On a GAAP basis, Sands reported quarterly diluted EPS of $0.69.

Competitor Wynn Resorts Ltd. (NASDAQ: WYNN) posted quarterly EPS of $2.03 on revenues of $1.38 billion last week. Both Sands and Wynn got a real shot in the arm from their Macau properties. Casino revenues from Sands’ Venetian Macao rose 15.5% in the quarter. Sands revenues from its Asian casinos and resorts totaled $2.02 billion in the quarter.

The company’s CEO said:

In Macao, we delivered record financial results, with outstanding growth and strong operating momentum reflected in every segment of our business. We welcomed a record fourteen million visits to our Cotai Strip properties during the quarter, and delivered a record $630.2 million of adjusted property EBITDA from our Macao property portfolio. … The prudent management of our cash flow, including the ability to both invest in future growth and to increase the return of capital to our shareholders, remains a cornerstone of our strategy.

Once again, CEO Sheldon Adelson did not refer to the company’s Las Vegas properties in his remarks. Adjusted property EBITDA in Las Vegas fell just 2.1% year-over-year for the quarter, much better than the previous quarter’s drop of nearly 35%. Casino revenue was up less than 1% and the Las Vegas convention business picked up by about 14%. Las Vegas operations totaled $411.5 million in revenue, up 7% compared with the same quarter last year.

The Sands did not offer guidance in its earnings release, but the consensus estimate for the second quarter calls for EPS of $0.63 on revenues of $3.19 billion. For the full year the consensus estimate calls for EPS of $2.72 on revenues of $13.23 billion.

Shares are trading up about 1% at $56.85 in after-hours trading today, in a 52-week range of $34.72 to $57.11. Thomson Reuters had a consensus analyst price target of around $59.00 before today’s report.

Online gambling for real money was banned in 2011 in the U.S. but a U.S. appeals court overturned the federal law that banned states from offering online gambling within state borders to residents. Since then, the race has been on.

Real-money gambling went live in the U.K. earlier this month as Zynga Inc. (NASDAQ: ZNGA) and partner Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment, which is owned by Boyd Gaming Corp. (NYSE: BYD), launched two real-money games.

The real money in the U.S., of course, is not in Nevada or even more populous New Jersey, but in being able to offer real-money gambling across the country. But Nevada, and its 3 million people, could be a proving ground for other online casino games from Boyd, International Game Technology (NYSE: IGT), Bally Technologies Inc. (NYSE: BYI), and Shuffle Master Inc. (NASDAQ: SHFL), all of which already have been granted Nevada licenses to offer real-money online games and Ceasars Entertainment Corp. (NASDAQ: CZR) and MGM Resorts International Inc. (NYSE: MGM), both of which have also applied.

Of the other contenders, Ceasars is thought to have the inside track with its widely recognized “World Series of Poker” franchise.

Two real betting games, ZyngaPlusPoker and ZyngaPlusCasino, are being launched as desktop applications today.

The recent adoption of online gambling in Nevada and New Jersey have bolstered hopes that the U.S. Congress will move to legalize real-money games across the United States. Analysts believe that Zynga will wait until online gambling is legalized nationwide before launching any games in the United States.

International Game Technology (NYSE: IGT), Bally Technologies Inc. (NYSE: BYI), Boyd Gaming Corp. (NYSE: BYD) and Shuffle Master Inc. (NASDAQ: SHFL) already have received licenses to offer real-money games in Nevada, and Zynga has applied for a Nevada license as well.

Ceasars Entertainment Corp. (NASDAQ: CZR) and MGM Resorts International Inc. (NYSE: MGM) also applied for Nevada online gambling licenses. Ceasars owns the “World Series of Poker” brand.

Shares of Zynga are up 11% in the first half-hour of trading today, at $3.41 in a 52-week range of $2.09 to $12.90.

According to the filing, Kerkorian expects to use working capital to make the purchase, provided, of course, that he ultimately decides to do so. The filing notes:

Tracinda continues to believe that there is substantial value in the assets of MGM Resorts and that the Company is a good long-term investment.

MGM recently received approval from the government of Macau to build a second resort/casino on the island’s Cotai Strip and the casino operator has also filed an application with the state of Nevada to operate online gambling within the state. Revenue growth in Macau is expected in the range of 5% to 10% in 2013.

