NEWS & NOTES

Emerald Queen Casino in Tacoma, Washington has launched the BetMGM at EQC Sportsbook lounge. The casino is owned and operated by the Puyallup Tribe. The lounge can take wagers on professional and college athletic events that don’t involve Washington state universities. The lounge includes 70 plush leather seats, a 500-square foot screen and more than a dozen 86-inch TVs. A sports betting wall allows patrons to track the latest odds. ● Bet365, a U.K.-based online gaming operator, has been approved to offer mobile sports betting in Colorado by the state’s Limited Gaming Control Commission. Its partner is Century Casino. The license is temporary pending a background check. This brings the number of licensed online sportsbooks in the state to 26. • Snoqualmie Casino has launched Washington State’s first mobile sports betting app three months after opening its first sportsbook. The Snoqualmie Casino Sports mobile app enables sports wagers by registered players within the casinos’ geofence perimeter. • Red Rock Resorts, parent company of Nevada’s Station Casinos, will buy back 6.9 million shares as part of a “modified Dutch auction” process. The company intends to buy back about $350 million in shares as well as pay a $3-per-share dividend. The move is meant to improve Red Rock’s balance sheet as it prepares to build a new $750 million casino in southwest Las Vegas. ● Melco Resorts & Entertainment has announced a strategic partnership with Marriott International that will include a W Hotel at Studio City in Macau. The W Macau is scheduled to open concurrent with Studio City’s Phase 2, in December 2022. It will feature 557 guestrooms including 127 suites, plus wellness facilities, a spa, fitness center and indoor swimming pool. ● The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board has voted to renew the Category 1 racetrack casino license of Harrah’s Philadelphia Casino and Racetrack. The board unanimously agreed that Harrah’s Chester Downs and Marina, LLC, the licensee for the Caesars Entertainment racino, had fulfilled the obligations under its previously approved casino operator’s license, renewing it for an additional five-year period. • The Nevada Gaming Control Board has recommended that casinos be allowed to remotely sign up customers for cashless gaming accounts, rather than have them wait in line at resorts. It potentially sets the stage for a push to change regulations and allow remote sportsbook sign-ups in the future. • The Illinois Racing Board, by a 5-5 vote, denied an off-track betting license for Churchill Downs Inc. for six OTB locations tied to CDI’s Arlington International Racecourse. Board members cited the closure and planned sale of the track by CDI, and the fact that the operator is apparently not interested in opening another track in the state. ● An end to quarantine travel restrictions between Macau and Hong Kong may be in sight. A first-come, first-served quota system could be introduced soon, enabling travelers who have been vaccinated and also take a nucleic acid test. Beijing officials will make the final call. ● The owner of the Jai Alai Fronton in Fern Park, Florida, has partnered with Baltimore-based Cordish Companies to propose a high-end poker room and casino. It will be part of a residential and retail development called Live! Oxford Town Center. Casino gaming would be subject to a vote by Seminole County voters. ● Demolition continues at the former Dan River Mills industrial complex in Danville in preparation for the construction of Caesars Virginia casino. Full demolition will take seven to nine months, according to Caesars. The $500 million resort will include 500 hotel rooms, a state-of-the-art casino floor, a Caesars Sportsbook, a World Series of Poker Room and other amenities. Smokestacks known to locals as the Three Sisters will remain.