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Just like Blackjack players who have been playing for hours, powerful corporate casinos can tell whether they had good or bad shoes through stacks of chips. Two casinos in Nevada are looking for new transformations.

Regent Casino in Summerlin, Nevada, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on November 21. It failed to repay a $5 million loan in September and laid off 500 employees and closed two restaurants in October. It opened in July 1999.

Before opening, the company reported that construction delays and cost overruns were responsible for the financial problems. Regent plans to reduce at least a portion of its Blackjack stake from $5, as well as actively seeking more conference and convention businesses, to reorganize its finances and attract more local businesses.

The newly opened $1.4 billion Aladdin Casino also began to heat up, reporting a $40.2 million loss to Wall Street compared to $4.06 million in sales. The company says it will seek additional sources of financing through additional borrowing or debt or equity financing, if necessary. Aladdin has to pay $5 million to financial institutions in December and $11.7 million in interest in January.

However, management remains optimistic, citing the reconfiguration of some slot areas, the popularity of London club casinos, room occupancy and increased convention businesses.

"We recognized as all of our predecessors have experienced that we will virtually be in a period of growth," Aladdin Gaming CEO Richard Goeglane said on a recent conference call with investors. He hinted at a slow start to the opening ceremonies of Venice and Paris in 1999.

However, not all the skies in the game world are cloudy. Mandalay Resort Group, which owns properties like Mandalay Bay, Luxor, Excalibur, Monte Carlo and Circus-Circus in Las Vegas, as well as others in Loughlin, Reno and Detroit, recently reported a 3% business increase from last year. Ameristas Casino, which operates casinos in the Midwest and Gulf Coast, reported an 11% increase in business, and Ameristas Casino, which also operates gaming facilities in the Midwest, reported a 16% increase in business.