NEWS & NOTES

Tropicana Las Vegas will reopen September 1 after being closed since mid-March out of coronavirus concerns. The casino floor will remain at 50 percent capacity in accordance with statewide safety standards. A host of other safety measures will also be in place, according to a statement from the company. • A new Guy Fieri restaurant inside the Choctaw Casino in Durant, Oklahoma, closed just three days after opening due to an employee testing positive for Covid-19. The American Kitchen + Bar, about 90 miles from Dallas on the Texas-Oklahoma border, opened July 7 and closed July 10 for cleaning and disinfection after managers learned of the diagnosis. • A Casino Filipino venue, on the Philippine main island of Luzon was temporarily shut down July 17, after three gaming employees tested positive for Covid-19. The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR) ordered the temporary closure of the casino. Covid-19 cases in the nation reached almost 67,500 as of July 19, and a total of 1,831 people have died. • An employee at the Happy Valley headquarters of the Hong Kong Jockey Club has tested positive to Covid-19. HKJC said it has arranged testing for all staff members and asked anyone who works on the same floor as the employee d to stay home and self-isolate for 14 days. • Pala Casino Spa Resort in Southern California began a series of three outdoor concerts at its Starlight Theater on July 17. General admission tickets were on sale for $10. Guests were asked to wear facial coverings, submit to temperature checks and practice safe social distancing throughout the events. Seats were sanitized as well, the casino said. • Irish football player Igor Labuts, who had previously been issued with a ban from the sport after being found of match fixing, has had his sanction overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. The former Athlone Town goalkeeper said, “I thought this day would never come. I still hope to return to playing professional football at some point and I hope this vindication will help.” • The International Cricket Council has announced the men’s 2020 Twenty20 World Cup, due to take place in Australia in October, has been pushed back to November 2021 as a result of Covid-19. The T20 World Cup is the latest international sporting event to be suspended or cancelled as a result of the pandemic, which also disrupted domestic leagues around the world, and caused the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics. • The Illinois Lottery has announced that it will reopen four of its five Lottery Claim Centers by appointment only starting July 27. The new appointment-only system will help protect the health and safety of players and staff, while managing the volume of players visiting each center by strictly adhering to social distancing and the building capacity guidelines of each facility. No walk-ins will be allowed. • The food and beverage department at Venetian Macao has received ISO 22000:2018 certification for food safety, making it the first and only Macau integrated resort to receive the certification, according to Sands China. ISO certifications are awarded by the London-based British Standards Institution Group, the world’s largest national standards and certification body. • Oshidori International Holdings Ltd., one of three companies planning to bid on an integrated resort license in Nagasaki, Japan, has pledged US$200,000 to support flood relief efforts in the prefecture. “Oshidori believes that philanthropy is a vital part of the social responsibility of all corporate citizens,” said Chairman and CEO Alex Yemenidjian, who joined the company last month in order to accelerate its IR bid. “I hope that our donation will help all the affected families to have a speedy return to normal conditions.” • AEG Presents, the live entertainment company that has managed the Colosseum at Caesars Palace, will partner with Resorts World Las Vegas to develop and program a 5,000-seat venue that will open with the property next summer. The Theatre at Resorts World is designed by Montreal-based Scéno Plus and will feature one of the largest stages on the Strip. • A concert by country music star Garth Brooks is apparently still on for next month at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. According to Applied Analysis principal Jeremy Aguero, “a number of opening events for August and September” at the nearly $2 billion stadium remain scheduled despite widespread concern over Covid-19 safety. • The Black Bear Casino Resort of Carlton, Minnesota, recently announced that it is now 100 percent smoke-free. “Guests will no longer be able to smoke inside of the building,” stated the Facebook post. “We believe that this is the best decision for us to ensure the safety and security of our guests and employees.” The casino added that “at this time, this is a temporary decision.” Black Bear is owned and operated by the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, which also operates the Fond-du-Luth Casino in Duluth. All floors of Fond-du-Luth are smoke-free. • MGM Resorts International’s Vdara Hotel and Spa reopened last week. The hotel, a luxury brand at the Aria on the Strip, has been closed since mid-March because of the coronavirus pandemic and reduced business demand in Las Vegas. Of MGM’s casino-resorts on the Strip, only the Mirage and Park MGM remain closed. • Chinese authorities are planning a cluster of airports in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area by 2025, according to Chinese news agency Xinhua. The Greater Bay Area is a central government initiative to link the economies and people of mainland China’s Guangdong