Déjá vu all over again for Trump

If Elad Group goes through with its plans to build a $5 billion version of New York’s famous Plaza Hotel on the site of the now closed New Frontier, Donald Trump will get a familiar neighbor.

Trump, whose $1.2 billion Trump International Hotel & Tower is being built on seven acres on the backside of the New Frontier parcel, owned the Plaza from 1992 to 1998.

Elad bought the Plaza in 2005 for $675 million and is spending $400 million to remodel the hotel.

“I did well with the Plaza,” Trump said. “But properties in New York have sure gone up in value.”

MTR Gaming Group is unloading the underperforming Binion’s, but one analyst says stockholders should unload MTR. Leo Leydon of Financial Focus Advisory Services in Pembroke, Mass., included MTR at the top of a list of stocks to sell off.

“Only companies that can combine solid fundamentals with good charts are worth buying right now,” Leydon told CBS Marketwatch.

That apparently doesn’t include MTR Gaming, which in the last year sold the Speedway Casino for $18 million and agreed to sell Binion’s for $32 million to focus on racetrack and slot operations in Ohio and West Virginia.

Leydon’s reasoning was based on the price of the stock. Since trading at $16.88 per share in April, MTR fluctuated in a “channel” between $14 and $16. It fell below $14 last week.

“It means they will probably go lower. They will probably go down to $12.55,” Leydon said.

Speaking of Binion’s, Sports Illustrated needs a refresher course on Las Vegas. In its recap of Jerry Yang’s recent World Series of Poker victory, the magazine’s writer said the event took place at Binion’s Horseshoe.

The tournament has been held at the Rio exclusively since last year. In 2005, the Rio hosted everything but the last two days of the main event, which were held at Binion’s. Also, the Horseshoe name has been absent from Binion’s since 2004.

Contrary to busting the chance of Las Vegas getting a National Basketball Association team, Mayor Oscar Goodman said the basketball league’s recent betting scandal by a referee is an argument in Sin City’s favor.

Goodman said an association with Las Vegas could help the NBA overcome bad publicity generated by referee Tim Donaghy, who may have used his position to help mob associates win wagers.

“Nobody is telling the truth about this whole issue of gambling,” Goodman said. “I represented a lot of alleged fixers. The only thing that stood in their way was the regulatory system in the state of Nevada.”

The Inside Gaming column is compiled by Review-Journal gaming and tourism writers Howard Stutz, Benjamin Spillman and Arnold M. Knightly. Send your tips about the gaming and tourism industry to insidegaming@reviewjournal.com.