NEWS & NOTES

Officials from Brightline West, the company looking to build the high-speed rail system connecting Las Vegas to Southern California, have indicated that ground could be broken on the long-delayed project by the end of the year if things continue to go right. According to a recent update from Tracy Larkin Thomason, director of the Nevada Department of Transportation, the focus is on securing funding for the $12 billion project, but the company has already secured environmental impact permits, which is typically one of the biggest hurdles for similar developments. ● A Dragon Link slots player won more than $1.6 million after hitting a jackpot recently at Wynn Las Vegas. The Florida resident placed a $750 wager on a Panda Magic slot machine when the casino guest hit the grand progressive jackpot, earning a total of $1,614,758.09 in winnings, according to a casino spokesperson. ● Brazil is the third largest consumer of betting sites, following the United States and Great Britain, Yogonet reported August 15. The next largest consumers of sites were India and Italy. A study done by Comscore reported that Brazil’s consumption of betting sites had reached 42.5 million unique users. The survey noted that the category has increased 281 percent since 2019, reaching 2 billion minutes per month, and representing 32 percent of the country’s digital population, with the four fifths of that done on mobile devices. This was attributed to the popularization of online betting, the expanding reach of the internet and the advancement of technology, along with widening interest in sporting events in Brazil.