The Nevada Gaming Control Board has approved Golden Entertainment’s $190 million purchase of Laughlin’s Colorado Belle and Edgewater casinos from Marnell Gaming. If approved by the state Gaming Commission this week, the deal will give the company three casinos in the Colorado River town with a combined 2,600 slot machines, 70 table games and 4,150 hotel rooms. Publicly traded Golden (Nasdaq: GDEN) currently owns three casinos in Las Vegas (seven in Nevada in all), a casino in Maryland, an extensive chain of machine gaming taverns in Nevada and slot route operations in Nevada and Montana. • Topgolf and TV manufacturer TCL will open an esports lounge in Las Vegas in January, the first in the partnership’s planned rollout of six such venues nationwide. Topgolf, which specializes in experiential sports entertainment, said the Las Vegas site will host a variety of tournaments, special events and viewing parties. • Israel’s El Al Airlines is launching non-stop weekend service between Las Vegas and Tel Aviv starting in June. The route, which will run Boeing 787 Dreamliners with economy, premium- and business-class seating, brings the number of El Al’s North American non-stop destinations to seven. The others are New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Miami, San Francisco and Toronto. • Boyd Gaming has filed with the Nevada Public Utilities Commission to take its 12 Las Vegas casinos out of the NV Energy system. If the application is approved, Las Vegas-based Boyd will buy power privately on the open market beginning September 2019. Boyd is the seventh area company this year looking to leave the utility and the seventh casino operator since 2015. • The $156 million hotel remodeling under way at the Flamingo Las Vegas will include 14 new bunk bed rooms and several bunk bed suites. The suites will feature a living area and kitchenette and two queen beds, each with a full-sized bunk. The rooms will contain two queen beds with a full-size bunk. The renovation, encompassing 976 rooms in all, is slated for completion the end of this month. The bunk bed rooms will open in February, according to Caesars Entertainment. • Snoqualmie Casino, near Seattle, Washington, has formed a partnership with the Seattle Seahawks NFL team. The casino, now celebrating its tenth anniversary, will now use the team’s log for advertising and promotional purposes. Snoqualmie Casino CEO Brian Decorah declared, “We have been a Seahawks sponsor and suite holder since we opened in 2008, so we are looking forward to the enhanced opportunities our newly expanded partnership will create.” More NFL teams are forming relationships with casinos since a recent relaxation of NFL rules following the lifting of the federal ban against sports betting in May. • The city of Coquitlam, B.C. has approved a development permit to allow a hotel addition to the existing Hard Rock Casino Vancouver in Coquitlam. The approval includes a 90,000 square foot addition and a 12-story hotel with 141 rooms and 5,100 square feed of meeting space. Chris Dikeakos Architects will design the complex. • From December 4 to 6, MGM Cotai hosted a responsible-gambling program for Golden Lion team members in Macau. To date, MGM has provided more than 32,000 hours of training hours on the subject. ● The 2018 SJM charity auction and Michelin-starred dinner raised a total of MOP 2.9 million (US$370,000) to be donated to 10 charities in Macau. It was the 12th year of the fundraiser founded by Stanley Ho. ● Hong Kong is the most popular travel destination in the world, according to Euromonitor International. It’s followed by Bangkok, London, Singapore, Macau—up 5.4 percent year-on-year—Paris, Dubai, New York, Kuala Lumpur and Shenzhen, China. ● Macau’s Marine and Water Bureau has authorized Shun Tak China Travel Ship Management Ltd. to operate leisure cruises between Taipa and Coloane starting December 8. The company is headed by Pansy Ho. ● Macau’s casino restaurants have earned a few 2019 Michelin stars. The three-star restaurants are Jade Dragon at City of Dreams, Robuchon au Dôme and the Eight at the Grand Lisboa Hotel, and Feng Wei Ju at Galaxy’s StarWorld.
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