NEWS & NOTES

Wynn Resorts said it is looking to an October opening for its new 18-hole Tom Fazio-designed golf course adjacent to Wynn Las Vegas on the Las Vegas Strip. The course, located at the former site of the Desert Inn Golf Club, was closed in December 2017. • The Palms Casino Resort has unveiled a new three-level luxury spa and salon as part of $690 million in renovations being completed at the off-Strip resort. The Spa and The Salon at Palms features an array of treatment rooms and skin-care studios, a sauna and lounge areas, a connected fitness facility and includes an operations partnership with celebrity hairstylist and hair extension specialist Priscilla Valles. • Cyprus Casinos has opened its third licensed satellite, C2 Ayia Napa. C2 Ayia Napa, which has a gaming area with 50 slot machines, joins the C2 Nicosia and C2 Larnaca satellite casinos that opened in December 2018. Craig Ballantyne, property president of City of Dreams Mediterranean said the location in is ideal for a satellite casino and will “help to enhance the city’s tourist product and significantly contribute to the sustainable growth of the local and island’s economy. At the same time, the casino will offer an exceptional entertainment experience for both local and foreign guests.” ● Galaxy Entertainment’s Junior Soccer Cup program allowed 300 Japanese children to play at the Nissan Stadium Yokohama before last week’s Manchester City v. Yokohama F. Marinos exhibition game. Galaxy Entertainment Japan COO Ted Chan said the company is “very pleased that we can help in this way to foster young people’s interest in soccer in Japan. … We also hope to support the development of soccer in Japan and make a contribution to local communities for many years to come.” Galaxy hopes to win one of Japan’s first three integrated-resort licenses. ● The Nihon Keizai Shinbun will bring its third IR Forum to Osaka. The forum will discuss the “economic ripple effects” of an integrated resort in the region, and also “delve deeply into accompanying issues such as gambling addiction and security policies.” Among the expected speakers are Chris Gordon of Wynn Resorts and Brian Sandoval of MGM Resorts, making his first major public appearance in Japan. The previous two Nikkei IR Forums were held in Tokyo last November and in Sapporo in March. ● Panasonic wants to get into the Japan gaming industry. To that end, the electronics and technology giant consolidated on July 1 about 30 of its employees into an IR Business Promotion Headquarters. Panasonic wants to play a part in the Japanese IR industry, supplying products including multi-language translation systems, facial-recognition and security systems and autonomous electric vehicles. ● MGM Resorts Japan was the official sponsor of the WBA World Middleweight Title Match in Osaka last week. In the rematch between Ryota Murata and Rob Brant, the MGM logo was displayed on the ring and Murata’s clothing. The sponsorship is part of MGM’s charm offensive in the city and prefecture of Osaka, where it hopes to build one of Japan’s first integrated resorts. Ryota won in a TKO. ● Japan is working to establish its first casino management board. Two officials, Dai Kimura and Mitsuo Nagata, were appointed to the board’s “Preparation Office.” A report in Asia Gaming Brief suggested that delays in the formation of the board “has much to do with a political decision by the Abe government to keep its IR policies as far from the public eye as possible in advance of the House of Councillors elections this month. The board is expected to have a staff of about 95 and an initial budget of JPY6 billion (about US$56 million). ● Japanese police recently shut down an illegal casino in the Ueno district of Tokyo and another in the Yodogawa Ward of Osaka. The Ueno betting shop opened in December and reportedly netted income of about JPY200 million (US$2 million). No details were immediately available about the Yodogawa Ward bust. ● Following a three-month renovation, the Spielbank Leipzig casino has reopened its doors. Siegfried Schenek, managing director of Spielbank Sachsen, officially reopened the casino, formerly known as Casino Petersbogen. “A modern casino in the heart of Leipzig is a further enrichment for this great city,” he said. New slot machines include NovoStar VIP Royal, VIP Lounge, M-Box, Avant-garde Trio, Avantgarde Trio Buzzer and G27-27 Upright. The Flexi-Link jackpot system has also been expanded. ● Inn of the Mountain Gods, owned by the Mescalero Apache Reservation in New Mexico, has earned the AAA Four Diamond rating for the third year in a row. About 6 percent of the 78,000 hotels inspected earn that rating. Only 15 in the state have earned AA Four Diamond ratings. Over the past few years the resort casino has added the Apache Eagle ZipRider and spent $2.4 million in room renovations. • The Nooksack Tribe’s Northwood Casino, near Lynden, Washington was scheduled to begin offering Nevada-style table games, this week, the Washington State Gambling Commission revealed last week. Games will include blackjack, poker, craps and roulette. Until now, the casino has offered only Class II bingo-style games, although the tribe has had a Class III tribal state gaming compact since 1991. • The Tucson, Arizona, city council last week gave tentative approval to $1.85 million in tax incentives that would enable Pueblo Center Partners LLC to reopen the Hotel Arizona downtown and to an agreement that would allow the Pascua Yaqui Tribe to build and operate a casino near Interstate 10, within city limits, if the Bureau of Indian Affairs agrees. The hotel, which has been closed for seven years, would reopen as a Hyatt Regency after a $45 million renovation. • Officials in Gardena, California are investigating the collapse of the roof of the Lucky Lady Casino, which injured 11 people. The casino, owned by Larry Flynt, was extensively damaged by the collapse of the roof over the lobby. The 11 who were hit by roof fragments sustained minor injuries, and no one was taken to the hospital.