NEWS & NOTES

The Nevada Gaming Commission has approved Tilman Fertitta’s recent purchase of Hard Rock Lake Tahoe, which will be renovated and rebranded under Fertitta’s Golden Nugget brand, which already operates casinos in downtown Las Vegas and other regional markets around the U.S. The total amount of the all-cash deal was undisclosed, but the billionaire has vowed to inject over $200 million into the property, including a new convention facility that was just announced in recent weeks. • The Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission (VGCCC) has fined the Australian Leisure and Hospitality Group (ALH) a total of US$352,390 after the regulator discovered that ALH had been operating some 220 gaming machines without installing them with YourPlay, the new pre-commitment software that has become mandatory for all machines statewide. An additional US$32,050 was also tacked on for court fees. The charges were first levied in November of last year, and the original fine was set to be US$865,500 but was lowered after ALH agreed to a guilty plea. • Legalizing online gambling two years ago has doubled the amount of taxes that the government of the Netherlands has collected on the gambling sector to nearly €1 billion, the NL Times reported August 28.These figures come from Statistics Netherlands, which reported on the windfall the government has realized since the fall of 2021, when the Dutch government made online gambling legal for Dutch citizens, as long as the sites are licensed. So successful is the new industry that 5 percent of the population gambled on the sites in 2022. This combined with the end of the Covid restrictions allowed Holland Casinos to accept guests once more. This brought Dutch gambling tax receipts to €1 900 million.