In Brief

CINCINNATI

Harrah's signs nonbinding deal to develop, run casinos in Ohio

Las Vegas-based Harrah's Entertainment Inc. has signed an initial agreement with a company headed by Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert to develop and operate casinos in Cincinnati and Cleveland.

The nonbinding agreement between Harrah's and Detroit-based Rock Gaming LLC was announced Thursday. It would create a joint venture, with Harrah's managing the casinos and making a minority investment. Rock Gaming would have majority ownership of the partnership.

Rock spokeswoman Jennifer Kulczycki said definitive agreements are expected this fall. The venture expects to invest more than $1 billion total to develop the casinos.

Ohio voters last year approved casinos in four cities. Penn National, based in Wyomissing, Pa., has rights to casinos planned in Toledo and Columbus.

MEMPHIS, Tenn.

Long live the King: Suitors bid for Elvis Presley Enterprises

Elvis Presley is in play.

CKx Inc., owner of the "American Idol" television program and 85 percent of Elvis Presley Enterprises, is mulling at least two offers to buy the company. At the same time, thousands of Elvis fans have descended on Memphis for Elvis Week, the annual commemoration of the American music star's life and death.

CKx owns rights to the name, image and likeness of Elvis Presley and the operations of Graceland, Presley's Memphis mansion. While the "American Idol" franchise is the company's main money maker, the Elvis brand is still an earner. Elvis, who died in 1977, generated more than $60 million last year in revenue from royalties, licensing and Graceland's operations.

Two faces familiar to CKx have offered to buy it: Robert Sillerman, the company's former CEO, and Simon Fuller, the British media mogul who created the "Idol" franchise before selling his company, 19 Entertainment, to CKx in 2005. Sillerman's offer, made public Wednesday, values the company at between $512 million and $535 million.

In an SEC filing, Sillerman said he plans to offer between $5.50 and $5.75 per share for at least another 30 percent worth of CKx on top of the 21 percent he already holds.

SAN FRANCISCO

LV TiVo Premiere users to get access to Cox on-demand video

Cox Communications customers in Las Vegas will soon be able to use TiVo Inc.'s digital video recorder boxes to watch Cox's on-demand video content.

The companies said Thursday that Cox's video-on-demand library will become accessible on TiVo's latest DVR, the TiVo Premiere, in Cox's major markets, which include Las Vegas and San Diego. The integration is expected early next year.

The agreement between the two companies will allow customers of both to use TiVo's interface and search function to access Cox's on-demand videos and other television content.

It will work with new and existing TiVo Premieres. TiVo began selling the Premiere, which starts at $300, in March.

Singapore hotel-casino,
LV Sands reach settlement

A Las Vegas Sands-owned casino-resort has settled a lawsuit with a group of Asian lawyers over problems that occurred during a conference held at the Singapore casino.

The group, the Inter-Pacific Bar Association, had been sued by the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore in May, after the group failed to pay for the conference.

The association claimed a power outage, a leaky roof and other technical problems plagued the Singapore casino's convention area. The association also claimed the hotel rooms were unfinished.

Inter-Pacific asked Singapore's High Court for damages over what the lawyers called misrepresentation and breach of agreement.

Details of the settlement, which was announced Thursday, were confidential.

The bar association allegedly owed the equivalent of $220,000 for the conference held in May.

The lawyers' group had stopped payment on two payment checks to the resort.

WASHINGTON

Mortgage rates drop for seventh time in eight weeks

Growing pessimism over the weak economic recovery pushed mortgage rates to their lowest level in decades for the seventh time in eight weeks.

The average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage hit 4.44 percent this week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. Some brokers say homeowners looking to refinance have even managed to do so for as low as 4 percent.

But cheap rates have done little to boost the struggling housing market. Instead, they are highlighting investors' fears that the rebound is stalling and the country could be slipping back into a recession.

Investors are shifting their money away from stocks and into safer Treasury bonds. That is sending Treasury yields lower. Mortgage rates track those yields.

Sale of Mississippi casino lifts Bally Technologies' earnings

Slot machine maker Bally Technologies said Thursday its net profit increased 54 percent in the fourth quarter thanks to the sale of its casino in Mississippi.

Las Vegas-based Bally said its net income in the three-month period that ended June 30 was $51 million, or 89 cents per share, up from net income of $33.2 million, or 58 cents per share, a year earlier.

The $80 million sale of the Rainbow Casino in Vicksburg, Miss., to Isle of Capri Casinos in June earned the company 38 cents per share.

Without the sale of Rainbow, Bally would have earned 55 cents per share, a penny less than the estimates of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.

Revenue fell 0.4 percent to $195.2 million from $195.9 million.

"While market conditions remain challenging, Bally has been committed over the past two years to heavily investing in research and development to strongly position the company for the future," Bally Chief Executive Officer Richard Haddrill said in a statement. "We now have a strong and diverse profile of premium participation games."

Bally sold fewer slot machines in the quarter.

Also, Bally announced that Chief Financial Officer Robert Caller will retire and be replaced by Neil Davidson, who is currently the company's chief accounting officer.

Davidson has been with Bally since 2006.

DES MOINES, Iowa

Judge orders Wells Fargo to stop overdraft practices

Bank customers fighting high overdraft fees got a boost on Tuesday with a win in federal court in California against Wells Fargo & Co.

U.S. District Judge William Alsup accused Wells Fargo of "profiteering" by changing its policies to process checks, debit card transactions and bill payments from the highest dollar amount to the lowest.

Alsup ordered Wells Fargo to stop posting transactions in high-to-low order by Nov. 30 and to reverse overdraft fees charged to customers over a period of several years.

Wells Fargo said it will appeal the ruling.