NEWS & NOTES

Nederlander Worldwide Entertainment will present the musical King Kong as part of a proposed Hard Rock Japan integrated resort on the island of Hokkaido. The IR plan also includes a New York Yankees-themed steakhouse, a Four Seasons resort, and of course, a rock and roll hall of fame. ● Hard Rock Part II: the U.S. tribal operator has been increasingly active in Japan events, and recently created a huge 50-foot snow sculpture at the Sapporo Snow Festival. Dubbed “Hard Rock Family Concert: Miku Hatsune & Kasumi Toyama Live on Snow Stage,” it featured popular Japanese pop stars who performed at the festival. ● Solaire Resort and Casino in Manila, a property of Bloomberry Resorts, has formed what is describes as a “record-breaking” sponsorship deal with South Korean female golfer Sung Hyun Park, No. 2 on the LPGA Tour. The deal is said to include Solaire having some branding rights on her golf cap. ● Galaxy Entertainment Group in Macau will roll out a pay raise for eligible staff starting April 1. The monthly salary hike will range between 2.5 percent and 7.5 percent, the firm said; Macau’s 2018 inflation rate was 3.01 percent, more than double the 1.23 percent recorded in 2017. ● Melco Resorts & Entertainment’s long-running show, The House of Dancing Water, will suspend performances at the City of Dreams complex through April 24. The show is closing during the “refurbishment and upgrade of our facilities,” Melco stated. “We will be back to deliver the most premium, pioneering and exceptional experience to our audience very soon.” More than 5 million people have seen the show since it opened in 2010. ● The All-In Diversity Project has announced a new strategic partnership with the Responsible Gambling Council of Canada. RGC, the first Canadian partner for All-In, will work with the organization to integrate concepts of diversity, inclusion and responsible gambling for the benefit of the larger industry. ● An integrated resort in Osaka, Japan would attract up to 24.8 million visitors per year and contribute extended economic benefits of JPY760 billion (US$6.8 billion) per year, according to a new report assembled by Osaka Prefecture and city. As the home of the 2025 World Expo, Osaka is seen as a prime candidate for a Japan IR. ● MGM Cotai, run by MGM China Holdings Ltd., is still waiting for the Macau government to approve its smoking lounges. Macau’s Health Bureau has certified 436 new smoking lounges at 27 casinos in the city in keeping with new, stricter health standards that took effect January 1. ● Tourists visited Singapore in record numbers in 2018, says the Singapore Tourism Board. Total income from tourism rose 1 percent to SGD27.1 billion (US$19.95 billion) last year. Spending on sightseeing, entertainment and gaming rose by 6 percent year-on-year. ● Wynn Macau Ltd. announced last week that it will increase the salaries of about 98 percent of its 13,700-member workforce. According to a release, the raises will be retroactive to February 1 and range from 2.5 percent to 6.4 percent. ● Kansai Airports in Japan is planning an additional JPY1 billion (US$910 million) in investment to prepare Kansai International Airport for the 2025 World Expo and the anticipated opening of an IR at Yumeshima. ● Rush Street Japan, the U.S.-based gaming operator angling for an IR in Japan, recently sponsored a charity bingo game at the 53rd Tomakomai Skate Festival. Proceeds went for disaster relief efforts in the aftermath of an earthquake that struck the area last September. ● Greenberg Traurig, a gaming law firm, has been offering invitation-only seminars about gaming law and other matters at its Tokyo offices. The 11th event of the series was conducted on January 31 and looked at pending issues for Japan’s nascent IR industry. ● Speedway Motorsports is partnering with EquiLottery Games to develop a lottery game based on the results of live NASCAR races at Speedway’s tracks in eight states. Plans call for Car Cash, as it’s called, to be a $5 “quick pick” that will be sold at participating lottery retailers. Tickets will feature three randomly selected entries in an upcoming race. Winners will be determined based on the finish, with a projected top prize of $50,000.   • A bill introduced in the Nevada Senate would allow the state Attorney General’s Office and local district attorneys to apply for court permission to wiretap suspected illegal gaming operations. Senate Bill 46 had an initial hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee earlier this month. The committee has taken no action on the bill to date. • Railroad Pass Casino outside Boulder City, Nev., is building a helipad on site to fly customers to popular tourist sites in the Southern Nevada region such as the Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam. The casino has partnered with Maverick Helicopters to run the service, which will be launched with up to five flights daily carrying up to six passengers each. • Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Sacramento at Fire Mountain held a topping off ceremony on February 13 at the site of the Northern California casino that is slated for a fall 2019 opening. The final beam, signed by Enterprise Rancheria tribal members was lifted to the top. The ceremony also recognized the partnership between the Seminole Tribe of Florida, who own Hard Rock International and Enterprise Rancheria and the local tribe. • Jamul Casino in San Diego County last week held a grand opening celebration for its new Poker Room, including a ribbon cutting and Golden Cap poker tournament with $50,000 price pool. The new poker room is adjacent to the High Limit Room and has ten tables, table-side dining and full bar service. TV poker personalities who participated included Tiffany Michelle, Norman Chad, Ben Higgins and Steve Woods. • Osage Casino Hotel in Tulsa, Oklahoma this week planned to unveil its Skyline Event Center, a 2,000 seat entertainment venue. The first public concert planned there was a sold out February 16 Better than Ezra opening. The events center is the last part of the Tulsa Osage Casino’s $160 million casino and hotel expansion. “This addition gives us the opportunity to bring in some phenomenal acts, and we’re ecstatic to bring in these headliners for our first entertainers,” commented Osage Casinos CEO Byron Bighorse. • Rising floodwaters from the Ohio River last week prompted the Horseshoe Southern Indiana to close its casino riverboat, 500-room hotel, dining and other operations. The casino has previously closed with floodwaters threatened. The casino said its “marine operations staff” would closely monitor forecasts and that the casino would reopen once the threat abated. • The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board has fined Mount Airy Casino Resort $250,000 for serving eight drinks in less than two hours to a customer who later struck and killed a jogger while driving home. The driver, 53-year-old Marc Graves, pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide and drunk driving charges, and was sentenced to three to sick years in prison. Graves had been served five beers and three shots of liquor while playing. • A South Korean entrepreneur is drafting plans for a $775 million “gigayacht” that will include a full-size casino. According to a report on the Maxim.com website, the yacht will be a 750-foot vessel—longer than two football fields—accommodating 52 guests and 92 crew members. The project, titled Project Valkyrie, is sponsored by U.S.-based yacht designer Palmer Johnson.