Reno Gazette-Journal from Reno, Nevada • Page 26

'o 8B Thursday, September 6, 1984 Reno Gazette-Journal Karl's holds grand opening for expanded casino Braniff changes course, slashes fares, cuts services DALLAS Braniff which flew out of bankruptcy in March, said Wednesday it will abandon its high-class strategy and become a discount i airline by cutting its fares, laying off about one-; fourth of its workers and reducing in-flight services. Analysts said the move fuels Braniff 's fare skir-f mish with American and Delta airlines. The fares will be reduced Saturday, Braniff said. In addition to laying off about 25 percent of its 2,500 employees, there will be some furloughs, spokes- woman Barbara Potter said. The layoffs, which will be phased in over the next 30 days, will be made across the board "from man-, agement down to line workers," Ms.

Potter said. Braniff 's fare system will offer one unrestricted fare for every seat on weekday flights and a lower price on weeknights and weekends. The airline said its new Deak-Deriod one-wav fare from Dallas to New York will be $129. The standard full-coach fare currently available on that route is $324 each way. From its Houston hub to New York, Continental charges $140, with no restrictions.

By TIM ANDERSON After 17 years of methodical planning and gradual development, Karl Berge finally has a full-fledged casino in Sparks. "It's been a long time coming, but it was worth waiting for," Berge said Wednesday during an interview at the new Karl's Hotel and Casino. "When I came here in 1967, we were just another small business on this (north) side of Street. Now we're a bit more visible." The three-story casino, with a mutlicolored exterior designed to tie in with a turn-of-the-century theme, now takes up nearly an entire block of downtown Sparks. As of late last week, Berge said the expanded gaming property includes "just about everything" a modern-day casino patron has come to expect.

"And customers don't have to worry about getting squeezed anymore. We've got lots of room," Berge said. The family-run gaming enterprise, which has consistently stressed an informal atmosphere over the years, will show off its new $14 million casino expansion during a three-day grand opening celebration beginning today. Special prices on food and drinks, along with prizes and promotional giveaways, will be featured at the club through Saturday. About 100 additional employees have been hired by Karl's, increasing the work force to 700.

"We're not going to make any money for three days. But we're going to welcome old friends and introduce ourselves to some new customers. And once people see what we have to offer, we're convinced they'll come back," Berge said. The two-story expansion includes a significantly larger gaming area, a sports and race book and an entertainment lounge. The race book expansion, featuring live horse races, is scheduled to open in about 10 days.

Development of the third floor is on hold until more parking can be secured, Berge said. Berge, a native of Minnesota who became a co-owner of the 20-year-old Silver Club in 1967, said the gaming property has always relied on strong local trade. He said a combination of local customers 50 percent of our with an aggressive new sales and promotion program will help get the expanded Karl's off the ground. "We're definitely going to step up our bus pro- Marilyn Nwton Gazette-Journal NEW KARL'S: Karl Berge, owner of the newly expanded Karl's Hotel and Casino, stands inside the Gay. '90s-theme casino on Street in Sparks, where grand opening festivities begin today.

Consumer confidence level 2 NEW YORK Consumers remained confident of the economy's strength in August, according to a monthly survey by the Conference Board, a private business research organization. The Conference Board said Wednesday its Consumer Confidence Index, based on a survey of 5,000 households nationwide, "remained virtually jinchanged" in August, dipping to 90.8 from July's -reading of 91.0. A 100 reading would mean that consumers responded to the survey as optimistically tis they did in 1969. The Conference Board said its Buying Plans Index, which measures plans to buy cars, houses nd major appliances, rose to 99 in August from 94.5 in July. Fabian Linden, executive director of the Conference Board's Consumer Research Center, said the results suggest that "business activity is likely to quiet down to a more sustainable pace in the coming months." structure," Berge said.

He said the price of land, combined with city planning requirements, has the parking issue "our most serious problem." He pointed to the addition earlier this year of two small parking lots near the hotel-casino. "This was a $2 million investment for a total of. about 115 parking spaces. We couldn't stay in business if we made a habit of spending money that: way," Berge said. Berge also said he has lingering doubts about the" city's ability to follow through with an ambitious: tourism-oriented, downtown redevelopment master; Elan aimed in part at attracting additional major; otel-casino developments in the area.

"I can't tell you how many meetings I've gone to: over the years regarding this subject. We're still hop- ing it will happen, but we're not counting on it as a sure thing," Berge said. "Instead, we're going to go! forward the best way we know how. We're not quite finished yet." grams and reach out to new customers," Berge said. Still, he conceded that the Gay '90s-themed property needs more rooms to support the 70,000 square feet of gaming and public areas now open.

"Adequate rooms and parking are the most critical needs in gaming today. We're working on the problem and are confident that we'll ultimately find a solution," Berge said. Karl's opened a 208-room hotel, located directly north of the casino across Street, in early 1982. Berge said he eventually wants to build additional hotel rooms adjacent to the casino. Karl's officials have been negotiating with the City of Sparks for possible land swaps that would give the business an opportunity to build additional rooms and provide for more parking.

