NEWS & NOTES

Scientific Games CEO Barry Cottle has signed a three-year extension of his contract, according to information filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Cottle’s new three-year deal is effective June 1, and will bring a slight increase in his base salary, from $1.75 million to 1.8 million. • Nevada-based investment firm TransAtlantic Capital has struck a deal to acquire Kenyan lottery and betting operator Surebet. TransAtlantic says the deal makes it the first U.S. business to acquire an East African gaming platform. There is an estimated 5 million daily active mobile players in the Kenyan market. • U.K.-based property group Hammerson and Irish Life has been denied permission to develop a casino at the Ilac Centre in Dublin. Hammerson and Irish Life co-own the shopping complex, and asked authorities for permission to place a casino in an existing vacant retail unit in the Ilac Centre. Dublin City Council rejected the request over concerns that a casino would set a precedent for allowing gaming on primary shopping streets in the city center. • Lord of the Pot (LOTP), an online sportsbook aimed at esports and sports fans, has been granted a B2C license by the Isle of Man Gambling Supervision Commission. After receiving the necessary approval from the regulator, LOTP has now entered the final stages of preparation to launch its offering. Prior to launch, LOTP will integrate live fantasy and parimutuel games from software provider Tokigames. ● The Resorts World Genting casino complex at Genting Heights in Malaysia has extended its “temporary closure” until February 18 on order of the local government. RWG previously announced it would reopen February 4. ● The Ilani Casino on the Cowlitz Reservation in Washington state has opened a six-story, million-square-foot parking structure with more than 2,700 spaces, with enough space to add more than 1,000 additional spaces. To mark the opening, the Cowlitz tribe hosted a private race featuring Michael Andretti traveling down one of the garage’s speed ramps in an edible cake car. The car was a replica of Andretti’s 1991 IndyCar National Championship race car. ● Rivers Casino in Des Plaines, Illinois, run by Chicago-based Midwest Gaming and Entertainment has asked for permission to build a two-story addition and “various site adjustments” at the 140,000-square-foot casino. In January, Rivers was the best-performing casino in the state with total adjusted gross receipts of approximately $8.7 million. ● The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority has approved a pair of easement agreements to permit construction of a tunnel linking Resorts World Las Vegas with the Las Vegas Convention Center. The board also OK’d a transformer for a charging station for Tesla vehicles that will be used in the Boring Co.’s Convention Center Loop underground people-mover system. ● After a months-long shutdown, Black Hawk, Colorado casinos have reopened their table games again. Most tables will be capped at three guests, who must use hand sanitizer before sitting at any table. ● The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR) will allow an increase in seating capacity at poker tables in licensed non-casino poker rooms. The Philippine gaming regulator said the decision hangs on “strict compliance with the 1-metre distance between seats” as a precaution against the spreading of Covid-19; and on condition that there was “installation of acrylic walls or barriers in between seats”; as well as mandatory face masks and face shields “by all persons inside the club.” ● Governor Ralph Torres of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands has signed a bill that reduces the compensation for incoming members of the Tinian Casino Gaming Control Commission from $75,000 annually to $55,000. The cost-cutting measure was a result of plummeting casino revenues due to the closure of the Tinian Dynasty Hotel & Casino. Also in the CNMI, House Floor Leader Ralph N. Yumul has given up his membership in the House Gaming Committee. Yumul is the brother of former Senator Ray N. Yumul, IPI’s new chief executive officer. ● El Cortez Hotel & Casino in Downtown Las Vegas has opened a high-roller area consisting of two blackjack tables with $2,000 limits and three slot machines with bet ranges of up to $500. The area, located next to the casino cage, is the first of its kind at the 80-year-old East Fremont Street landmark, which recently underwent a $25 million renovation and remodeling.