NEWS & NOTES

Sports betting in the District of Columbia will miss the start of the NFL season by at least several weeks as the DC Lottery works on betting regulations, the Washington Post reports. Draft regulations have generated about 100 pages of comments from gaming and sports companies; applications from arenas and local businesses to operate sports betting won’t be accepted until at least next month, the newspaper reported, and a mobile sports betting app isn’t expected to launch until January. DC Lottery provider Intralot holds the sports betting contract. ● Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed a new law on August 9 that allows the city of Rockford to raise taxes on video gaming machines. Senate Bill 1558, sponsored by Senator Steve Stadelman, takes effect immediately. Currently, non-home rule cities in Illinois cannot charge more than $25 annually for a video gaming machine license. The new law raises that limit to $250, only in Rockford. ● WPT Enterprises, operator of the HyperX Esports Arena at the Luxor Hotel Las Vegas, has merged with Black Ridge Acquisition Corp. to become a publicly traded company known as Allied Esports Entertainment. Terms of the tie-up were not disclosed, but it was reported that investors include Simon Property Group and TV Azteca, a sports network in Mexico. Allied trades on Nasdaq under the ticker AESE. • Developers of the $850 million Majestic Las Vegas on Convention Center Drive say they will break ground on the non-gaming luxury resort in May 2020 and complete construction in 2023. Plans call for a 45-story, 720-room hotel, convention and meetings space, restaurants and a high-end wellness spa.