Trump’s endorsement seemed likely to affect this Saturday’s Nevada caucuses — and the GOP nomination fight in general — about as much as a Sin City breeze disturbs the real estate mogul’s legendary hair. But he managed to create a stir of a different sort, at least for a day.

A political aide in Trump’s office spoke directly with Mitt Romney by phone last night before Trump’s private plane took off from New York City to Las Vegas.

The call, sources say, was to inform Romney of Thursday’s endorsement, which will take place at a 12:30 p.m. event at the Trump International Hotel on the Las Vegas strip.

A contracting company used by the Romney campaign has been setting up for the event since Wednesday night.

Sources familiar with Trump’s thinking said that earlier reports by several news organizations of a Gingrich endorsement were inaccurate.

“I have no idea what the Donald is going to do,” Gingrich told reporters on Wednesday, adding that he had not spoken to Trump in weeks.

Ever since Trump decided not to run as a Republican candidate last spring, members of his team indicated that if Trump was going to endorse, he wanted to pick a winner. Evidently, the real estate and reality television mogul, has settled on Romney as that candidate.

In an interview on “Good Morning America” earlier this week, Trump told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that he was still deciding between Romney and Gingrich.

“I’m friendly with both. I respect both,” he said. “I like both. They both want my endorsement.  We’ll see what happens but, in a very short time I’ll be making an endorsement.”

Trump’s endorsement of Romney comes on the heels of multiple discussions between members of Romney’s team and Trump’s office over the past few months. These conversations took place at the highest levels of the Romney campaign apparatus, including campaign manager Matt Rhoades.

And although I am skeptical of investing in Chinese state-owned companies, Melco is a privately owned company that is truly thriving by exploiting one of the biggest opportunities in Asia.

While Las Vegas is still struggling to get back on its feet in the aftermath of the Great Recession, 2011 gambling revenue in Macau rose a whopping 42% to a record $33.47 billion — a figure that is nearly five times greater than 2011 revenues on the Las Vegas strip.

Melco is one of six licensed Macau casino operators. But unlike its other competitors, 100% of Melco Crown’s revenues are derived from Macau. Melco also is controlled by Lawrence Ho, son of local tycoon Stanley Ho and member  of one of the region’s most powerful families. That makes Melco a local player with a leader who knows the rules of the game in a rough-and-tumble business environment.

In June 2011, Melco acquired a 60% interest in Macau Studio City, which is shaping up to be the premier gaming spot in Macau when it opens in three years, thanks to its location.
The casino will be located right next to the Lotus Bridge immigration station, making it the first and most visible casino on “the strip.”

As a result, Melco stock was hit hard this past summer on fears of a dilution of existing shareholders to finance this major development. But with roughly $1 billion of cash in the bank, the company’s management has assured investors that Macau Studio City will be funded strictly out of cash and ongoing cash flow. Since then, Melco’s stock has been making a gradual recovery.

Recent financial results for Melco confirm its remarkable growth rate. For the nine months ending Sept. 30, 2011, Melco reported net revenue of $2.8 billion. That’s a 90% increase in revenues compared to $1.9 billion during the same period in 2010. Net income hit $187.1 million. That equates to $0.35 per ADS compared to a net loss per ADS of $0.05 for the comparable period in 2010. When the company announces its next set of earnings on Feb. 20, I expect earnings to hit $0.50 per ADS for all of 2011.

The recent pullback in the stock makes it a good time to buy. In the interest of full disclosure, I also want you to know that I hold MPEL for my clients at Global Guru Capital.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal credited the former Massachusetts governor for his business experience, arguing his “greatest strength is his command of economic issues and his understanding of what the private sector needs to create jobs.”

Big-time gamblers, primarily from Asia, are flocking to Las Vegas to play baccarat and providing a big lift to the overall bottom line of the city’s casinos.

Baccarat has easily surpassed blackjack in terms of casino revenue in Las Vegas and now represents nearly 60 percent of the MGM Grand’s table games revenue over the past year. It’s especially popular this week with tens of thousands of tourists from Asia in town to celebrate the Chinese New Year.

“For us to make money in gaming today without baccarat is almost impossible,” said Debra Nutton, senior vice president of casino operations at the MGM Grand hotel-casino. “We need the big whales to make money.”

In Las Vegas parlance, a “whale” is a big-time gambler who easily wagers more in one night at the tables than most American families make in a year. Casinos cater to them with plush, secluded gambling salons inside the top casinos — with baccarat games that often start out at a minimum $10,000 per hand.

