NEWS & NOTES

The Reno-Sparks gaming market welcomed 5 million visitors in 2018, the most for the Northern Nevada region since 2007. The Reno-Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority attributed the performance to a strong national economy, beefed-up marketing efforts and the arrival of high-profile companies such as Apple, Google and Tesla. The RSCVA board has approved a $10.7 million sales and marketing budget for the upcoming fiscal year, up from $1.6 million in 2012. • Las Vegas’ Culinary Union Local 226 said it has reached agreement on a new five-year labor contract for 1,300 workers at the Stratosphere Las Vegas casino hotel. Details of the agreement, covering bartenders, housekeepers, cocktail and food servers, porters, bellmen, cooks and other kitchen workers, were not immediately available. • Imperial Pacific Resort, a property of Hong Kong-listed casino investor Imperial Pacific International Holdings Ltd., is suing 13 gamblers for a total of US$12.75 million in unpaid debts. The customers received credit lines ranging from US$100,000 to US$6.2 million. IP operates on the island of Saipan, in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. ● Macau’s first Green Hotel Platinum Award was awarded to the Venetian Macao for its environmental sustainability practices. The Sands China property uses energy-saving LED lights; provides charging facilities for electric vehicles; performs regular carbon audits; has reduced its food waste; and initiated other measures. ● A new exhibition at MGM Macau, called “Art Is Play,” features five artists who created work that is interactive and photo-worthy. The exhibition at MGM Art Space will be open until September 9. ● Genting Hong Kong has announced an agreement with Finnish marine turnkey company Almaco to outfit its fleet of cruise ships due for completion in 2021. Almaco will provide cabins, wet units, public spaces, galleys, provision stores, refrigeration machinery and living quarters at a total cost of HK$759.2 million (US$97 million). ●   Las Vegas Monorail Co. has requested permission from Clark County to build a station, the line’s eighth, at the Shoppes at Mandalay Place on the Las Vegas Strip. The request is part of $23.6 million worth of construction permits filed to support connecting the 3.9-mile route to the Mandalay Bay Convention Center and bringing riders within walking distance of the stadium being built for the NFL’s Las Vegas Raiders. • Ina Chan, the third wife of aging Macau casino tycoon Stanley Ho, has been appointed an executive director of SJM Holdings, the parent company of Ho’s casinos, and granted options on 3 million shares. Chan was named to SJM’s board following Ho’s recent retirement as chairman at the age of 96. He has been succeeded by his daughter Daisy Ho in a board vote that also confirmed Timothy Fok and Angela Leong, Ho’s fifth wife, as co-chairs and long-time CEO Ambrose So as vice chair. • Nevada Gold & Casinos (NYSE: UWIN) is selling its Club Fortune casino in the Las Vegas suburb of Henderson to Truckee Gaming for $14.6 million. Following completion of the sale, the company plans to close its office in Las Vegas and move its corporate headquarters to its Washington Gold office near Seattle, saving about $1.2 million in expenses a year. UWN bought Club Fortune in 2015 for $14.1 million in cash and 1.2 million shares. • MGM Resorts International has been named an honoree of the 2018 Civic 50, a Points of Light initiative that promotes national standards for superior corporate citizenship in areas including environmental awareness, diversity and gender equity, community service and volunteerism. • Hard Rock Rocksino Northfield Park has been named a “Top Work Place” in Northeast Ohio in the Plain Dealer’s hospitality section. This is the third year in a row the racino won this honor. The paper employed a Philadelphia-based research firm, Energage, to survey more than 2.5 million employees at more than 6,000 organizations. The racino has been operating for four and a half years. • The Cahuilla Casino of Southern California, which operates near Temecula in Riverside County, last week opened the Cahuilla Classics Room that offers 38 “classic” slot machines such as Cleopatra, Sizzling 7s and Penny Train. “Offering the Cahuilla Classics Room to our valued guests gives them a special experience that they can’t get anywhere else. We give our players more with machines that they’ve played over the years, and have grown to love,” said Edgar Tibayan, director of slots operations. The casino has almost 350 slots. • Foxwoods Resort Casino has unveiled Authentic Roulette, a platform developed by Authentic Gaming, where players anywhere in the world can play a live table game. The first table to deploy this technology will be in the Club Newport VIP Lounge of the Grand Pequot Tower. Any number of online players can watch and place wagers. “This groundbreaking partnership is uniting players across the globe for a one-of-a-kind gaming experience,” declared Seth Young, executive director of online gaming at Foxwoods. The experience will include promotions to encourage online players to visit the actual location. • Six weeks into a strike, workers at Hard Rock Casino in Coquitlam, British Columbia, reached a tentative agreement with Great Canadian Gaming Corp. Workers joined the province’s public-sector employees’ union two years ago. If ratified, this will be the first collective agreement between them and Great Canadian. They began mediation two weeks ago after 400 workers spent six weeks without pay. The casino remained open. • The Mashantucket Pequot Tribe seeks to extend the hours of serving alcohol at Foxwoods Resort Casino. It is responding to the successful request by rival MGM Springfield to serve alcohol until 2 a.m.