NEWS & NOTES

New York City’s sports organizations are now authorized to use their venues to raise money for charity under a bill signed by Mayor Eric Adams. The new law authorizes sporting venues that include the Yankee Stadium, Citi Field, and Madison Square Garden to hold raffles and other “games of chance.” Such games will allow sporting organizations to collaborate with charities to increase their philanthropic work, reports The Center Square. Until now, only charities could conduct specified “games of chance,” or as the Administrative Code puts it, games “in which prizes are awarded on the basis of a designated winning number or numbers, color or colors, symbol or symbols,” such as raffle tickets. • MGM Resorts International says it did nothing wrong in its dealings with a New York City man who has sued the operator, accusing MGM of preying on his gambling addiction with repeated cash bonuses. In court papers, MGM said Sam Antar, a twice-jailed “fraudster” who repeatedly victimized friends, relatives and strangers, is engaging in “his latest scheme” by falsely accusing MGM of wrongdoing, according to a report in the Associated Press. MGM is asking a federal judge to dismiss Antar’s lawsuit and refer the matter to arbitration, which it says is required by the terms of service to which Antar agreed when he opened an online gambling account with the company. • l’Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ) of France and Gaming Commission de Kansspelcommissie (KSC) of Belgium June 6 signed a cooperation protocol to work together. The ceremony occurred at the Gambling Regulators’ European Forum (GREF) event. Signing the document were ANJ president Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin and Magali Clavie, president of KSC. Under its terms, the two organizations will share information and collaborate on regulatory matters. They will also work together to fight fraud, money laundering and terrorist financing. • A total of 30 Albertsons grocery stores in Nevada were recommended for licensing by the Nevada Gaming Control Board June 7 with Jett Gaming LLC designated as the slot route operators for the stores. Each location will be capped at 15 total machines. Even though the stores were already previously licensed, the company had to submit new paperwork and applications after switching route providers.The matter will now proceed to the Nevada Gaming Commission on June 22. • Taxi fares in Las Vegas will soon be increasing, per the Nevada Taxicab Authority. The drop rate, or the base fee charged when a ride begins, will go from $3.50 to $5.25, and the ongoing rate after that will be 37 cents per every one-eighth mile driven, up from the current standard of 23 cents per every one-twelfth mile. The rate for a taxi to wait for a rider at a location will remain unchanged at $32.40 per hour. The fees associated with the 3-zone flat-rate program enacted in 2019—which runs from Sunset Road to Tropicana Avenue, Tropicana to Flamingo Road and Flamingo to the Strat—all jumped by two dollars. No implementation date has yet been set.