NEWS & NOTES

Two marketing companies are vying to develop the Las Vegas winter marketing campaign, which will focus mostly on winter sports at Lake Tahoe. Vegas-based B&P Advertising and Public Relations and Creative Concepts of Reno are both hoping to snag the $1.75 million. contract. The decision will be made by the Nevada Tourism Commission, which recently voted 2-2 to recommend the agency that would manage the contract.  ?  Hiring has begun for the new Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. The resort plans to open in time for the ski season. The Hard Rock will hire more than 500 employees for the hotel, which is undergoing a $60 million renovation and redesign. The property will include two renovated hotel towers with over 500 hotel rooms, several new restaurants and bars, and a 25,000 square-foot casino.  •  California’s Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians has released plans for its $160 million hotel and casino expansion project for 214 additional hotel rooms, a casino floor expanded by 75,000 square feet and 150,000 SF of renovations of the existing hotel and casino. The work on the 12-story hotel tower will be done by Tutor Perini Building Corp., Delawie and Summit Project Management. Construction will begin in October and be completed in 2016. The tribe has announced that it will only use labor unions for the expansion.  •  Ohio’s Department of Job and Family Services is now working with the state’s four casino resorts to institute a program that will cross check large jackpot winners with a list of those who are behind in child support. The program has so far collected $3 million from lottery and racino winners and passed the money on to the children who were owed it.  •  Morgan Stanley last week predicted that the California legislature will legalize online poker next year and that players will be gambling on it by 2016. The financial services titan estimates that online gaming will be a $1.7 billion industry by the following year when, it predicts, nearly half of the United States will have legalized the activity.  •  The Tulare County, California, Board of Supervisors may adopt a resolution challenging the U.S. Department of the Interior’s proposed rules governing how the federal government recognizes a tribe. If the board adopts the resolution, it will be forwarded to the Office of Regulatory Affairs & Collaborative Action. The county is home to one federally recognized tribe and two that previously were denied recognition. The board fears that the tribes previously denied will be granted recognition, opening up the county to two more casinos.  • California’s Benton Paiute Tribe is reportedly in preliminary discussions with the Mono County Board of Supervisors for a land swap that would give the tribe 30 acres near the town of Mammoth for a casino. The U.S. Forest Service manages the land. Congress would need to act to affect the transfer. Board Chairman Bill Saulque told the Sheet, “We have to find the land first. Until then, we can’t say anything.”  •  An annual study of diversity by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board shows the workforce at Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem has become increasingly diverse, with 42 percent of employees belonging to minority groups. According to the report, the largest minority group represented among Sands employees is Hispanic at 20 percent, reflecting the comparatively large Hispanic presence in the local population of Bethlehem and the Lehigh Valley. The report also showed the workforce to be 59 percent male and 41 percent female.  •  Three Maryland casinos have added the MegaHits multi-state progressive slot machine. Maryland is the fifth state approved by the Multi-State Lottery Association to participate, joining Delaware, Ohio, Rhode Island and West Virginia. The game will be available at Maryland Live! in Hanover, the Casino at Ocean Downs in Berlin and Hollywood Casino in Perryville. Run by leading slot-maker IGT, Megahits jackpots range from $100,000 to seven figures, with bets available in penny and dollar denominations.  •  South Africa’s Trade and Industry Department has suspended the entire National Gambling Board pending the outcome of an investigation. The department declined to give a reason for the suspensions, saying it could be held against the members in an upcoming court case. A department spokesman said only that the probe “will mainly cover the assets” of the board and that two administrators have been appointed to run the board in the interim.  •  Macau recorded a 7.5 percent increase in visitation in August for a total of 3.08 million. Total visitation year to date is up 7.9 percent over last year to 21.1 million. The contribution from mainland China, the largest source of visitation, grew 13.3 percent in August and is up 14.2 year to date. Guangdong province accounted for 42 percent. Mainland visitors traveling under the Individual Visit Scheme rose by 18.9 percent and are up 19.3 percent year to date. Visitation from Hong Kong and Taiwan has declined, respectively, by 5.5 percent and 0.2 percent year to date.   •  Original works by Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci will be shown at Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands starting next month in an exhibition titled “Da Vinci: Shaping the Future”. The show is scheduled to run from November 15 to May 2015.  •  The UK Gambling Commission has revoked BetButler’s remote operating license. The website stopped operating at the end of August.  •  Norway’s Culture Committee has requested an impact assessment on a proposed liberalization of the country’s online gambling market. The committee will examine the experiences of countries such as Sweden, Denmark and the UK before drafting its own legislation that the government hopes to implement next year.