NEWS & NOTES

Westgate Las Vegas’ SuperBook sports betting operation is going national under the leadership of Vice President of Sports Operations Jay Kornegay. Plans are to franchise the SuperBook brand in casinos in regulated jurisdictions through a separate company, similar to the business model pioneered in the U.S. by William Hill, which contracts with casinos seeking third-party operations experience. • Caesars Entertainment President and CEO Mark Frissora bought 100,000 CZR shares on August 3 in open market purchases totaling $955,000, or $9.55 a share. He now owns 2 million shares directly, including unvested restricted stock, and shares through a separate trust and through a family member. CFO Eric Hession bought 10,000 shares the same day for $95,400, an average of $9.54 per share. He now owns 607,250 shares, including unvested restricted shares. • MGM Resorts International is adding a 20 percent service charge at the spas and salons at Aria, Bellagio, Vdara, Mandalay Bay and Delano Las Vegas on the Las Vegas Strip. The fee, which commences the end of this month, brings the properties in line with The Mirage, Excalibur, Luxor, MGM Grand and New York-New York, which already have a service charge. • Rock legends Aerosmith are coming to the Las Vegas Strip next spring for an 18-show residency at the Park Theater at Park MGM. Tickets go on sale August 24 for the performances, which kick off April 6, 2019, and continue through June and July. • From January through July, Macau’s Health Bureau conducted 512 inspections in casinos and charged 964 people with illegal smoking. The number of charges increased 111.4 percent year on year; about 88 percent of those charged were tourists. ● Marina Bay Sands flew the Singapore flag today during the recent National Day observance. National Day is held each year on August 9 to mark Singapore’s liberation from Malaysia in 1965. ● The Macau government will create an online database accessible by casino operators listing people barred from entering gaming floors. Of 233 names added to the registry in the first half of this year, 85.8 percent were requests for self-exclusion. • IP Casino in Biloxi and Sam’s Town in Tunica, Mississippi have contracted with IGT to provide the sportsbook platform. The state recently legalized sports betting and MGM’s Beau Rivage and Gold Strike began offering it. IGT systems will be deployed to both casinos and will accept standard and in-play bets. Betting remains restricted to the casino property. Sports book will be available on IGT kiosks. • Ohio’s Hard Rock Rocksino led Ohio’s casinos whose total state gaming revenues in July exceeded $158 million. This was a 21.7 percent increase over 2017, according to the state lottery and casino control commissions. Ohio’s seven racinos pulled the revenue increase along, with a 5.2 percent increase, to $88.9 million. This made up for a 0.3 percent decline from the state’s four Las Vegas style casinos. • Foxwoods Resort Casino has opened the two-story Branford’s Stony Creek Brewery, one of the largest breweries in Connecticut. Its ground floor has a beer garden and deck with a view of the brewhouse with the second story devoted to a California-theme bar, live entertainment and banquet table. This is the casino’s third addition to open since 2017. • The Sho-Ka-Wah casino, owned by the Hopland Band of Pomo Indians in Hopland, Northern California, closed “temporarily” last week due to the Mendocino Complex fire and then announced it would continue to remain closed to finish its planned renovations and remodel. A short time later, on August 7, the casino announced that it would be laying off all its team members. No word on when the employees will be rehired or when the casino will reopen.