NEWS & NOTES

The Crown Resorts and Packer Family Foundations last week announced that they will accept grant applications for the $25 million Melbourne and Perth Arts Education Initiative. The grants support school music and dance programs; indigenous and cultural community programs; and music programs in juvenile detention centers. ● Macau casino operators Galaxy Entertainment, Sands China, Wynn Macau and Melco Resorts & Entertainment have all recently announced pay raises for eligible non-management personnel. The raises range from 2.5 percent to 7.5 percent and will take effect in March and April. Macau’s inflation rate for 2018 was 3.01 percent, more than double the 1.23 percent recorded in 2017. ● Nominations are now being accepted in 12 categories for the 2019 G2E Asia Awards, co-organized by Inside Asian Gaming and Reed Exhibitions. Submit nominations until April 5 at G2EAsiaAwards.com. Companies are welcome to nominate themselves in fields including best IR non-gaming attraction, best B2B digital product solution, best gaming floor, and best VIP gaming promoter, among others. The awards will be presented in May. ● The team behind QTech Games, one of Asia’s fastest-growing games distributors, has announced the launch of GameFactory, an embryonic global gaming studio aiming to invest in and recruit up-and-coming studios from across the globe. After an initial US$3 million money-raise for proof of concept, which is already under way, GameFactory intends to acquire or form partnerships with a series of gaming studios and empower them to continue developing their games independently, while GameFactory handles sales through a central sales force utilizing its existing distribution model. The concept is backed by an existing compliance and administration framework in addition to EU and U.K. licenses. • Merkur Gaming US is celebrating a landmark installation at the upscale Club Royal Caribbean casino in Port-of-Spain, the capital city of the twin Caribbean islands of Trinidad and Tobago. Club Royal Caribbean is a well established favorite location with both local Trinidadian and tourist players alike. Merkur Gaming US is marking it first installation in the island gaming hot spot. • Sinclair Broadcast Group is partnering with Vegas Stats and Information Network to bring sports betting content to TV viewers on the My LVTV channel in Las Vegas and the Nevada Sports Net channel in Reno, both hosted by famed sportscaster Brent Musberger. Baltimore-based Sinclair owns, operates or provides services to 191 television stations nationwide. VSiN is based at the South Point casino hotel in Las Vegas with additional programming airing from Ocean Resort in Atlantic City. • Howard Hughes Corp.’s $150 million Las Vegas Ballpark in Hughes’ master-planned community of Summerlin in northwest Las Vegas will debut April 9 for the home opener of the Las Vegas Aviators, the Triple-A affiliate of the American League’s Oakland Athletics. • The Nevada Public Utilities Commission has approved a plan by Reno’s Atlantis Casino Resort Spa to leave NV Energy in exchange for a $1.5 million payment to the electricity provider. Atlantis is the 11th casino operator to exit or apply to exit NV Energy since 2015. Atlantis plans to get its power from privately held Tenaska Power Services Co., based in Texas. The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority also has applied to leave the utility and move to Tenaska. · The top spending lobbyists of the Maine State House so far this year are gaming, tobacco, utility and marijuana groups. The AP has reported that about 160 companies have spent $360,000 so far this in December and January. Lobbyists were paid about $2.7 million last year. · North Dakota’s House reconsidered and then passed a sports betting bill that allows wagers on professional and college sports. The vote was 52-38. It now heads to the Senate. The bill will generate funds for the state’s unique charity-sports program, which benefits many nonprofits. Backers, like Rep. Michael Howe, declared “It’s already occurring in North Dakota. Let’s keep that money in North Dakota for charities, addiction services and tax revenue.” · A $1.8 million renovation of the Thief River Falls water park, owned by Seven Clans Casino, in Wisconsin, has begun. During the renovation the arcade, casino and park will remain open. The renovation is expected to be done by mid-April. Part of the work will be adding a toddler-friendly area, including a splash pad and a rock climbing wall. • Crown Resorts, an Australian based gaming company saw a 12.2 percent decline in VIP revenue in the first half of the 2019 fiscal year, it reported. It blamed this on “mixed trading conditions” especially lower spending by VIP Chinese tourists. This may reflect the U.S.-China trade war and a diplomatic snafu between China and Australia. Crown Executive Chairman John Alexander commented, “Chinese people, like Australian people, are suddenly feeling a bit poorer than they were a couple of years ago. It all goes to spending patterns.”