Hong Kong-listed Louis XIII Holdings, which plans to develop a French-themed luxury hotel with a casino in Macau’s Cotai resort district, posted gross profit of HK$289 million on turnover of HK$8.58 billion (US$1.1 billion) for the financial year ended March 31, principally from its Hong Kong-based construction subsidiary, Paul Y. Engineering Group. The company said it expects to complete the Cotai resort, known as Louis XIII, in the first half of 2016. • Las Vegas continues to target the LGTB demographic, most recently with the opening of Liaison, a 7,000-square foot nightclub at Bally’s Las Vegas. According to a Union Gaming report, Liaison was designed as a “sleek and elegant” accompaniment to Drai’s After Hours club, which is set to reopen at the new Cromwell, formerly the Barbary Coast. Victor Drai, a noted Vegas-based nightclub developer, collaborated with “gay nightlife notable” Eduardo Cordova to create a venue that will “continue to transform the nightlife scene in Las Vegas,” according to Drai. A soft opening took place last week. The club will mark its grand opening in August. • The New York Racing Association will invest $1.9 million in a series of capital improvements at Saratoga Casino and Raceway in Saratoga Springs. The improvements will include hundreds of new hi-def TV sets, large-screen video boards, a new sound system, and improved wireless capabilities. ? Miami-based fashion designer Julian Chang will offer his collection at Wynn Las Vegas this summer. Chang says his collection is a “celebration of understated sexiness.” He has been recognized as the MIFW “Pret-a-Porter Designer of the Year,” and won Vogue en Espanol’s “Designer’s Choice Award,” and has designed for celebrities including Britney Spears and Gloria Estefan. ? Portugal’s Casino Lisboa has named JCM Global as its preferred bill validator supplier and the company’s iVIZION as its preferred bill validator. A long-term JCM customer, Casino Lisboa has used JCM’s WBA and UBA bill validators in the past. • Macau’s Sands Cotai Central has expanded its retail area, adding 150,000 square feet of retail space, operator Sands China said. The opening marks the third phase of the Shoppes at Cotai Central and brings the number of stores to 140 and increases the size of the operating portion of the mall by 70 percent. The mall attracted more than 8.5 million visitors and generated more than US$260 million in sales last year, the company said. • Las Vegas Metro Police made 25 felony arrests on the last night of the three-day Electric Daisy Carnival, held at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. All were for narcotics-related offenses. The festival attracted some 20,000 people more than last year, a total of almost 500,000 revelers, generating hundreds of medical calls. A 24-year-old festivalgoer died as he left the speedway grounds after the festival’s opening night. An autopsy is pending. ? The Macau government has increased the maximum fine imposed on visitors that overstay in the territory to MOP500 (US$62.63) per day from MOP200 per day. Official data show the number of cases of overstaying rose to more than 42,000 last year from about 32,000 the year before. • The American Gaming Association reports that the four operating casinos in Maryland have become one of the state’s largest sources of private-sector jobs. The state’s casinos employed 3,250 full-time and part-time workers last year, paying salaries totaling $125 million. Horseshoe Baltimore, opening this summer, and MGM National Harbor, opening in 2016, will add another 5,500 jobs. • PHL Local Gaming, one of five bidders for Philadelphia’s second casino, announced last week that its Casino Revolution project in South Philadelphia would feature a space needle. Called “Skyspire,” the needle would have motorized gondolas going up its shaft, and at 516 feet, it would be taller than Seattle’s Space Needle. PHL is headed by Joseph Procaccio, known locally as the “Tomato King.” • The World Series of Poker will make its first stop in Baltimore next winter, thanks to the opening this summer of the Horseshoe Casino Baltimore. The WSOP circuit tour will stop at the Horseshoe February 26 through March 9, marking the first-ever WSOP events in Maryland. The 11th season of the WSOP kicks off July 31, and includes 21 stops through May 2015. • Hong Kong property developer Lai Sun Group says it will invest HK$3.8 billion (US$490 million) in the first phase of a cultural and commercial development with an e-sports arena on the Macau border island of Hengqin. Plans call for the construction of Creative Culture City, as it’s called, to begin this year. • Baltimore-based Whiting-Turner Contracting Company has been chosen as general contractor to build MGM National Harbor, the nearly $1 billion project on the Potomac River expected to open in 2016. Whiting-Turner is currently finishing work on Horseshoe Casino Baltimore, the state’s fifth casino, opening this summer. • The Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians have announced that the Spa Resort hotel in Palm Springs, California will be demolished in the next 18 months. The tribe has yet to decide on what will take the place of the hotel. • California’s Wilton Rancheria has purchased a 10,000 square foot office space in Elk Grove for $1.35 million and is to put land near Sacramento into trust to build a casino. Although the office land will not be put into trust, the tribe seeks to put about 282 acres near Highway 99 into trust for a casino or other economic development. The tribe achieved federal recognition in 2009. The tribe’s partner in this project is Boyd Gaming Corp. • The Massachusetts Senate last week declined the attempt by Senator Michael Rush to insert an amendment about internet gaming into the current budget debate. The amendment had sought to give the State Lottery jurisdiction over online gaming. • The city council of Hawthorne, California, has voted to table a proposal by Mayor Chris Brown that would have legalized gambling in the city. The council voted 3-2 to put the proposed ballot initiative on hold after many opponents spoke against the proposal. Brown would like to attract an upscale card club to the city. The California Supreme Court last week rejected the petition by Saybrook Capital LLC to recover $56.5 million in loans from the Cabazon Band of Mission Indians in Riverside County, California through access to casino revenues. The tribe defaulted on its junior loan to the tribe for the Fantasy Springs Resort and Casino in the spring of 2012. The tribe had opposed Saybrook’s petition, as had the consortium that holds the senior loan, led by GoldenTree Asset Management LP. • Rhode Island House and Senate leaders are negotiating a basket of bills for the final days of the legislative session that includes a bill that would allow the Newport Grand Casino to deploy table games. The lawmakers are trying to work out a deal that would allow both the state and city to share additional tax revenues that would be generated. Currently the casino only has slot machines.
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