Shares of MGM are up 7% at $13.27 in a 52-week range of $8.83 to $14.80.

For the quarter the casino operator reported an adjusted earnings per share (EPS) loss of $0.31 and $625.8 million in revenues. In the same period a year ago, the company reported an EPS loss of $0.03 on revenue of $606.7 million. Fourth-quarter results also compare to the Thomson Reuters consensus estimates for an EPS loss of $0.13 and $635.37 million in revenue.

On a GAAP basis, Boyd posted a quarterly EPS loss of $10.24, compared with a GAAP net loss of $0.01 in the fourth quarter of 2011. The quarterly loss was mostly due to a $994 million impairment charge on the 87-acre site of Boyd’s planned Echelon development in Las Vegas. The company also announced this morning that it has sold its Echelon site on the Las Vegas Strip to a Malaysian gambling group for $350 million in cash.

For the full year the company reported an adjusted EPS loss of $0.28 on revenues of $2.489 billion. The consensus estimates called for a full-year EPS loss of $0.11 on revenues of $2.5 billion.

The company’s CEO said:

Our highest priority is strengthening our balance sheet. The sale of the Echelon site is another important step in the ongoing effort to improve our long-term financial position. While we remain committed to the Las Vegas market, we determined that developing a large-scale project on the Las Vegas Strip was not consistent with our current strategy.

Boyd was a bit coy about its current strategy, saying only that the company remains focused on its core business, integrating some recently acquired assets, and “finding new ways to drive revenue and EBITDA growth throughout the business.” Funny thing is the company did not mention the recent approval of online gambling in both Nevada and New Jersey. Boyd has a stake in a joint venture to create online gaming software, and given the poor performance the company announced this morning, one might expect a little hype about how big online gaming could be.

The company offered no guidance, but the consensus estimate for the first quarter calls for EPS of $0.21 on revenues of $758.25 million. For the year, the consensus EPS estimate is $0.45 on revenues of $2.99 billion.

Shares are trading up more than 3% in the premarket this morning, at $6.67 in a 52-week range of $4.75 to $8.52. Thomson Reuters had a consensus analyst price target of around $6.20 before today’s results were announced.

One notable beneficiary of the bill signing is Zynga Inc. (NASDAQ: ZNGA), which rose about 7.5% on Friday and is up another 13% so far today. Zynga’s for-fun casino games attract millions of daily users at Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB). Other firms that have put a stake in the ground on online gambling, including International Game Technology (NYSE: IGT), Bally Technologies Inc. (NYSE: BYI), Boyd Gaming Corp. (NYSE: BYD), WMS Industries Inc. (NYSE: WMS) and Shuffle Master Inc. (NASDAQ: SHFL), are missing today’s run-up so far. Bally, IGT and Shuffle Master already have received licenses to operate online gambling in Nevada and Zynga applied for a license in February.

Ceasars Entertainment Corp. (NASDAQ: CZR) is up about 4% so far today, likely on the strength of its “World Series of Poker” brand. The casino operator and MGM Resorts International Inc. (NYSE: MGM) have already applied for online gaming licenses in Nevada. IGT acquired game developer Double Down Interactive in January of 2012, and Boyd has invested in another game maker, Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment.

Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd. (NASDAQ: MPEL) has paired up with Poker Stars to open a live poker room in Melco’s City of Dreams casino in Macau. Extending that relationship to an online venture in the U.S. would not be a big stretch.

Zynga sucks most of the air out of any move that appears to extend real-money gambling to the Internet in the United States. But there are other ponies in the race too.

Shares of Zynga Inc. (NASDAQ: ZNGA) are reacting well to the Nevada law, but other gambling technology stocks, like International Game Technology (NYSE: IGT), Bally Technologies Inc. (NYSE: BYI), Boyd Gaming Corp. (NYSE: BYD), WMS Industries Inc. (NYSE: WMS), and Shuffle Master Inc. (NASDAQ: SHFL), aren’t getting the message.

Bally, IGT and Shuffle Master have received licenses to operate online gambling in Nevada, and Zynga filed an application for a license in December. The biggest payday could come for Zynga and the others if they can pair up with the big casino operators, most of which have come around to support online gambling over the past couple of years.

Shares of Zynga are up about 4.6% today at $3.10 in a 52-week range of $2.09 to $15.91.

