NEWS & NOTES

Scientific Games Chairman Ron Perelman’s previously announced move to buy more of the company’s stock now tops $6.1 million. Last week, the billionaire chairman of the supplier spent more than $1.5 million on 75,000 SG shares at $20.21 per share, which followed purchase of $2.43 million and $2.17million in the previous week. Perelman now controls 36.4 million shares of SGMS through his New York-based investment arm McAndrews & Forbes, constituting nearly 40 percent of the company. • British bookmaker William Hill is donating $50,000 won as damages in a copyright infringement lawsuit to Rutgers University in New Jersey for its M.A. program in creative writing. The gift is a sarcastic nod to the fact that the award was a settlement in a case of a William Hill competitor plagiarizing the bookmaker’s sports betting guide word-for-word. • Gateway Casino and Entertainment, Canada’s largest private casino operator, has unveiled plans for a casino complex in London, Ontario for the second time, this time in the city’s south end. The $75 million Starlight Casino is projected to create 700 new jobs. The 9,290-square-meter facility will include 900 slot machines, 40 table games, live music, and several restaurants, the company said at a public open house on Monday evening. The British Columbia-based casino giant is billing the project as its largest investment in Ontario to date. “This casino will provide jobs for people who are looking for them,” said Gerry Macartney, the head of the London Chamber of Commerce.   • Guidelines approved by the Macau Legislative Assembly coming into force later this year will require casinos to employ specialized teams to implement and maintain internal cybersecurity protections in accordance with new government policies. The guidelines also require operators to submit annual reports to the government detailing their monitoring of risks to their networks and systems along with records of any incidents. ● The Wildhorse Resort and Casino in Washington State has begun the entertainment expansion of what was originally announced as an $85 million project two years ago. It is now more modest due to higher steel costs, but will include expanding the existing cineplex, children’s entertainment center, an arcade, food court and 24 lane bowling alley. Later a second hotel and events center will be added. The current facilities will stay open during the expansion, which has a completion date of 2020. The hotel will be completed a year later, according to a spokesman. • Las Vegas-based William Hill US and the Mescalero Apache Tribe have finalized a deal to offer sportsbook at Inn of the Mountain Gods Resort. It will be the fourth to open in New Mexico. It is William Hill’s first venture into New Mexico, although it offers similar service in seven other states. Currently the Santa Ana Star Casino and the Isleta Resort and Buffalo Thunder offer sports wagering through National Sports Book Management. William Hill plans to offer sports book before the state of the NFL season. It will renovate a space for it between the casino’s sports bar and nightclub. • An environmental document has been released by the Bureau of Indian Affairs for the relocation of Eagle Mountain Casino by the Tule Indian Tribe to land near the Porterville Airport in California’s Tulare County. Because of the unusual nature of this proposal to take non-Indian land into trust it requires the assent of California Governor Gavin Newsom. The tribe expects the BIA to request Newsom to concur that the relocation of the casino would benefit the tribe and nearby community. It hopes for a response next month. If it gets the go-ahead the tribe would like to break ground soon thereafter. • The Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Sacramento at Fire Mountain due to open this fall in Yuba County, California, has announced a title sponsorship with the Sacramento River Cats, just a week after a similar partnership announcement with the Sacramento Republic FC soccer team. The partnership will include the casino have advertising space at the stadium and during games and kiosks that connect with the hotel. The casino, owned by Estom Yumeka Maidu Tribe of the Enterprise Rancheria, and managed by Hard Rock International, will have over 1,800 slot machines and a 200-room hotel. • Macau junket Meg-Star Group has opened a new VIP poker venue at the Casino Jockey Club at the Macau Roosevelt Hotel in Taipa. “Poker Time Club,” as it’s called, replaces the casino’s mass-market floor and features five private rooms and an open-air lounge. Casino Jockey Club operates as a self-promoting VIP-only operation under the license of gaming concessionaire SJM Holdings. The Tak Chun Group junket runs the casino’s gaming. • Sixty-five people were arrested during a recent sting conducted by the Singapore Police Force. The suspects, ages 17 to 64, were charged with offences that include illegal gambling, drugs and vice-related activities, the police said in a June 21 news release. ● Okura Holdings, operator of 17 pachinko halls in Japan has announced it’s expanding its business into horse training. It launched its operation last month with the purchase of two race horses for $2 million.