NEWS & NOTES

Australia’s Sportsbet has been able to temporarily block Crownbet’s proposed name change to Sportingbet in court. Crownbet is seeking the name change after Crown Resorts sold its interest in the company to the Stars Group. Sportsbet argued that the proposed brand name ‘Sportingbet’ was substantially similar to Sportsbet and likely to “mislead or deceive” customers. It won a preliminary injunction leaving Crownbet with a decision on whether to continue the rebranding or pick another name. Crownbet said in a statement that it was considering the court’s decision and its options. • The Rising Star Casino in Indiana July 12 was scheduled to christen a ferry boat to serve Ohio across the Indiana River. The casino will own and operate the ferry. The exact date the ferry will begin serving the towns of Boone County, including Rabbit Hash, has not been announced. It will run seven days a week, every 15 minutes, greatly shortening the commute between Rising Sun and Rabbit Hash. • EquiLottery LLC, the Kentucky Lottery and Roberts Communication are finalizing the video streaming agreement for a pilot program for “Win, Place, Show” which will launch next March and feature 45 locations in Louisville, Lexington and Northern Kentucky. The streaming video will provide live and archived videos of horse races for free to lottery players and drum up interest in the sport of horse racing by allowing live streaming of the races. • Hard Rock Casino in Coquitlam, British Columbia continued in a strike last week as workers narrowly rejected a tentative agreement with Great Canadian Gaming. The strike is now two months old and involves about 400 employees. The casino remains open, staffed by management. The B.C. Government and Service Employees’ Union says a major bone of contention was management’s elimination of poker and craps tables, among the highest paid positions. • Jocs SA has won the bid for a contract to operate a new proposed casino development in the tiny landlocked European country of Andorra, beating out 12 other bids, including the much bigger competitors Malaysia’s Genting Group and Spain’s Cirsa. Jocs SA is allied with Austrian gaming equipment manufacturer Novomatic AG. Genting bid €140 million, with Jocs bidding €15 million for a six-floor, four story building. Jocs must now apply for a Class A gambling license. Genting and other biddings could appeal the decision. • The Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation is less than a year from completing a $200 million expansion to its Cache Creek Casino Resort, including a new hotel with 459 rooms, which will double the number of available rooms. Construction began March 2017 on a project that will include, beside the hotel, a pool, ballroom, addition dining space and a 118 unit parking lot. A spokesman for the tribe said, “The need for additional hotel rooms has been there.” • Macau labor group Professional for Gaming of New Macau has petitioned Melco Resorts’ City of Dreams Macau seeking higher employer contributions to a retirement fund. Activist Cloee Chao says the benefits are calculated on base pay rather than full pay; with salary, tips and benefits, full pay can sometimes be double the base amount. ● MGM China is Institutional Investor’s most honored company for the fourth year in a row. The Macau-based company won 15 awards in the categories of gaming and lodging, corporate governance and investor relations, among others. Grant Bowie was named Best CEO. ● In a July 4 raid, Macau’s Judiciary Police detained 13 people at Cotai casinos following an anti-crime operation targeting illicit money exchanges. It followed a similar operation on June 12 that resulted in the detention of eight mainlanders. Police recorded 18 cases of illicit money exchange at casino hotels in 2017, as compared to five cases in 2016. ● The operator of the Widus Hotel and Casino at Clark Freeport Zone in the Philippines plans to list shares on the Philippine Stock Exchange after Phase II of its current expansion, including a 380-room hotel tower, is completed in 2020. President and CEO Han Daesik will postpone an initial public offering for now, because trading conditions would be “much better in a couple of years because of big infrastructure projects” including a monorail project that will link Clark and Manila and a new airport. ● Macau’s Legislative Assembly is considering a government-backed bill that would ban local gaming workers from entering casinos outside work hours. The move aims to curb problem gambling among casino employees, particularly dealers, though cage staff, food and beverage workers, surveillance personnel and maintenance staff are also be included in the ban. ● Macau (Yat Yuen) Canidrome Co. Ltd., the dog racing facility set to close this month, has received 127 adoption applications for an estimated 650 racing greyhounds that must be rehomed. Animal rights groups led by legislator Sulu Sou Ka Hou have asked the SAR government to strictly regulate adoptions to prevent the illegal trafficking of dogs. ● Michael Shaunnessy will be replaced by Victor Mena as president and CEO of casino and slot route operator Nevada Gold & Casinos when the company moves its headquarters to Seattle from Las Vegas. Mena is currently the VP of the company’s Washington operations. • Shaquille O’Neal plans to film a reality show about his new restaurant slated to open near the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas later this year. Big Chicken, a 2,800-square-foot joint venture between the former NBA star and JRS Hospitality, will be featured as a show on Facebook. JRS runs a portfolio of restaurants and bars at Paris Las Vegas and The Linq Promenade. • MGM Resorts International has announced that single-use plastic straws will only be served upon request at company-operated restaurants in the United States. In a move motivated by environmental concerns, both single-use plastic “stir straws” and drinking straws have been removed from casino floors, buffets, cafes, bars and lounges and restaurants.