NEWS & NOTES

Melco Crown Entertainment says pop star Madonna will be the first headline entertainer to perform at Studio City’s Event Center on the Cotai Strip in February. The 5,000-seat multi-purpose venue includes 16 private VIP suites.  ?  Britney Spears agreed to extend by two more years her residency at the Axis entertainment venue at the Planet Hollywood casino. Spears, 33, has played more than 100 shows and considered resuming an active recording and touring schedule before agreeing to extend her residency.  •  The Nevada Transportation Board approved $35 million to improve pedestrian bridges at the Las Vegas Strip-Tropicana intersection and ensure all escalators are working properly. Clark County must take over bridge maintenance and repair after the state-funded improvements are done.  •  Mount Airy recorded another month of improved year-to-year gaming numbers with $4.6 million in August revenues, up 14 percent from August 2014 total of $4.1 million. Statewide, Pennsylvania casinos reported more than $10.02 million in revenue from 1,135 table games in August.  •  The Palms Casino Resort is home to the world’s largest Hooters restaurant, which this month opened the two-story, 15,200-square-foot restaurant capable of seating 400. •  Affinity Gaming on September 15 elected David Reganato at its new board chairman. Reganato, a senior investment analyst for Silver Point Capital in Connecticut, replaces Richard Parisi, who stepped down for unknown reasons. •  The Oneida Nation sued the New York State Gaming Commission to obtain information on the recent decisions about where to place commercial casinos and their potential impact on the tribe’s gaming operations.  •  Foxwoods Resort Casino will now be selling Connecticut State Lottery products at all retail locations on the property. Annette DeBois said in a statement, “We are pleased to partner with the Connecticut Lottery as its newest retailer, offering our guests another exciting way to play and win big here at Foxwoods.” Foxwoods already carries lottery games at three retail locations.  •  Penn National Gaming, which recently opened Plainridge Park Casino & Raceway in Plainville, Massachusetts, is making an effort to expand its online presence by offering daily emails of news and promotions. The purpose is to use social media to bring loyal customers into the casino for entertainment and dining, as well as gaming through the awarding of Marquee Rewards points. These points can be used at any of the 26 casinos that Penn National operates in 17 states.   •  Macao Gaming Show 2015 has received the backing of the Macau government’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau and Macau Trade and Investment Promotion Institute along with sponsorship from the Macao Foundation, an influential public-private partnership. The trade exhibition and conference will be held November 17-19 at The Venetian Macao Resort Hotel.  •  Spain’s Casino de Ibiza has named JCM Global its preferred supplier of bill validation and printing solutions. The designation follows a four-week test of JCM’s iVIZION validator and GEN2 Universal thermal printer. The casino was already using the company’s WBA and UBA validators.  •  Innova Gaming Group’s Diamond Game Enterprises subsidiary has secured a one-year extension to its current pilot agreement with the Missouri Lottery. Terms of the deal call for Innova to continue installing its LT-3 ticket dispensers in veterans and fraternal clubs in the state and opens the platform to deployment in 100 new LBD locations.  •  Betgenius has launched a pre-match and in-play betting platform that will allow online and remote operators to fully automate their pre-match wagering and offer hundreds of betting-friendly market types on thousands of live events, including popular games such as League of Legends, Dota 2, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Heroes of the Storm.  •  The seventh edition of iGaming show MIGS15 will be held in Malta November 16-19 at the Corinthia Hotel, St. Julian’s, St. Georges Bay. The conference will bring together a mix of speakers, major operators, specialists and international regulators and associations. Sponsors include Greentube, IGT, Bet Construct, NetEnt, Every Matrix, SBTech, WorldPay, NYX Gaming Group, GLI and Secure Trading. The show will kick off with a poker tournament sponsored by PokerStars.  •  Casino restaurateur and former Iron Chef champion Kerry Simon died September 11 at a hospice facility in Las Vegas. The 60-year-old Philadelphia-area native, known as the “Rock ‘n’ Roll Chef,” cooked for bands of the stature of Led Zeppelin and Mötley Crüe and operated a steakhouse at the Atlantic City Hilton Casino Resort. He also ran restaurants at several Las Vegas hotels, including Palms Place and Harrah’s.