NEWS & NOTES

Leading slot manufacturer International Game Technology announced that three independent proxy advisory firms have supported the company’s $6.4 billion buyout by lottery giant GTECH. Institutional Shareholder Services Inc., Glass Lewis and Egan-Jones all recommended IGT shareholder support the merger agreement at the February 10 special meeting. IGT and GTECH will combine under a newly formed holding company organized in the United Kingdom. GTECH will pay $4.7 billion in cash and stock and will assume $1.7 billion of IGT’s debt.  •  Attorney General nominee Loretta Lynch, asked about federal policy on internet gaming during her Senate confirmation hearings, took a pass on stating an opinion. Asked specifically about the 2011 Department of Justice legal opinion that online gaming, other than sports betting, is legal, Lynch said although she is “generally familiar” with the decision, she will not give an opinion on it before she has read it thoroughly.  •  Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne is pushing a change to sports betting rules to allow more types of wagers. Currently, sports betting through the Ontario Lottery is restricted to parlay bets on three games at a time. Premier Kathleen Wynn said last week that legislation liberalizing sports betting rules is long overdue. Wynne said it would be to the “benefit of the gaming industry,” but Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau responded that he has no indication how quickly Ontario’s Senate will move on the issue. “I don’t get to hurry them or push them,” he said, according to the Breitbart News. “I am sure that they are taking the responsible amount of deliberations, but I did say that I encouraged legislators of all different types to address issues in a responsible and forthright manner.”  •  The Las Vegas Strip’s first White Castle burger restaurant, in the Casino Royale, had to temporary close last week to allow workers “to catch their breath” after a record-smashing first day. The White Castle Las Vegas location broke the company’s single-day sales record for an opening day, moving 4,000 of its famous sliders in the first 12 hours.  •  Lebanon’s Casino du Liban settled a strike that closed the property for a week. The main issue in the labor standoff was the casino’s firing of staff it deemed non-productive. Under the agreement that ended the strike, the fired employees will receive five years of pay plus full benefits u8ntil they reach retirement age. The weeklong strike cost the casino an estimated $500,000 per day.  •  Playtech has unveiled a series of never-before-seen, industry-first features within an expanded Virtual Sports portfolio including a new, fully simulated football game, allowing for realistic betting and game play. Playtech licensees are able to choose from a host of sports including football, horse-racing, greyhounds, velodrome, and speedway with tennis, basketball and trotting, complete with league and tournament and in-play betting, available later this year. Each game employs graphics based on feature-film motion capture technology, shot on location, and using professional athletes.  •  Machine component manufacturer Suzo-Happ is raising $210 million in leveraged loans to back its acquisition of Swedish peer Scan Coin and refinance existing debt, banking sources said. Private equity firm Acon acquired Suzo-Happ in 2012. Barclays is leading the deal.  •  Foreign employees in Macau who experience job-related changes must inform the government or face possible cancellation of their residency permits. All such “changes in status” must be reported to the Macau Trade and Investment Promotion Institute within 30 days. Several recent cases have highlighted a lack of consistency in how the rules are applied, and some analysts warn Macau against scaring away talent.  •  Bermuda Tourism Authority doesn’t fear that the soon-to-open Baha Mar mega casino resort on Nassau, Bahamas will steal tourists. The new multi-billion dollar casino resort, touted as the largest luxury resort ever built in the Caribbean, will have art galleries, dozens of restaurants, a golf course and 2,000 hotel rooms. It is scheduled to open March 27. Glenn Jones of the Bermuda Tourism Authority said last week, “We aren’t really competing with them. Bermuda has a very different product and we need to focus on differentiating ourselves from these huge new developments.” •  About 100 of the Seven Feathers Casino’s 1,000 employees have been laid off, the Medford Mail Tribune reported last week. The Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians, based near Canyonville, Oregon, blames the Great Recession and the changing face of people who visit casinos for the downsizing.  •  California Governor Jerry Brown has signed a state tribal gaming compact with the Jackson Rancheria Band of Miwuk Indians, operators of Jackson Rancheria Casino, updating the original 1999 compact. According to a press release by the tribe, the compact reflects, “the evolving nature of financial markets, as well as the professionalism of the Tribe’s regulators and their constructive relationship with state gaming regulators.” It also reflects the philosophy of Brown in relation to licensing, compliance enforcement and mitigation of off-reservation gaming impacts. It provides for revenue sharing with Amador County and other local government entities.  •  Opponents of California Proposition 48, which would have ratified an off-reservation treaty between the state and the North Fork Rancheria of Mono Indians, and allowed a 2,000 slot casino in Madera, spent $18 million to defeat the proposition, compared to $631,000 that supports spent to pass it. The proposition was defeated by a wide margin. Most of the $18 million was raised by the Table Mountain Rancheria, an Indian casino located 25 miles from where the North Fork tribe would like to build a casino and Brigade Capital Management, an investor in the Chukchansi Gold Resort & Casino, another competitor.  •  The Cromwell, a part of Caesars Entertainment, will be the first Las Vegas casino to feature keyless entry for guests. Hotel guests will receive an access code for their iOS device, and enter their room by placing the iOS device next to the lock. In addition, there will also be a self check-in and check-out kiosk. Caesars is expected to roll out the technology to all of their other eight properties in Las Vegas.  •  Griddle Cafe at SLS Las Vegas closed on Sunday. It will be replaced by a new restaurant, Northside Cafe, and be a 24-hour Las Vegas-style coffee shop.  •  Nevada gambling regulators have granted 13 casino-hotels over $700,000 in tax refunds after the properties overpaid Nevada’s live entertainment tax. The tax is in place for establishments that provide live entertainment but have less than a certain number of slot machines relative to their size. •  Mardi Gras Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas has been purchased and will be remodeled. The hotel, which has 314 rooms, is set to re-open as a 700-room resort with a 35,000 square-foot casino.  •  Station Casinos announced a partnership with Baldini’s Casino in Sparks, Nevada. The move will see Stations create, manage, and operate a new sports book in the casino. Stations will renovate the existing sports book, and introduce their Wagering Information Network, Station Casinos’ proprietary sports wagering system, known for linking their network of race sports books.  •  Las Vegas taxisset new records in 2014 with $408.4 million in revenue and 27.6 million passengers, up 4.4 percent and 4.5 percent, respectively. 994 citations were issued for long-hauling, the practice of taking a customer on a longer route than necessary.  ·  British Columbia casinos lost out on roughly $25 million in profit through a mistake by the B.C. Lottery Corporation. The BCLC rolled out a poorly-designed savings plan, which through less than optimal wording, also cost municipalities roughly $250,000 in extra tax revenue. The plan offered employees aged 50 and older 18 months of severance, regardless of how long they worked there.