NEWS & NOTES

The Macau government said 619,425 people entered the territory during the weeklong Labor Day holiday that began May 1. The Border Gate at the frontier with the mainland Chinese city of Zhuhai reported the largest number of entries, 234,945. The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge handled 45,366. The Lotus Bridge crossing between Zhuhai’s Hengqin Island and Macau’s Cotai resort district received 44,217. • New York’s Saratoga Casino Hotel has opened a new outdoor gaming terrace where visitors can play slot machines while watching live racing at the property’s harness track. Built at a cost of $1 million, the 1,500-square-foot venue is roofed and climate-controlled and features 50 of the casino’s 1,696 video lottery terminals. • MGM Resorts International has reached an agreement with nightclub operator Hakkasan Group to take over the running of six venues in three MGM resorts on the Las Vegas Strip: Stack at The Mirage; Fix, Yellowtail and Lily Lounge at Bellagio; and Alibi Ultra Lounge and Herringbone at Aria. The changeover, slated for May 31, will not affect existing staff at the locations, MGM said. • The Bureau of Indian Affairs has put 40 acres into trust for the Ute Indian Tribe of Utah. The property, known as Ute Plaza Property, is contained within the boundaries of the existing reservation, which was created in 1864. The tribe plans to use the property for economic endeavors, including a supermarket, convenience store and coffee house. • Officials of Pennsylvania’s Leacock Township heard a zoning appeal last week from representatives of the Rutter’s convenience store chain, which is seeking to install five video gaming terminals under the state’s 2017 gaming expansion law. The township Zoning Hearing Board appeal comes after Rutter’s was denied VGTs in February, Zoning Officer Mark Deimlef saying the machines “are not a use customarily incidental and subordinate to a convenience store.” No decision on the appeal has yet been issued.   • The sale of Pennsylvania’s Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem by Las Vegas Sands Corp. and its local partners to Wind Creek Hospitality, an arm of Alabama’s Poarch Band of Creek Indians, is up for approval this week. The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board is scheduled to meet at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, May 15, and a vote on the casino sale is tentatively on the agenda. Bethlehem city officials are expected to attend the meeting, hopefully to witness a vote of approval on the February 21 change-of-ownership petition. Wind Creek has promised to begin $90 million worth of improvements to the property immediately upon closing. • Japan’s education ministry has compiled anti-addiction guides for high school teachers to help them recognize the signs of addiction in students and take corrective action. The guides will be used starting in 2022, several years before the first integrated casino resort is due to open in Japan. ● The Dutch Authority for Consumers & Markets has issued a consumer warning about phone and email scammers who demand payment of gambling debts. The bogus collection agencies are pressuring victims to pay up or face seizure of their goods or bank accounts. ● Spanish public broadcaster Euskal Irrati Telebista will no longer advertise gambling across its TV, radio and digital platforms. The board of EITB called the action a “necessary enforcement” to “protect and safeguard the right of the most vulnerable against the serious problems of addiction that gambling and betting can create.”