IN BRIEF

Golden Gaming pulls bid for casino contract

Golden Gaming has decided to pull its bid for a casino contract in northeast Kansas because of the poor credit markets, the Las Vegas-based company announced late Thursday night.

In March, Golden Gaming reapplied with the Kansas Lottery to build and manage a state-owned casino in Wyandotte County, but recently decided the money might be used somewhere else.

"Given the ongoing turmoil in the financial markets, we feel it is prudent to preserve liquidity for other opportunities that may arise in the future," Golden Gaming Executive Vice President Rod Atamian said in a statement.

Two applicants remain for the contract: Penn National Gaming and a partnership between the Kansas Speedway and Baltimore-based real estate developer Cordish Co.

Golden Gaming owns and operates casinos in Pahrump and Black Hawk, Colo., but it is best known as a tavern operator under the PT's brand.

First-quarter losses grow for Black Gaming

Black Gaming's losses continued to grow in the first quarter as the company deals with declining revenues and high interest expenses.

The Mesquite-based casino operator posted a loss of $5.2 million for the first quarter ended March 31, a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission shows.

The loss was an increase from the $4 million loss posted a year earlier.

The loss was driven by a 27.5 percent decrease in revenue and $5.6 million in interest payments made during the quarter.

Revenues fell 27.7 percent to $27.9 million in the quarter from $38.6 million. Casino revenues fell 25.2 percent to $18.1 million.

The company is in default of $205.8 million in debt and has been negotiating a restructuring that could end in a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, the SEC filing said.

Station Casinos again gets time to negotiate

Station Casinos on Friday signed another extension of the company's forbearance agreement with its lenders, delaying a possible bankruptcy filing for the company for two more weeks.

The agreement lets the locals casinos company, which has been hit by declining gaming revenues, continue negotiating terms of a proposed prepackaged bankruptcy agreement to restructure part of its $5.7 billion debt load.

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company said its bondholders had extended the forbearance period until May 29.

The is the third extension the company has received since it unveiled its own reorganization plan earlier this year.

Station Casinos said the extension will "permit (the company) to continue ongoing discussions regarding the terms of its restructuring with the lenders and the holders of its notes."

NEW YORK

Treasury prices fall as traders take profits

Signs of a stabilizing economy led investors on Friday to cash in some recent gains in the Treasury market.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell 0.34 points to 99.88 and its yield rose to 3.12 percent from 3.10 percent late Thursday. Prices move opposite yields.

The 30-year bond fell 0.47 points to 102.78. Its yield was 4.08 percent -- up from 4.06 percent Thursday, but down from 4.27 percent a week ago.