment, including 2,100 slot machines, will be delivered to Horseshoe Cleveland in the coming weeks as the final stages of renovation conclude. Approximately 300,000 sq. ft. across four floors of the long-vacant Higbee Building is being transformed into a first-class gaming destination in the City’s urban core. In addition to slot machines, 65 table games, a high-limits area, an action-packed World Series of Poker® room, and a VIP player’s lounge will occupy the 96,000 sq. ft. gaming floor.

The casino will offer an international buffet restaurant and a food court with local partners providing regional fare. Corky & Lenny’s – a Cleveland-area landmark deli – announced last week that it will open inside Horseshoe Cleveland. A main-floor feature bar will round out the food, beverage and entertainment offerings. Horseshoe Cleveland is projected to attract an additional five million visits annually to downtown Cleveland.

Work on the casino development and its adjacent parking structure has created about 2,000 construction jobs, and the casino began recruiting for 1,600 new casino jobs last fall. After receiving more than 36,000 applications, about 1,300 people are in training and/or have been hired to date.

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About Rock Ohio Caesars

Rock Ohio Caesars LLC (ROC) is a joint venture comprised of Midwest-based Rock Gaming LLC and the world’s most geographically diversified casino entertainment company, Caesars Entertainment Corporation. ROC is developing and will operate full-service casinos in downtown Cincinnati and downtown Cleveland under the Horseshoe brand.

Sportsbook software services have been very excited when they found out that a brand new casino that will open next year, and will be located in Cleveland’s historic Higbee Building, is being expected to bring in from 1500 to 1600 jobs, according to casino developers and city officials.

And those only happen to be the inside jobs, as opportunities involving construction work will also be widely available as the casino is being built, and sportsbook software services believe that it could seriously bring a boost to the area’s economy.

The casino’s new general manager, Marcus Glover, said, “The majority of people hired for the casino, 90 to 95 percent of them, will be from the Cleveland area.”

According to sportsbook software sources, Glover mentioned that during the months ahead, he has planned on holding job fairs and dealer training schools for all candidates who are interested.

The Higbee location is a temporary casino, according to Benzinga, and the site which will be permanent will be expected to be opening in 2013. The Higbee site is considered to be the operation’s first phase.

When in operation, the casino will be housing approximately 2,000 slot machines, a poker room with 25 to 30 tables, 50 to 60 gaming tables, a 400-seat buffet-style restaurant, and two bars, and many people involved in betting software can’t wait to hit the tables and enjoy everything else that will be offered there.

Dan Gilbert, Cleveland Cavaliers majority owner, is heading the development firm that oversees the Higbee casino’s construction, which is part of the Horseshoe brand.

According to what has been mentioned in the Plain Dealer, local leaders asked the developers to consider the opening of a Phase 1 casino in a location similar to the Higbee building, due to the fact that the larger gambling operation, which has been set to be built close by, on 16 acres between the Cuyahoga River and Huron Road, will not be opening until 2013, at the least.

Many people hope that this casino will bring more life to the area, and are looking forward to some serious gambling action.

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CLEVELAND (AP) — Backers say Cleveland’s casino will open next year in a former department store to be renovated at a cost of $350 million.

The venture will be called the Horseshoe Casino Cleveland and will be located on four floors of the old Higbee department store. The location plays a prominent role in the movie, “A Christmas Story.”

The plan was detailed Thursday by the top backer of the project, Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert.

The initial casino phase will include more than 2,000 slot machines, 65 table games and a VIP players lounge.

The next phase of the casino project will be built one block away on a riverfront location.

The casino is one of four to be built in the state after voters approved them in 2009.

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With Steven Litt

Cleveland – early vision for proposed for casino Cleveland behind the Tower riverfront facility shows Centre, trendy, upscale shops with wraps, large-scale video screens and restaurants.

Glazed cylindrical towers, mark and two entrances. Street-level plazas are accessible from the via Huron attract visitors with open-air dining, and show that slopes panorama of bending the Cuyahoga River conflict.

Video images, included four minutes prepared for rock Ventures, an early studies show for fixes 600 million to hang a gambling zones, restaurants and retail spaces set on seven-level parking structure with 5,000 spaces.

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James Evans, PD

Casinos, to open in 2013, is one of the four who choose long happy. Cleveland Cavaliers majority owner Gilbert discusses Casino Cleveland, Cincinnati controls. Penn National Gaming – Pennsylvania based gaming company – Columbus and Toledo.

The video was the centerpiece of meeting October 21 between rock Ventures, u.s. Army Corps of Ohio SPOT of engineers discuss the Cuyahoga River give the Casino extra 29 feet of space along the legs 568 of the bulkhead. A regular copy of the video by using a public records request.

