NEWS & NOTES

Although California has strict laws banning smoking in most public places, its Indian casinos, such as the recently opened Graton Resort & Casino, in Rohnert Park, are mainly smoking, although some have non-smoking areas. Graton offers some smoke free zones, including its restaurants and poker room. California’s card rooms, since sovereign tribes do not operate them, are completely smoke free.  •  Five companies are bidding for a license to operate a casino in the English city of Southampton with 30 table games and 150 machine games. Grosvenor, Kymeira Casino, Genting Casinos UK, Global Gaming Ventures and Aspers all have submitted proposals. A decision is expected next year.  •  Fiji’s first casino has opened at Aggie Greys Mulifanua Resort in partnership with Indo Pacific Gaming International. The property is the first of two the government of the South Pacific island has authorized.  •  Maryland Live! owner Cordish Companies held a two-day job fair in Atlantic City just before Labor Day weekend’s closings of the Revel and Showboat casinos. Over the two days, the operator conducted 89 interviews, and tendered 29 job offers. Another 18 job-seekers were asked back for a second interview. Maryland Live! hired 100 employees over two previous Atlantic City job fairs. With the expected closing next week of Trump Plaza, an estimated 8,000 people will have lost their jobs with the closings of a total of four casinos in Atlantic City since January.  •  Cash handling equipment provider Innovative Technology announced the opening of two new sales offices in Australia and Italy. The Australia Office, based in Brisbane, will be headed up by Kerry Cowan, who will look to expand ITL’s business in the Asia Pacific area; in Milan, Italy, Stefano Mandelli will provide sales support to our existing customer base in the region and across Europe. With these two new office locations Innovative Technology now have eight worldwide office locations across Europe, Asia, Australasia and South America.  •  CMK Gaming International is building the  pachinko parlor in the U.S. in Salt Lake City, Utah. The company announced that it will partner with China Investment, Inc., owner of the New China Town real estate development, to open the pachinko parlor. The slot-like pachinko amusement machines will enter what is one of only two states in the U.S. with no forms of legal gaming. The parlor will include restaurants and a number of Asian-inspired retail outlets.  •  Austria’s Novomatic Group logged record revenues during the first half of 2014, and generated the highest turnover in its 34-year history. The revenue for the first six months of 2014 reached €941 million, compared to €818 million for the first half of 2013, a 15 percent increase.  EBITDA rose by about 9 percent to € 289 million.  •  Thailand-based Minor Hotel Group has partnered with Sun International to expand hotel and casino operations in Africa, including owning and operating eight properties in five African countries. The deal calls for Minor to manage the rebranded AVANI hotels and Sun to manage the casinos  •  Billionaire casino magnate Steve Wynn is one of a group of backers to support IEX Group Inc. in its efforts to become a registered stock exchange. According to reports, the Wall Street upstart has raised $75 million so far from investors including Bain Capital, MassMutual Ventures and Franklin Resources Inc.  ?  Online poker in Nevada took a slight dip in July, according to the Nevada Gaming Control Board. That said, it was still a good month for the digital games, which generated $958,000 in online poker revenue during July compared to $1 million in June.  ?  Texas Station in Las Vegas has closed its poker room. It was the second poker room operated by Station Casinos to close this year. Sunset Station closed its poker room in May. Players may still deposit and withdraw for Ultimate Poker at these and all cashier cages operated by Station Casinos.  ?  Clark County, Nevada commissioners are considering banning glass bottles on the Las Vegas Strip. A similar rule has already been enacted on Fremont Street in the city’s Downtown area, where glass bottles are only allowed if they’re carried in plastic or paper bags that are stapled closed with the receipt attached to the front.  ?  Developer Jack Kashani, who helped launch the World Market Center in Las Vegas, is reportedly under contract to buy 63 acres of vacant land behind Mandalay Bay near Interstate 15 in Vegas for about $90 million. A report says he plans to build a 2 million-square-foot International Fashion Center with 2,000 showrooms.  ?  Macau Legend Development says its new Harbourview Hotel at Macau Fisherman’s Wharf theme park will be “substantially completed” in the third quarter, with the opening “tentatively scheduled” for the fourth quarter. The hotel will not house a casino but will be connected to the park’s existing Babylon Casino by a skywalk.  •  ASX-listed Donaco International, operator of the Aristo International casino hotel in Vietnam’s northern province of Lao Cai, said revenue from gaming operations increased by 33 percent in the 2014 financial year to A$19.5 million (US$18.1 million). EBITDA was up 29 percent to $8.9 million. The company expanded the property in May from eight table games to 40 and 34 hotel rooms to 428.  •  The Singapore Tourism Board has reported an overall decline in the number of tourists in the first half of the year. International arrivals of 7.5 million were down 2.8 percent year on year, the result of a 30 percent drop in the number of Chinese visitors. Excluding China, visitor arrivals from the other markets grew 2.3 percent.  •  The Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians of San Diego County, California, owners of the Viejas Casino and Resort, are proposing to expand their hotel and casino. The Viejas casino has 2,000 slot machines. The hotel has 128 rooms. Under the expansion proposal it would double in size. The County Board of Supervisors will study the proposal on September 24, although its consent is not required. However, it is allowed to propose what environmental mitigation would be required as part of the tribe’s compact with the state.  •  The firm that fought for PokerStars to be allowed to participate in online poker earned the number two spot for political lobbying in California in the first two quarters. Capitol Advocacy was the lobbying firm that championed PokerStars. The state’s lobbying firms brought in $141.5 million in the first half of the year, a 1 percent increase over the same period last year.  •  The Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians in Southern California, owners of the Chumash Casino Resort, are considering sponsoring the L.A. Clippers again, after dropping the relationship as a result of the Donald Sterling scan
dal over comments that he was recorded making about blacks. The tribe announced this week that the sale of the Clippers to Steve Ballmer opens up the possibility of partnerships with the ball club.  •  The city commission of Boise, Idaho, is pushing for a committee to study legalize gambling. KTVB reported that some residents have urged to commission to set up a zone in the city where gaming would be legal or where restaurants might be allowed to add slot machines. The city scheduled two public meetings to explore the idea.  •  Twin Arrows Navajo Casino Resort in Flagstaff, Arizona has earned the Three Green Globes environment rating from the Green Building Initiative, which recognizes energy efficient practices, sustainability and quality of architecture. The casino achieved perfect scores for integrated design process, integration of environmental purchasing, strategies to avoid emissions and other environment friendly practices.  •  The Czech Republic’s Supreme Audit Office says the country is losing about €21.6 million a year due to illegal online betting.  •  Intralot Gaming Services, a wholly owned subsidiary of Intralot Australia, has signed a contract with the government of Victoria to install voluntary pre-commitment technology on up to 30,000 electronic gaming machines across the state, including at Crown Melbourne. The system will allow players to set time and loss limits, track their play statewide and access personalized information at any gaming venue or online.