A news release on Business Wire was issued by Kazuo Okada today saying that he remains determined to fight Steve Wynn’s involuntary redemption of his nearly 20% stake in Wynn Resorts at what is called a 30% discount. If this sort of fight was taking place anywhere else it might be covered significantly more in the media. With Okada’s resignation from the board of directors this is sure to be one of the more strange fights among corporate insiders that we have seen.

Mr. Okada said at one point in his release,

“Mr. Wynn continues to engineer a scenario where there is no longer any reason for me to continue to serve on a Board of Directors that, at his direction and insistence, undermines me at every turn, seems to act on Mr. Wynn’s every whim, and impedes my ability to serve as an independent voice for Wynn Resorts shareholders. I have also heard that there have been incredible cover ups by Mr. Wynn where he, in conspiracy with former employees, manipulated the media and made requests for cooperation in the Philippines.”

Here is the full press release.

Wynn Resorts is down less than 1% today at $115.67 against a 52-week range of $90.11 to $138.28 and its market cap is more than $11.5 billion. A stake of 20% here is substantial. Sometimes news is so strange that it almost sounds made up, but this is the sort of news that is too strange to make up.

For the quarter, the cruise ship operator posted adjusted diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.10 on revenues of $1.81 billion. In the same period a year ago, the company reported EPS of $0.17 on revenues of $1.27 billion. Fourth-quarter results also compare to the Thomson Reuters consensus estimates for EPS of $0.06 and $1.82 billion in revenues.

For the full year, the company posted adjusted EPS of $1.97 on revenues of $7.69 billion, compared with EPS of $2.77 on revenues of $7.54 billion in 2011. The consensus estimate called for EPS of $1.95 on revenues of $7.7 billion.

Royal Caribbean took an impairment charge of $413.9 million for the full year related to its Spanish business Pullmantur and the “lingering impact” of the sinking of its Costa Concordia liner. On a GAAP basis, EPS for the full year totaled $0.08. For the quarter, GAAP earnings computed to a net loss of $1.80 per share.

The company’s CEO said:

Excluding the Pullmantur impairment charges, our operating results came in remarkably close to our forecast from a year ago, which is notable given the challenging environment. Looking forward, we see a tale of two continents; North America is doing well, while parts of Europe continue to be a challenge. Nonetheless, we are encouraged that the former will countervail the latter allowing us to drive meaningful yield growth in 2013.

Royal Caribbean’s outlook for 2013 calls for EPS in the range of $2.30 to $2.50. The consensus estimate calls for EPS of $2.67 on revenues of $8.07 billion.

The company’s shares are up about 0.2% in premarket trading, at $36.85 in a 52-week range of $22.12 to $38.56. Thomson Reuters had a consensus analyst price target of around $38.60 before today’s report.

For the full year, Wynn posted adjusted diluted EPS of $5.36 on revenues of $5.15 billion, compared with 2011 EPS of $5.58 on revenues of $5.27 billion. The consensus estimate called for for EPS of $2.44 on revenues of $5.14 billion.

On a GAAP basis, Wynn reported quarterly diluted EPS of $1.10 and full-year EPS of $4.82.

The company doubled its dividend from a quarterly rate of $0.50 per share to $1.00 per share, payable to shareholders of record as of February 14th.

Competitor Las Vegas Sands Inc. (NYSE: LVS) boosted its dividend by 40%, to $0.35 a share last night to help ease the pain of lighter earnings than analysts had been expecting. Wynn announced this increase last year. Las Vegas Sands got a share price boost of more than 7% today, but so far Wynn is not following suit in after-hours trading.

Wynn’s revenues fell nearly 10% in Macau, with the biggest drop coming from its VIP (high-roller) segment. Las Vegas revenues rose more than 12%, but Las Vegas revenues account for just 43% of the company’s total.

Wynn did not offer guidance in its earnings release, but the consensus estimate for the first quarter calls for EPS of $1.55 on revenues of $1.38 billion. For the full year the consensus estimate calls for EPS of $6.07 on revenues of $5.39 billion.

Shares are trading down about 1.2% at $123.75 in after-hours trading today, in a 52-week range of $90.11 to $138.28. Thomson Reuters had a consensus analyst price target of around $133.90 before today’s report.