Liquid Vegas stays put; former CEO ousted again

20.05.2009, The Liquid Vegas gambling ship will take no cruises until Monday at the soonest as the temporary loss of its certification and escalating squabbling among executives at the ship's parent company are keeping it berthed at Port Canaveral.

We'd like to be sailing by Monday," Gary Diamond, chief restructuring officer for Las Vegas Casino Lines, said Friday.

The ship hasn't moved since Wednesday afternoon after the U.S. Coast Guard revoked the certification needed for it to sail because it did not have the required number of lifeboats. Those lifeboats were removed, apparently, by a supplier who was affected by the company's ongoing Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeding.

The lifeboats are back, but the complications continue.

The latest involves the return -- and then departure, just days later -- of Larry Mullin, a former executive with the Sterling Casino gambling ship who was the inaugural president and chief executive officer of Las Vegas Casino Lines, which formed last year.

Mullin was forced out late last year but was approached on Sunday by management interested in bringing him back as CEO. He was told, he said Friday, that there was no money on the boat for gambling payouts or operations.

On Tuesday at the port, Mullin publicly announced his return to the company.

By Wednesday, though, arguing among management over money Mullin brought onboard to use for operations and the lack of a signed agreement laying out the terms of Mullin's employment had intensified.

By Thursday, any renewed relationship between Mullin and Las Vegas Casino Lines seemingly had dissolved.

The turmoil has gotten the attention of officials at the port, which bankruptcy documents show is owed $800,000 by the ship operator.

"The Port Authority is extremely concerned about the unexpected turn of events and is closely monitoring the situation," Port Authority Chief Executive Officer J. Stanley Payne said.

On Friday, a few minutes prior to what was supposed to be 41/2-hour cruise leaving at 11 a.m. the only major activity at Liquid Vegas' Terminal No. 4 was a lone white ibis mulling about near the ship's gangplank. About 10 cars were in the terminal parking lot.

Liquid Vegas arrived at Port Canaveral last summer about a week after another gaming boat, Sterling Casino's 1,800-passenger Ambassador II, departed.

Struggling in a weak economy and faced with stiff competition from land-based casinos, not to mention SunCruz Casino, which also operates out of Port Canaveral, Liquid Vegas quickly ran into financial problems. Those culminated in the March filing of the bankruptcy request.

Über iGaming News:

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