Las Vegas Sands Casino in trouble?

The Las Vegas Sands Casino complex has today admitted it is likely to default on loans owed to Citigroup Inc, Goldman Sachs group and Lehman Bros Holdings. The casino currently has debts of almost $9 billion and is struggling with reduced cash flow and income from casino gambling, coupled with its expensive expansion plans. The news has seen the companies share price plummet to an all time low.

The owner of the Sands, Sheldon Adelson has already invested hundreds of millions of his own dollars into the Casino. Adelson was recently one of the wealthiest men in the world having a personal fortune in the billions but is thought to have been reduced enormously by the recent global credit crunch.

Wall Street brokers are now looking at the stocks of other casinos as they now fear no company is safe.

Stanleybet’s Greek outlets subject to police raid

The Greek Police authority has raided the Athens outlet of Stanleybet the UK based sports betting group. The shop had been opened for just over a week in a direct challenge to the state gambling operator OPAP, who have had a monopoly in Greece since 1996.

Following a complaint made by OPAP Greek police raided the outlet which resulted in the confiscation of equipment and money and the arrest of 2 employees who were both subsequently released. The Stanleybet outlet according to police had “conducted illegal betting…without a permit from the appropriate authorities…aiming to make monetary gain at the expense of the Greek state.” This was dismissed by Stanleybet who say they are adhering to their legal right to provide gambling services in the European Union under E.U. law and prior European Court of Justice Rulings.