Province and the neighboring Macau and Hong Kong special administrative regions. • Potawatomi Hotel & Casino in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is laying off about 1,600 workers—more than half its workforce—due to the devastating economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. When the casino reopened the week of June 8, it back about 1,000 people out of a workforce of 2,600. Those who remained on furlough are being permanently laid off effective August 15, the casino said. • Monmouth Park in New Jersey set a track record for handle for a non-Breeders’ Cup day when bettors wagered a total of $20,479,392 at the 14-race GI TVG.com Haskell Stakes day card. The record was broken despite restrictions for on-track attendance due to Covid-19 guidelines. • Genting Singapore will be laying off staff as part of cost-cutting measures brought on by the coronavirus. In a statement, Resorts World Sentosa said it made this “difficult decision” to carry out a one-off retrenchment, saying it has already “eliminated non-essential spending and reduced the salaries of management by up to 30 percent.” The company said entrenched staff was offered “fair compensation terms.” Resorts World Sentosa is the home of one of two of Singapore’s casinos. • Also in Singapore, Marina Bay Sands reopened its hotel on July 17 as part of its phased ramp-up. The resort had already resumed operations at its casino, mall, restaurants and other attractions. Two restaurants on the rooftop of the Sands SkyPark will reopen August 4. • Hong Kong-listed gaming and entertainment investor New Silkroad Culturaltainment Ltd. has issued a profit warning on an expected loss of HK$47 million for the six months to 30 June 2020, widened from a loss of HK$23 million over the same period in 2019. In a filing, New Silkroad said the increase in net loss was mainly due to a “significant drop in revenue from the Group’s entertainment business in Jeju, Korea … brought by the outbreak of the novel coronavirus pandemic.” • The $500,000 West Virginia Derby and $200,000 West Virginia Governor’s Stakes races at Mountaineer Racetrack in West Virginia have been cancelled. The races had been scheduled to run without spectators on August 1, but concerns about bringing in owners, trainers and jockeys from out of state to the Chester track made the plan untenable. • Wheeling Island Racetrack in West Virginia has temporarily combined the positions of director of racing and racing secretary at the greyhound track. Kim Florence, regional president and general manager of Wheeling Island Casino and Racetrack, said eliminating the position of director of racing is one of several measures being taken to assure the long-term viability of the racetrack. “We’re in the unfortunate circumstance that Covid-19 has crippled the state of our business,” she said. Commissioner J.B. Akers succeeded Jack Rossi, who was not reappointed to the panel when his term expired in June. • Monarch Casino in Black Hawk, Colorado is expanding with a new hotel, restaurants and more gaming, and is planning to hire 250 new employees. “I would say the gold rush is still alive,” said Erica Ferris, director of marketing for the casino. Colorado’s unemployment rate was around 10.5 percent in June. • Work may not resume any time soon at the site of the MSG Sphere at the Venetian in Las Vegas. Local media reports that a crew has removed scaffolding and shoring from three levels of the construction site, with completion expected later than the original 2021 timeline. Construction on the $1.66 billion Sphere halted in mid-April as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. • An experimental Covid-19 vaccine that has reportedly shown the ability to spur an immune response will be tested in Las Vegas starting this month. • Wake Research-Clinical Research Center of Nevada will be testing a vaccine developed by pharmaceutical company Moderna on 300 to 500 people in Las Vegas. •   As part of the effort to stem the spread of Covid-19, the San Carlos Apache Tribe near Globe, Arizona is using the Apache Gold Casino and Hotel to house positive and presumptive coronavirus patients. As of July 18, there were 90 cases among tribal members, with seven deaths, including five tribe members living off the reservation. • The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office will resume lotto games in all areas under either general or modified community quarantine starting August 4. Lotto games were suspended nationwide March 15. The PCSO will run a series of “catch-up draws” for tickets purchased prior to the March suspension. • Asian casino supplier CTR Group will be fully operational in Las Vegas from the beginning of next month after taking a five-year lease on a 44,000-square-foot facility. CTR USA will manufacture and supplies parts to the casino industry, such as screens, buttons, joysticks, tables and lighting solutions. •   Melco Resorts & Entertainment said the Liaison Office of the Chinese government in Macau has granted it a certificate commending its efforts to prevent Covid-19. The certificate, granted at an award ceremony on July 15 at its Morpheus property, commends both the group’s activities in helping to fight the pandemic in Wuhan and its assistance to Macau’s local associations and the community. • At least 13 employees of the Chumash Casino Resort in Santa Ynez, California have tested positive for Covid-19. The casino reopened last month, having installed more than 1,000 protective barriers. All guests and employees have no-touch temperature checks on entry and are also required to wear masks, though guests can remove masks when at the slots or table games.