NEWS & NOTES

Paradise City resort in Incheon, South Korea has announced it is opening an outdoor swimming pool for its guests—with social distancing measures in place, even in the water. Sun chairs will be spaced widely around the pool, and water quality checks will be conducted three times a day. Paradise City also announced a promotion it hopes will bring back visitation: it put its new Wonderbox indoor theme park up for rent for individual parties. • The 13th TTG China Travel Awards has selected MGM Cotai as the “Best Meeting and Conventions Hotel in Macau.” MGM Cotai offers 39,000 square feet of combined event space including a pillar-less ballroom, semi-open-air vista, grand salons and conference rooms, and a boardroom for private meetings. MGM Theater is Asia’s first dynamic theater that can hold up to 2,000 people in multiple seating configurations. • Ocean Casino Resort in Atlantic City is celebrating its second anniversary by giving away 100 hotel room nights to people who share their stories about missing special celebrations like weddings and anniversaries due to Covid-19. One grand prize winner will receive the “Ultimate Celebration Package” that includes a two-night stay, round trip transportation, meals and more. • Swedish gaming regulator Spelinspektionen has issued cease-and-desist orders to 10 operators targeting Swedish consumers without a license. The businesses have been ordered to withdraw 45 brands in total from the market. Since December, the regulator has ordered 21 operators to stop targeting players in the market, the highest profile of these being 1xBet. • Casino equipment maker and distributor RGB International Bhd says it will not pay a final dividend for the financial year that ended December 31 “due to the socio-economic uncertainties arising from the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.” The company had already paid MYR4.6 million (US$1.1 million) in dividends for that financial year, “representing 12 percent of 2019 net profit.” • Suncity Group Holdings has provided an additional US$46 million deposit through its Philippines subsidiary Suntrust Home Developers to Westside City Resort World, a subsidiary of Travellers International Hotel Group. In February, Suncity announced that SunTrust had signed a 20-year lease agreement with Westside to develop and operate its casino hotel. The lease agreement is set to run until August 2039, with an option to extend it for a period not less than 25 years. • The Indiana Horse Racing Commission has approved changes to the 2020 Indiana Thoroughbred racing program, including a reduced number of races totaling 206 restricted Thoroughbred races. The six Indiana Signature Stakes, which typically pay out $150,000, have been reduced to $100,000, while the other 22 restricted Indiana-bred and Indiana-sired stakes will be contested at $75,000. In total, the restricted stakes will pay more than $2 million in 2020. • Philippines gaming regulator PAGCOR has remitted an additional PHP5 billion in cash dividends to the National Treasury to fight Covid-19, for a total contribution from its 2019 coffers to PHP17 billion (US$341 million). “There’s a need to infuse more funds to the government’s effort in battling the Covid-19 pandemic,” said PAGCOR Chairwoman and CEO Andrea Domingo.