NEWS & NOTES

Las Vegas’ Stratosphere Casino, Hotel and Tower is changing its name to The Strat. The 22-year-old landmark, best-known for its freestanding observation tower, the tallest in the U.S. at 1,149 feet, was purchased by Las Vegas-based Golden Entertainment last year. The company has since begun refurbishing the resort, adding two new restaurants and a new race and sports book. • Work has begun on the Las Vegas Strip’s 17th pedestrian bridge, this one connecting Park MGM and the Showcase Mall. Like other existing pedestrian bridges on the Strip, the new span will have escalators and elevators on both sides. It is expected to open in July. • Britney Spears is launching her second Las Vegas residency, this time at Park MGM’s Park Theater. “Britney: Domination” will run from February through August. The pop singer previously played 250 shows at Planet Hollywood in a residency that concluded in 2017. • The fledgling Alliance of American Football will stage its first championship game in Las Vegas at Sam Boyd Stadium on April 27. The eight-team league, which does not have a franchise in Las Vegas, will play 10 regular season games beginning February 9. • Clark County Family Court has created a new division to handle cases involving non-violent offenders suffering from gambling disorders. Designed to allow such defendants to seek help rather than face prison time the division began accepting referrals from Criminal Court judges on October 19. The court plans to work with the Nevada Council on Problem Gambling to direct defendants to resources and treatment options around the Southern Nevada region. • The Plaza Hotel and Casino is opening Las Vegas’ first permanent equestrian center adjacent to the property at Main and Fremont streets. In conjunction with the Plaza’s sponsorship of the National Finals Rodeo, which is held annually in the city, the facility will feature 200 horse stalls (80 of them available year-round), two outdoor arenas for roping practice and exercise, veterinarian services and 24-hour on-site security. • The Hotel Lan Kwai Fong in Macau will be renamed the Million Dragon Hotel after its renovation is complete. The hotel is located in the ZAPE district has an SJM-licensed casino with 84 gaming tables and 65 slot machines. ● The 357-unit Hilton Manila is set to open near Ninoy Aquino International Airport in advance of All Souls weekend starting November 2. With the growth in business and leisure travel in the Philippines, GM Simon McGrath says the “staycation market” will be a major part of the hotel’s business. ● The major structure at the Macau Arcade Plaza was topped off on October 12. The plaza is one of the first entrants into the Guangdong-Macau Cooperation Industrial Park in Hengqin New Area and is scheduled to open next year. It has been promoted as a regional international business center that includes wholesale and retail venues, leisure and entertainment, plus commercial office buildings and hotels. ● The St. Regis Zhuhai opened October 18 on the 41st to 72nd floors of the Zhuhai Tower in the Hengqin Shizimen Central Business District. The luxury hotel is Marriott’s second collaboration with Huafa Group following the launch of the Sheraton Zhuhai Hotel in 2015. ● Officials of Pennsylvania’s Caernarvon Township approved amendments to two ordinances involving zoning and sign placement that would clear the way for the township to host a mini-casino. While there are no current plans for one of the 750-machine facilities to be placed in the township, officials of Penn National Gaming have had discussions with the township on the subject. Allen Styer, chairman of the township’s Board of Supervisors, told the Reading Eagle that a mini-casino would bring quality ancillary business with it. “If you get a casino, there’s a good chance these businesses will come into the community,” he said. • When Localhost Arena opens in Lakewood, Colorado in November it will host 18,000 square feet of esports brought to customers by Philadelphia-based N3rd Street Gamers, the largest such arena in the state. The Denver esports community asked N3rd to move to the Mile High City. Several Colorado universities have esports clubs and leagues and ESPN covers league games and playoffs. The arena will hold 1,000 people and feature 120 custom gaming PC’s featuring Xbox, PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Switch. • Gun Lake Casino in Wayland, Michigan, has a pilot program facial recognition technology from the California firm VSBLTY that gathers data on players’ emotional state. “This software is designed to not only enhance the guest experience, but to create a virtual perimeter around the casino floor to analyze player behaviors, further gamify player engagement, all while augmenting security operations to make Gun Lake even safer,” said VSBLTY CEO Jay Hutton. This will also enable gauging how marketing efforts affect individuals and to target messages to individual reactions. • An Austrian court has ordered a €2.5 million judgment be paid by Novomatic to a man it found was addicted to gambling and couldn’t control himself. Over 10 years from 2002-2012 the man spent about 2 million euros playing on machines operated by Novomatic in Vienna. An expert witness declared that the man was “partially incapacitated” by his addiction. The Australian firm, one of the largest gaming companies in the world, says it will appeal. • Acting on a request of the Utah Attorney General’s Office, Senator Tod Weiler has introduced a bill that would clarify that sweepstakes games that function like slot machines violates the state’s law against gambling. Weiler said state law hasn’t kept up with developments in technology and his bill would clarify that. “This bill is designed to beef up our definition of gambling,” he said. Such games, often found at gas stations, rely on chance and provide tokens or other credits. His bill was unanimously voted out of the Judiciary Interim Committee last week.