Matt Cullen, owner of casino games company Gilbert, said Friday the video shows the spirit of the project, if not the exact configuration of the enclosure.

“He was to tell people what it looks like from the standpoint of General design,” said Cullen.

Cullen said what makes it different from others casino are facing out to restaurants and shops is designed to engage Skytrain ways Huron.

“We expect it to be absolutely tied in downtown,” he added. “Location was noted in particular in order to be at the heart of the city. The design is being used very generally be synergistic with the surrounding tasks. “

Courtesy VentureThis rock processing shows the entrance through the Huron Cleveland Casino built by rock venture. The complex 600 million should open in 2013.

Design Ventures rock says is initial information, calls for the floor plan of the Canyon-like, with a central gambling large area wrapped on the outside edges by shops, restaurants, lounges.

These areas, in turn, face out towards the Huron Road and outdoor plazas, while also facing a core casinos.

This is one of at least two concepts of casinos, although officials have not still Ventures rock aired.

Cullen said the project may not rely on narrowing the River, the decision was made to move forward in this effort.

At a meeting last month, Rock Ventures said that moving the bulkhead was dredged channel piotiim portion. They suggested to reduce the risk of environmental impact by creating a new bulkhead shelves fish and towpath 20 ft to increase public access to the River.

Ohio troops and military SPOT will have authority over the aspects of the plan who filled out a portion of the River. But officials at Navy told the company last month that the diminution in the River would require an act of Congress that this channel of type shape of powers over federally-regulatory authority.

A number of companies upstream rely on shipping channel to communicate their products and raw materials.

Last week, officials met with representatives of the delegation’s naval bthonn of Ohio.

“It was kind of a friendly federal level to get everyone’s role on the table,” said Traci Clever, Deputy District engineer Corps management planning, Project plans.

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Blog entry: October 18, 2010, 3:16 pm     |     Author: SCOTT SUTTELL

A few thoughts and links for the day: Harrah’s Entertainment Inc., the partner with Dan Gilbert’s Rock Gaming LLC in a joint venture that would develop and operate planned downtown casinos in Cleveland and Cincinnati, today filed a plan for an initial public offering that will include selling stock to raise as much as $575 million for projects in Ohio and Las Vegas.

You can find Harrah’s filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission here.

Bloomberg reports that Harrah’s, taken private in January 2008, “is tapping public markets as a record slump in Las Vegas eases and casino securities rally. Las Vegas Strip gambling revenue jumped 21 percent in August, Nevada’s Gaming Control Board said. MGM Resorts International last week raised $511 million in proceeds from a share sale.”

In August, Harrah’s said it may invest in and run two Ohio casinos being developed by Mr. Gilbert, owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers and founder and chairman of Quicken Loans Inc. Harrah’s would be a minority investor in the joint venture with Rock Gaming for the downtown casinos in Cleveland and Cincinnati.

The Democrat from Avon argues that the Senate “sold out American manufacturing” 10 years ago this fall when it voted to establish permanent normal trade relations with China.

“Today, though, our trade relations with China are anything but normal,” Sen. Brown writes. “The 2000 agreement’s proponents insisted it would enable a billion Chinese consumers to buy American products. Instead, our bilateral trade deficit has increased 170%, largely because China has undermined free-market competition through illegal subsidies and currency manipulation.”

Sen. Brown says that unless the Obama administration takes punitive steps in response to China’s unfair trade practices, “the American economy — and the American worker — will continue to suffer.”

Sen. Brown argues that in trying to get China to play fair, “Washington has instead relied on rhetoric and moral suasion. It hasn’t worked. Only rigorous enforcement of trade rules by the Obama administration can reverse the harm caused by the permanent normal trade relations agreement.”

He wants the Senate to follow the lead of the House of Representatives by voting to expand the president’s authority to impose tariffs on China “or any other country that unfairly manipulates its currency.”

“Cleveland itself is experimenting with a host of innovative pilot projects to reclaim vacant lots, from a vineyard to a small orchard, as well as dirt-cheap temporary parks and pop-up retail sites erected for a day’s special events,” the newspaper reports.

Terry Schwarz, director of Kent State University’s Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative, tells the Free Press that smaller ideas often work better than sweeping, citywide plans: “Instead of figuring out what to do with (all) the vacant land, we need to figure out for each neighborhood, ‘What are your most pressing problems, and in what way can vacant land be part of an answer?’ “

The paper cites approvingly RTA’s HealthLine and Cleveland’s new zoning protections for urban agriculture programs, as well as the city’s pilot program to renovate 56 vacant lots scattered throughout the city with a variety of citizen-suggested ideas.