"The parking situation is very difficult. There's no doubt that someday we'll have to build a (parking) i Dollar reaches new highs in foreign exchange markets Seafirst's near-collapse probed J-i SEATTLE Federal attorneys have admitted publicly for the first time they are investigating criminal wrongdoing" in the near financial collapse of Seattle-First National Bank, the Seattle Times reported in its Wednesday afternoon The newspaper said court papers filed in Seattle as part of the U.S. attorney's office's continuing effort to gain access to financial records of Clinton Manges, an oilman and rancher from Texas, provided a glimpse of the probe. Manges had reportedly borrowed $35 million from Washington state's largest bank. WIRE SERVICE REPORTS new strikes.

The pound's value against the dollar has' been cut nearly in half from a $2.55 peak in early 1981. The strong dollar is a boon to American consumers at home who benefit from lowered prices for: imported goods and to American tourists abroad. In Paris, for example, the franc plunged to an all time low of 9.045 to the dollar, and dealers said they are anticipating a 10-franc rate, according to United WASHINGTON Wednesday was a record-shattering day of new highs for the dollar in the world's foreign exchange markets. Despite reported intervention by the West German central bank to prop up its currency, the German deutschemark plunged to an 11 1-2-year low against the dollar, while several other European currencies dropped to their all-time lows. A Federal Reserve Board index of the dollar's value compared with 10 other major currencies rose to the highest level since the Fed began to keep such records in 1967.

The British pound, French franc, Italian lira, Span ish peseta and the Danish and Norwegian krone hit all-time new lows against the dollar and the Dutch guilder was at its lowest dollar quotation in 13 years. Beset by West Germany's economic problems, the mark dropped to 2.9453 to the dollar from 2.9180 the day before in Frankfurt. The mark seems poised to go to 3 or more to the dollar, a ratio that would have seemed impossible just a few years ago. At the time of a huge dollar "rescue" package launched by the Carter administration in October 1978, the mark was at an all-time high of 1.70 to the dollar. The British pound fell to a new low of $1.2815, as sterling continued to reflect concern over possible Press International.

The Washington Post Earnings fall at Circus Circus Chock wffii I LAS VEGAS (AP) Circus Cir-cus Enterprises Inc. has announced a slight drop in its earnings for the second quarter of fiscal 1985, citing a hotel strike that cut into the city's tourism business. -'The company reported net Income of $8,519,000 for the second quarter of the fiscal year compared with $8,587,000 for the same period last year. Net income for the six months 'ending July 31, 1984 was up 20 -percent over the same period a (year ago $16,752,000 compared fo $13,923,000 last year. r.

Income from operations, includ CalBsdfor i i $64,974,000 for the same period a year ago. Revenues for the six months were $137,357,000, up from $117,722,000 a year ago. "We felt the effect of a strike against a number of major, properties in Las Vegas during most of the second quarter," said William G. Bennett, chairman and chief executive officer. "Although our properties were not struck, the strike hurt us because it caused tourism in the city to fall below anticipated levels.

Circus Circus relies on walk-in tourist business for a significant portion of its casino business. We also incurred higher promotional expenses to keep our hotel rooms full at Circus Circus during this period." The strike began April 2 when 17,000 members of four unions walked off the job at 29 hotels. Some of the hotels settled in May, others in June. Six hotels remain on strike. The company, with hotels and casinos in Las Vegas, Reno and Laughlin, is considered one of the state's most successful gaming organizations.

a 6 month CD ing non-gaming operations and sifter corporate expenses for the quarter was up $18,716,000 com-Jpared with $18,104,000 in the sec-end quarter of last year, Operating income for the first months jumped from 430,617,000 a year ago to $36,267,000 for the first six months vf the current fiscal year. l': Revenues for the three months lending July 31, 1984 were $72,458,000 compared with thaft lough to beat fed adds NASD listings NEW YORK In a step that may intensify competition between the National Association xf Securities Dealers and the Nation's established stock exchanges, the Federal Reserve Board on Wednesday said it would ixpand its list of marginable "stocks to include all those listed on She NASD's national market system. marginable stock is one that may be bought by a credit-worthy customer with a down payment of only 50 percent of the selling price. Such a stock, therefore, will generally enjoy more vigorous trading, greater liquidity and often greater public attention than others. The decision by the Fed, which governs credit policy, will sharply diminish one major difference to marginable stocks between exchange-traded stocks, all of which are marginable, and those traded over-the-counter, many of which are not.

Thus, it may strengthen the NASD's campaign to make its 2,500 nationally listed stocks comparable in prestige to the roughly 2,300 traded on the New York, American and regional stock exchanges. That, in turn, would encourage more companies to stay in the OTC market rather than moving to an exchange. Wednesday's decision will involve only 93 stocks when it takes effect Nov. 13. But it will change the trading patterns of 500 other issues later this year if the Securities and Exchange Commission approves an NASD petition to vastly expand the national market system.

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