NEWS & NOTES

Memorial Weekend marked the debut of the $75 million renovation of Bally’s Atlantic City. The overhaul added a gastropub and a new lobby. Bally’s renovated rooms 750 and suites in its Bally’s Tower, representing more than half the total room inventory, and also created 16 new penthouse suites. The resort’s new Carousel Bar, a 360-degree rotating bar patterned after the Carousel Bar in the Hotel Monteleone in New Orleans—is the lobby centerpiece. The bar includes a 24-seat, elevated rotating bar considered New Jersey’s first with specialty cocktails named after Atlantic City icons. • The Mohegan Tribe of Connecticut has announced a $2 million donation to a Yale University program to fight gambling addiction. It is pursuant to state legislation to create the program in the Department of Psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine. Tribal Chairman James Gessner Jr. commented: “This new partnership with Yale is the next frontier in promoting responsible gambling, and Yale can lead the way in supporting problem gambling programs in Connecticut and nationally.” • The Oregon Council on Problem Gambling Research Center is requesting proposals for its first funding cycle. The program encourages research to find solutions to problem gambling through services. It promotes research in play protection and help promotion, prevention and treatment and policy proposals. • The Gaming Regulation and Inspection Service of Portugal has approved draft regulation to allow crash games. These house-banked games allow players to play against the operator. They are based on a multiplier, which increases from one to 100 during the game. The goal is to withdraw your bet before the game ends, receiving the initial bet times the multiplier. If they don’t, they lose it all. • The Hellenic Gaming Commission has lifted the €2 maximum wager on online casinos (slots and table games) to €20 effective immediately. The change came after a one-year review of Greece’s relaunched gaming regime by the Ministry of Finance. • A casino cruise brand controlled by Malaysian entrepreneur Lim Kok Thay will launch from Singapore June 15, fewer than five months after the Lim family-founded Dream Cruises brand of the Genting Hong Kong Ltd casino cruise group entered liquidation. Resorts World Cruises’ Genting Dream will include a Resorts World Casino and may eventually operate casino cruises to destinations in Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. • A report from the Asian Racing Federation has found that about 61 percent of online betting sites are operating illegally, especially in Asia. In its analysis of 534 global betting sites in 61 jurisdictions, ARF found that less than 40 percent were actually classified as licensed and regulated. Three jurisdictions were responsible for licensing almost two-thirds of the sites deemed as underregulated: Curacao, Malta and the Philippines. • A five-star hotel and casino complex at the Westside City Project in Manila is expected to open in 2024, according to the property’s promoter, Suntrust Home Developers Inc. Suntrust is 51 percent indirectly owned by Hong Kong-listed Suncity Group Holdings. • On May 16, a Florida woman won a $1.3 million jackpot on Aristocrat Gaming’s Dragon Link slot game at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tampa. This marks the third progressive jackpot over $1 million on the popular Aristocrat game at the Tampa casino and is the seventh $1M jackpot to hit on the Dragon Link slot game at a Seminole property in the past six months. • Starting May 27, Macau opened its borders to non-resident Portuguese nationals. According to the SAR’s Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre, Portuguese travelers may enter as long as they have only been to Mainland China, Hong Kong, or Portugal within the previous 21 days and not to foreign countries, “although transit is permissible.” • The Horseshoe Hammond Casino in Hammond, Indiana, a Caesars Entertainment property, recently partnered with the Food Bank of Northwest Indiana to sort and pack 192 boxes of perishable foods for seniors in need as part of the Senior Pantry Pack Initiative. Twenty volunteers from the casino assisted in the initiative. In addition to volunteering, the Horseshoe Hammond team also donated $20,000 to further support the organization’s philanthropic efforts. • Wynn Macau Ltd. is asking some management-level staff to take 10 percent of their monthly base pay in company stock. The optional plan runs from June 1 to December 31. The Asian arm of Wynn Resorts operates the Wynn Macau and Wynn Palace resorts in the Chinese gambling hub. Earlier this month, two senior Macau-based executives of Wynn Resorts and group CEO Craig Billings voluntarily reduced the cash amount of their base salary for the remainder of 2022, in exchange for share options or restricted shares. • Macau casino concessionaire SJM Holdings will guarantee the jobs of shuttered satellite casinos linked to the group, says co-chairwoman and executive director Angela Leong. There are 18 satellite casinos among 40 total casinos in Macau, with 14 of these third-party promoted casinos running under the SJM license. A proposed gaming law amendment indicated that satellites would have to close in three years if the property was not wholly owned by a concessionaire. That amendment has since been amended to allow them to continue operating. • A total of 22 people were arrested in Macau and Hong Kong last month for allegedly running a cross-border money laundering ring that handled HK$1.1 billion (US$136 million) in illicit funds. The group opened more than 100 bank accounts in Hong Kong and sent its members to Macau to use Hong Kong ATM cards to withdraw money. More suspects are believed to be on the lam. • PayNearMe, a California-based electronic payment and billing company, has announced that its MoneyLine platform for processing sports betting payments has been approved in Arkansas. This will be the 19th state that MoneyLine will operate in, and it will run through the mobile app BetSaracen, which is offered by Pine Bluff’s Saracen Casino Resort. • A petition by Las Vegas residents would save the iconic Mirage Volcano from demolition. With over 6,000 signatures thus far, it argues that “From day one, the Volcano has been delighting the Mirage’s visitors to what is an increasingly rare and totally awesome free Vegas attraction and highly emotional experience.” MGM Resorts International sold the property to Hard Rock International for just over $1 billion back in December. Hard Rock plans to demolish the Volcano to make room for a new guitar-shaped property. • Melco Resorts & Entertainment has announced the opening of a new “family-friendly” attraction at its Studio City integrated resort in Macau, known as “Super Fun Zone.” The 29,000 square-foot complex will open near the end of June, and will feature recreational activities such as climbing walls, playgrounds, and go-karts. In a company release, Melco CEO David Sisk said that the project was partially motivated by a desire to “invest in and promote economic diversification.” • L’Auberge Casino & Hotel Baton Rouge has announced that it is closing its Stadium Sports Bar & Grill restaurant to make room for a Barstool Sportsbook. The renovations are expected to cost around $6.7 million, and the new location is slated to open sometime in November of this year. It will be the first permanent sportsbook in Baton Rouge. • Workers in Macau’s gaming industry, including casinos, junkets and lotteries, accounted for 26.5 percent of the city’s underemployed population in the first quarter. That was down 54.8 percent from the last quarter of 2021, according to the Q1 employment survey, published in May by the city’s Statistics and Census Service.