Joseph Schilling, a professor of urban studies at Virginia Tech, tells the paper, “When people ask me what’s going on with vacant properties, I tell them, ‘All eyes should be on Cleveland.’ “

The state comes in 38th on the web site’s annual ranking, one spot below last year.

Ohio’s best showings are in the categories of regulatory environment and quality of life; it ranked 12th in both those areas. But the state was dragged down by abysmal rankings in labor supply (47th), economic climate (46th) and growth prospects (37th).

“For instance, in Cleveland, where there are over 18,000 vacant homes, lives Millie Davis who recently earned her master’s degree in urban planning from Cleveland State University and just bought her first home — one that had fallen into foreclosure and sat abandoned for years,” according to Mr. Donovan.

Had a blanket moratorium been in place, that sale would have fallen through — not only deferring her dream of homeownership but leaving neighbors on the block to stand by and watch as their property values continue to plummet, he writes. “Right now, families who have watched their home values decline over the last few years want nothing more than homebuyers like Millie to buy the vacant homes in their neighborhoods.”

The device from Luke and Max Geissbuhler “included an iPhone 4 and a separate HD video camera to capture images of the Earth,” according to PC World. “The duo didn’t use the iPhone 4′s camera capabilities, but instead used the smartphone as a GPS tracking device for their spacecraft.”

It turns out sending weather balloons into space is becoming something of a popular hobby in recent months, the magazine reports.

“In May, U.K. resident Robert Harrison sent a balloon into the upper stratosphere with a Canon A560 attached,” PC World says. “NASA also has a program called BalloonSAT Exploring Program based at the Glenn Research Center in Cleveland that helps high school students launch space-faring balloons.”

You also can follow me on Twitter for more news about business and Northeast Ohio.

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Joe Marinucci, CEO of Downtown Cleveland of the United States, he said, “his role as Chairman of Quicken loans, the majority owner of the Cavs and partner of the Cleveland Casino, Dan led the investment, jobs, awareness and passion of downtown Cleveland.”

Downtown Alliance Cleveland, dedicated to building the city’s Affairs today, dynamic view Mr. Gilbert the prize at the annual prize in his order of October 28 in Restaurant Metropolitan Sammy. restaurant is in 925 Euclid Ave.

Except for Mr. Gilbert, recognizes order 11 notable real estate projects that helped improve downtown Cleveland.

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Developers of four new Ohio casinos looked eagerly to the future Wednesday, even as opponents concocted plans to stymie their efforts and surrounding states braced for economic losses.

Penn National Gaming Inc. president Dan Wilmott showed off the site where a 300,000-square-foot Hollywood Casino-Columbus employing 2,000 people is expected to materialize by the end of 2012.

“I know there’s been a lot of things said by the opposition, a lot of mistruths, a lot of blatant lies about what the casino will bring to the city of Columbus, to the state of Ohio,” he said. “I can assure you that we’re going to develop here, we’re going to create these jobs, and we’re going to get people back to work.”

Republican state lawmakers unhappy with the vote began work immediately on a 2010 ballot measure, however. State Rep. Clyde Evans said he plans a constitutional amendment that makes changes to the terms of the casino deal, including increasing the tax rate from 33 percent to 60 percent. That measure would need approval by a Legislature where political control is mixed.

Dennis Forst, a gaming industry analyst for KeyBanc Capital Markets in Los Angeles, also predicted there will be lawsuits forthcoming that delay the plan. He expects casino operators to turn their sights now to Kentucky, a lone casino holdout in the region.

Penn National officials enthusiastically pushed the Ohio facilities’ benefits. They pledged to assuage the concerns of their rivals, work cooperatively with restaurant and hotel operators worried about competition, and wow city planners with architectural renderings.

Penn National partnered with Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert in an expensive ballot campaign that touted the jobs casinos in Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati and Toledo would bring to a state where unemployment has topped 10 percent.

After a campaign that topped 2008′s $40 million in presidential campaign spending, the pro-casino Ohio Jobs & Growth Committee turned around an historically anti-gambling state that had rejected expanded gambling four times in the past 20 years. The pro-casino campaign spent $21 for every yes vote.

Victory came despite warnings from the opposing TruthPAC, backed by MTR Gaming Inc. chairman Jeffrey Jacobs, that the jobs numbers were exaggerated and the lengthy constitutional amendment had other problems.

U.S. Sen. George Voinovich vowed to “be their conscience” and hold casino operators to their jobs promises. He predicted casinos would take a particularly heavy toll on Cleveland, a national poverty leader and a city where he was once mayor.