The whales typically favor baccarat — a game romanticized in James Bond flicks and highly popular in Macau and Singapore.

The game is built on a simple premise: Who will end up with a better hand, the player or the banker? Gamblers are dealt two cards and predict whether they will beat the banker, typically a position that rotates among the players at the table. Smaller tables, known as midi-baccarat, start at $100 limits and look more like large blackjack tables, skipping the rotating banker and leaving that role to the dealer. Even smaller-limit tables are called mini-baccarat.

Nevada figures show that during the 12 months ending Nov. 30, casinos statewide won $1.27 billion from baccarat players, with the game offered at 258 total tables in 24 casinos. Blackjack, meanwhile, pulled in just $1.03 billion — even though it was offered across 2,810 tables in 151 casinos.

While casinos hope to pocket 12 percent of the money wagered on baccarat, the large amounts played in fewer bets mean big swings in revenue quarter to quarter, depending on how lucky the gamblers are.

Slots are still the most popular and lucrative form of gambling in Nevada, with nearly 165,000 machines over 330 locations including supermarket, gas stations and airports.

Baccarat has been the most lucrative table game since 2009, and has been increasing its share since then, according to an analysis of gambling revenues by Dave Schwartz, director of the Center for Gaming Research at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

That’s even though the game isn’t widely offered, he said.

Big-time gamblers, primarily from Asia, are flocking to Las Vegas to play baccarat and providing a big lift to the overall bottom line of the city’s casinos.

Baccarat has easily surpassed blackjack in terms of casino revenue in Las Vegas and now represents nearly 60 percent of the MGM Grand’s table games revenue over the past year. It’s especially popular this week with tens of thousands of tourists from Asia in town to celebrate the Chinese New Year.

“For us to make money in gaming today without baccarat is almost impossible,” said Debra Nutton, senior vice president of casino operations at the MGM Grand hotel-casino. “We need the big whales to make money.”

In Las Vegas parlance, a “whale” is a big-time gambler who easily wagers more in one night at the tables than most American families make in a year. Casinos cater to them with plush, secluded gambling salons inside the top casinos — with baccarat games that often start out at a minimum $10,000 per hand.

The whales typically favor baccarat — a game romanticized in James Bond flicks and highly popular in Macau and Singapore.

The game is built on a simple premise: Who will end up with a better hand, the player or the banker? Gamblers are dealt two cards and predict whether they will beat the banker, typically a position that rotates among the players at the table. Smaller tables, known as midi-baccarat, start at $100 limits and look more like large blackjack tables, skipping the rotating banker and leaving that role to the dealer. Even smaller-limit tables are called mini-baccarat.

Nevada figures show that during the 12 months ending Nov. 30, casinos statewide won $1.27 billion from baccarat players, with the game offered at 258 total tables in 24 casinos. Blackjack, meanwhile, pulled in just $1.03 billion — even though it was offered across 2,810 tables in 151 casinos.

While casinos hope to pocket 12 percent of the money wagered on baccarat, the large amounts played in fewer bets mean big swings in revenue quarter to quarter, depending on how lucky the gamblers are.

Slots are still the most popular and lucrative form of gambling in Nevada, with nearly 165,000 machines over 330 locations including supermarket, gas stations and airports.

Baccarat has been the most lucrative table game since 2009, and has been increasing its share since then, according to an analysis of gambling revenues by Dave Schwartz, director of the Center for Gaming Research at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

In odds posted Sunday night by Cantor Gaming, the Patriots opened as three-point favorites over the New York Giants after New York beat San Francisco 20-17 in overtime in the NFC championship game, Race and Sports Director Mike Colbert said.

Police arrested the 55-year-old after a resident in a community southwest of the Las Vegas Strip complained about cars blocking his driveway and people in a neighboring house wearing medical scrubs.

“Continued modest employment growth, combined with relatively stable labor force, paved the way for the decline in the rate,” said Bill Anderson, chief economist for the Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation (DETR).

However, in Las Vegas, the unemployment rate increased from 12.4 percent in November to 12.7 percent in December.

Based upon preliminary information, the unemployment situation improved in 2011 compared to the previous year.  Statewide, the jobless rate averaged 13.1 percent in 2011, down nearly two full percentage points from the 2010 average of 14.9 percent.  In Las Vegas, the unemployment rate declined nearly two percentage points – down from 15.2 percent in 2010 to 13.3 percent in 2011.

On the jobs front, December employment readings came in 3,500 higher than a year ago, the fourth consecutive gain.  For the entire year, Nevada added about 2,100 jobs (preliminary estimate), the first such gain since 2007.