First quarter results included an $84 million impairment charge related a write-off of the license rights to operate slot machines at Dania Jai-Alai in Dania Beach, FL. The comparable year-earlier period included $285-million gain from the sale of the former Barbary Coast Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.

Overall revenue fell 9% to $471.1 million, from $517 million last year. Revenues from the six Las Vegas locals' casinos and casino-hotels were $206.5 million versus $218.7 million in the same year-earlier period. First quarter 2007 Adjusted EBITDA was $74.6 million compared to $82.0 million in the same quarter 2006. Its Downtown Las Vegas properties generated net revenues of $60.9 million and adjusted EBITDA of $10.2 million for the first quarter 2008, versus $63.8 million and $13.9 million, respectively, for the first quarter 2007.

Boyd's void in Las Vegas has been the Las Vegas Strip, but that's won't last for long now. Construction on its massive Echelon development continues to advance as foundation work is complete for its three wholly owned hotels, Hotel Echelon, The Enclave, and Shangri-La Las Vegas. Steel is being erected this week for the low-rise portion of the development, which encompasses much of the common area for three of the five hotels. Excavation for High Street, where the retail promenade and meeting center will be is complete and foundation work is well underway. The $4-billion project remains on-budget and on-schedule to open in the third quarter of 2010.

Earlier this month, Boyd Gaming and Olympia Gaming announced the formation of a joint venture to develop a $1-billion-plus casino, resort and spa on the northern edge of the Las Vegas Valley. The JV filed an application with the City of North Las Vegas to develop the mixed-use entertainment center on a 66-acre site at Losee Road and Interstate 215, a few exits west of Interstate 15 in the Park Highlands master-planned community.

The preliminary proposal calls for 1,200 hotel rooms to be built over three phases. The first phase would include 400 hotel rooms, a casino, race and sports book, restaurants, meeting rooms and other entertainment amenities. Boyd Gaming would construct and manage the casino, resort and spa on behalf of the joint venture; assuming approval, construction of the casino would not begin for three- to five years, allowing additional time for the surrounding area to be built out.

The Park Highlands development is expected to feature six school sites; a regional police station; a fire station; a post office; a public library; 130 acres of dedicated parks and trails; and 300 acres of preservation area. Boyd says costs for infrastructure and improvements are estimated to be in excess of $1 billion. Olympia, American West, Astoria, Standard Pacific and D.R. Horton are the homebuilders.

The development site is one of two Boyd owns in North Las Vegas. The other site is a casino-entitled 40-acre parcel on the southwest corner of Centennial Parkway and Lamb Boulevard. If the proposed casino with Olympia Gaming is approved, Boyd Gaming plans to develop the Park Highlands casino site instead of its parcel at Centennial and Lamb.