“I am terribly disappointed,” Voinovich said in a statement.

“As a result of the passage of Issue 3, there will be a great deal of pain and suffering in Ohio. I feel for the families of those who will experience casinos for the first time in their lives and, once lured in, will become addicted to gambling.”

KeyBanc’s Forst said economic benefits of Ohio casinos will be mixed.

“It’ll certainly help Ohio’s economy, through the tax dollars and the jobs and keeping the money in the borders of the state,” Forst said. “On a regional basis, I’m not sure it does anything at all, because whatever is gained by Ohio is potentially lost to Indiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.”

A newly released report by the Indiana Legislative Services Agency predicted that state would be hard hit by casinos in Ohio, losing $93 million in gambling taxes based on revenues in the first year alone. Analyst Joseph Greff at J.P. Morgan categorized the Ohio initiative as a “mild negative” for the southern Indiana casino industry.

Michigan tourism leaders were also keeping close watch on behalf of Detroit, where casinos bring in $1.3 billion a year with the help with thousands of Ohio gamblers.

MTR Gaming Inc., which operates the popular Mountaineer Casino & Resort over the border in West Virginia, was a big loser in Tuesday’s election. Jacobs spent $6 million on his aggressive campaign against the ballot measure in hopes of protecting MTR’s interests both out of state and in Columbus, where it owns a struggling horse track.

Gambling industry expert Jeffrey Hooke, of Hooke Associates, said Ohio casino licenses could have commanded from $350 million in Toledo to $700 million in Cleveland if they had been competitively bid. The constitutional amendment calls for collecting $50 million per license.

Dan Gilbert is a man of two cities.

Ohio voters approved Tuesday the creation of casinos in Cleveland, Toledo, Columbus and Cincinnati. Gilbert, who already owns the Cleveland Cavaliers professional basketball team, will be the main investor in a casino to be built in Cleveland’s Flats district, not far from where his NBA team plays at the Quicken Loans Arena.

Speaking in Cleveland on Tuesday evening, Gilbert was elated at the passage of the casino referendum. “Let’s start lighting it up like Las Vegas,” he told the media. “We’re going to deliver something very special.”

Gilbert now has the right to develop the casinos in Cleveland and Cincinnati, while another entity is to build the other two. Each of Gilbert’s casinos will require a $50-million licensing fee to be paid by Gilbert and his partners.

But will Gilbert’s Ohio casinos compete with those in Detroit? Gilbert suggested Wednesday there would be “healthy competition” between the two.

Detroit’s casinos to face new rivals

Detroit’s three casinos, already facing competition from Caesars Windsor and tribal gaming in the state, will soon face a new threat.

Ohio voters approved casino gaming Tuesday, paving the way for one casino each in Cleveland, Toledo, Columbus and Cincinnati.

Industry executives claim new casinos broaden and deepen the market and boost demand. “Every time that we have seen a new facility open up, the overall market has increased,” said Tom Swoik, executive director of the Illinois Casino Gaming Association.

But David Schwartz, director of the Center for Gaming Research at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, said the market is already so large that new casinos will mostly cannibalize the others.

Of the Detroit casinos, Schwartz said, “It’s certainly not going to help them. I’d really look at my customer service and step up my marketing.”

Dan Gilbert, founder and chair of Quicken Loans and owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers basketball team, was a lead investor and backer of the Ohio referendum. He and his partners will own two of the four Ohio casinos.

Gilbert said he expected Detroit casinos to remain strong.

They will certainly pose healthy competition to Ohio casinos and make for an even more robust entertainment, nightlife and retail product throughout the Great Lakes region,” he said.

Ohio becomes the 39th state to legalize casinos. Michigan now has 20 tribal casinos and three commercial sites in Detroit. Indiana has 13 licensed casinos operating, Illinois nine with a 10th on the way, and Wisconsin 17 tribal casinos.

Eric Bush, a spokesman for the Michigan Gaming Control Board, said gaming experts believe Detroit casinos draw from a 75-mile radius. The lower arc of that circle touches northern Ohio, but that would also mean that a Toledo casino could draw from much of southeast Michigan.

Randall Fine, chief executive of Greektown Casino, said “the only material effect would be Toledo,” when asked about the Ohio threat to Detroit casinos. With the Toledo casino not opening until possibly 2012, he said there were more immediate concerns. “We’ll focus on 2009, 2010 and 2011,” he said.

Holly Ward, a spokeswoman for Caesars Windsor, said the casino has a “loyal customer base in Ohio.”

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