You might say that professional sports is a big thing with this company. Monumental Sports & Entertainment is a holding company that controls three sports franchises in Washington, DC, including the Washington Wizards professional basketball team, the Washington Capitals hockey club, and the Washington Mystics women's basketball franchise. The company also owns and operates the city's Verizon Center, an all-purpose venue that serves as home for all three sports teams. In addition, Monumental Sports manages the Patriot Center at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. Chairman and majority owner Ted Leonsis formed the company when he acquired the Washington Wizards in 2010.

Known as Barca, F.C. Barcelona plays football (soccer) at Europe's largest stadium, the 98,000-seat capacity Camp Nou. The club has won 18 Spanish Liga titles, four Cup Winner's Cups, and two European crowns. Current stars include the Argentine Lionel Messi and Spanish national team standouts Xavi and Andres Iniesta. F.C. Barcelona was founded in 1899 by Hans Gamper. As a club, not a company, Barca's funding comes from ticket sales, sponsors, and the Barcelona Foundation, a coterie of 122 private companies.

Chateau Elan Resorts, LLC was founded in 1981 by businessman Donald Panoz and his wife Nancy. Panoz first made millions pioneering a nicotine patch through his Elan Pharmaceuticals. Chateau Elan proves you don't have to be French to enjoy fine wine, fast cars, and fancy hotels. The upscale resort is located in Braselton, Georgia (30 minutes north of Atlanta), but is designed to resemble a 16th-century French-style château ("Élan" means "spirit" in French). The grounds are home to luxury accommodations at the Château Élan Inn, as well as a spa, four golf courses, eight restaurants, a tennis center, and a 3,500-acre winery.

Since first opening our doors in 1964, Benihana has become, beyond a doubt, the longest running dinner show in the world. And what would an entertaining dinner show be without great food? Benihana restaurants are traditional Japanese hibachi steakhouses, which feature the Japanese cooking method known as "teppanyaki." From mouth-watering steak, tender chicken, succulent seafood and garden-fresh vegetables to a variety of sushi and other Japanese favorites, your meal is prepared fresh and served by a performing chef, right before your eyes.

The Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels (HSH) deals in luxury. The group owns and operates about two dozen deluxe hotels and commercial and residential properties in Asia, Australia, and North America. Its Peninsula Hotel brands are located in major cities such as Bangkok; Beijing; Beverly Hills, California; Chicago; Hong Kong; Manila; New York City, and Tokyo. Its properties also include the Quail Lodge Resort and Gold Club in Carmel, California. HSH is the oldest hotelier in Hong Kong (it was founded in 1866 as the Hongkong Hotel Company). The Kadoorie family controls the company, as it has for more than 100 years.

The Los Angeles Kings Hockey Club entered the National Hockey League in 1967 and has made just one appearance in the Stanley Cup finals. Led by the great Wayne Gretzky, the team reached the championship in 1993 but lost to the Montreal Canadiens. The franchise plays host at the Staples Center, which it shares with the title-laden Los Angeles Lakers basketball team. Denver billionaire Philip Anschutz and Los Angeles developer Edward Roski have owned the Kings since 1995. The partners also own the Staples Center and a minority stake in the Lakers.

EIH Ltd. was founded in 1934 by former chairman Rai Bahadur Mohan Singh Oberoi, who died in 2002 at the age of 103. Asian elegance is the key to running hotels, if you ask EIH (better known as The Oberoi Group). EIH company owns and operates about 30 hotels and luxury cruisers in five countries under the Oberoi Hotels & Resorts and Trident brands. The Oberoi Group operates primarily in India, but also has hotels in Egypt, Indonesia, Mauritius, and Saudi Arabia. In addition, The Oberoi Group operates luxury cruises of the Nile River and India's Kerala region.

The Houston Astros Baseball Club joined Major League Baseball in 1962 as the Colt .45s of the National League (it was renamed in 1965) but have yet to win a World Series championship. The team has been a perennial playoff contender, however, and earned its first pennant in 2005. (Houston lost the World Series that year to the Chicago White Sox, however.) The Astros play host at Minute Maid Park. The team is owned by local businessman Drayton McLane, who's family built a fortune through wholesale food supplier McLane Company.

Roots of LaMar’s Donuts date back to 1933 when Ray LaMar began making donuts at the age of 17. Ray LaMar learned his trade and progressed through management ranks of Jack Frost Do-nuts Company. Ray LaMar recalled his early days of work at Jack Frost Do-nuts Company in LaSalle Theater at 34th and Broadway. “I was paid $12 a week. I worked every day for 2 years before I found out I was supposed to get a day off.” the store opened for retail business at 11am and stayed open until midnight. Back then, a dozen donuts cost 18 cents and cake donuts were either plain or dusted with powdered sugar or granulated sugar and there were yeast donuts. By the early 1940s, Ray LaMar introduced new flavors, devil’s food donuts, chocolate iced donuts and an apple-spice donut, to the menu.

CODERE is a leading Spanish multinational company in the Private Gaming sector in Europe and Latin America. At 31 December 2009, the company managed over 53,700 slot machines, 141 bingo halls, 238 sports facilities, 3 racetracks and 7 casinos in Spain, Italy, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Panama and Uruguay. CODERE is the only Spanish Gaming Sector company that has been listed on the stock exchange since 2007. Codere doesn't need luck because it has built a business on the premise that "the house never loses." A player in the international gaming scene, Codere has operations in Europe and the Americas consisting of slot machines, bingo halls, betting facilities, casinos, and horse tracks. Codere, S.A. operates more than 50,000 slot machines worldwide; more than 130 bingo halls in Spain, Argentina, Mexico, Colombia, and Italy; a horse-racing track in Uruguay; and about 100 off-track betting sites in Brazil, Mexico, and Uruguay.

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