Harrah's Entertainment has announced third quarter income from operations was $577.2 million, compared with $441.9 million in the year-ago quarter. Net income was $244.4 million, up 37.9 percent from $177.2 million in the 2006 third quarter.

Harrah's has also announced a $1 billion expansion and renovation of Caesars Palace in Las Vegas that will include construction of a 665-room hotel tower and a 263,000-square-foot meeting and convention center, to be completed in 2009.

Plus they and AEG, developer of entertainment venues such as Staples Center in Los Angeles, unveiled plans for a privately financed, 20,000-seat, state-of-the-art sports and entertainment arena.

In comparison, Las Vegas Sands Corp. had an operating loss of $48.5 million and a net loss of 14 cents a share in the third quarter that ended Sept. 30. The losses are attributed to preopening expenses related to the $2.4 billion resort, along with development costs at other properties.

At the same time MGM Mirage announced Wednesday it would build a $3 billion non-gaming hotel and entertainment complex on Abu Dhabi Island in the Persian Gulf in conjunction with the Mubadala Development Co., the investment arm of the Abu Dhabi government, expected to open in 2012.