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Interactive experiences a big part of casinos’ futures

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — Getting new customers involved in more interactive experiences is going to be a big part of the future for casinos in the United States and around the world, participants in a major gambling conference predicted Wednesday. Casino executives, digital experts and payment processors at the conference in Atlantic City agreed casinos need to offer new experiences that directly involve the next generation. This involves new, non-traditional products such as competitive video game contests, skill-based slots, and daily fantasy sports and sports betting in states ...

United CEO assures shareholders at meeting

CHICAGO (AP) — The CEO of United Airlines assured shareholders Wednesday that the company is doing all it can to be more customer-friendly since video surfaced of a passenger being violently ejected from a plane last month. At the company’s annual meeting, Oscar Munoz mentioned the April 9 incident at least a half-dozen times. He vowed to “redouble our efforts to be more customer-focused in everything we do.” On the streets outside, food handlers, baggage workers, cabin cleaners and other employees of United contractors demanded higher pay. About 30 were taken into custody ...

Business Highlights

Fox News finds itself in an unaccustomed spot — out of first NEW YORK — Fox News Channel isn’t used to losing to its cable news rivals, but was beaten last week by MSNBC. In a more youthful demographic prized by advertisers, Fox finished third to MSNBC and CNN for the first time in 17 years. Fox is trying to establish a new prime-time lineup following Bill O’Reilly’s firing Google helps advertisers track spending in physical stores SAN FRANCISCO — Google says its new tool will track how much money people spend in merchants’ brick-and-mortar stores after clicking on ...

Ford taps former office furniture executive to be new CEO

DEARBORN, Michigan (AP) — The job of Ford’s new CEO won’t be easy: He will have to shore up the 114-year-old company’s traditional auto business, but also invest in self-driving cars and other projects that could one day make that business obsolete. Ford thinks Jim Hackett is up to the task. The 62-year-old former chief executive of office furniture maker Steelcase was named to the post Monday, just three days after former CEO Mark Fields told the company he wanted to retire. Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford, the great-grandson of company founder Henry Ford, said Hackett is ...

Business Highlights

9 years after recession began, some states still unrecovered MERIDIAN, Miss.— Nine years after the recession began, some states still haven’t fully recovered. That’s true in Mississippi, where job numbers and the overall size of the economy remain below 2008 levels. It’s also true in states including Alabama, Michigan, New Mexico, and West Virginia, which remain below pre-recession job levels by multiple measures. That contrasts with states where employment numbers have sprinted ahead. Mississippi suffers from a cluster of ills that make it an economic laggard. Wal-Mart sees ...

Target locked in game of shipping tag with Wal-Mart, Amazon

NEW YORK (AP) — Target, Wal-Mart and Amazon are engaged in a game of shipping tag, each trying to adjust their free threshold and other shipping strategies to a level that can lure shoppers away from one of the other. Minneapolis-based Target has the furthest to go as it tries to put itself in better competition with Amazon, the undisputed online leader, and Wal-Mart, which has been buying online startups to beef up its own operations. Target has announced plans to put more money into both its online operations and its stores, and saw it online sales rise 22 percent for the first ...