NEWS & NOTES

The empty Fontainebleau in Las Vegas is being eyed by an interested buyer, who is undertaking due diligence before making an offer on the 3,889-room hotel and condo project. The Fontainebleau’s 68-story tower is the second-tallest in Las Vegas, with only the Stratosphere tower topping it, and Steven Wynn is among those who have decried the empty structure as an eyesore that is reducing property values in the otherwise booming north end of the Las Vegas Strip. Local officials have weighed proposals to wrap the unfinished sections of the project, while investor Cark Icahn seeks a buyer. Icahn paid $150 million to buy the Fontainebleau after the $3 billion project stalled during the Great Recession, and some $2 billion already had been spent on its construction.  •  According to a report in the real estate site therealdeal.com, attorneys with Miami law firm Tenzer PLLC have negotiated a hotel license and casino management agreement on behalf of the Cancun-based owner of the planned Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. Construction of the 400-room hotel and casino started February 9 with a groundbreaking ceremony attended by Dominican Republic President Danilo Medina. The Cancun-based group that owns the Hard Rock development in Santo Domingo developed and now operates a second property in the Dominican Republic, the 1,800-room Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Punta Cana.  •  The World Series of Poker expects more than 100,000 participants, and up to 50 percent more players will win cash at its 47^th annual event starting May 31 in Las Vegas.  •  MGM Resorts International is hiring more than 200 workers to fill part-time positions at T-Mobile Arena, which opens in April.  • Caesars Entertainment reported an ADR of $131 during the fourth quarter of 2015, surpassing the Las Vegas Strip average ADR of $129.  •  The UNLV Campus Improvement Authority on March 24 will discuss a $1.2 billion proposal by Las Vegas Sands to build a 65,000-seat domed stadium on campus.  •  West Virginia Republicans are reviving efforts to repeal statewide smoking bans in casinos and put the onus on county lawmakers to ban or approve smoking inside gaming facilities.  •  Wynn Las Vegas cannot force workers to pool their tip money if they only earn minimum wage, a divided 9^th Circuit panel ruled.  •  The gaming industry in Pennsylvania has created far fewer jobs than predicted by adding legal table games in 2010, according to a new state audit of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board. The state predicted 10,000 direct jobs from the addition of table games, but the report of  Auditor General Eugene DePasquale said direct jobs created from table gaming totaled 6,156, as of June 2015. The Sands Bethlehem in Northampton County had the most with 1,107 jobs. The Sands featured 207 table games as of June 2015, the most of the 12 casinos in the commonwealth.  •  The Malta Gaming Authority’s (MGA) new offices, at SmartCity Malta, were officially inaugurated on February 16 by the Prime Minister of Malta, Dr. Joseph Muscat, the MGA’s senior leadership team and other distinguished guests. With a floor area spanning over 2,562 square meters spread on two floors, the new MGA offices meet the latest environmental standards, technological infrastructure, corporate environment and modern facilities, which have substantially improved the working environment for the 150 employees.   •  Tulalip Resort Casino in Washington state has begun a $15 million renovation of its hotel. Seventy percent of the hotel will remain open during the work. The existing 360 rooms will be redone. The work is expected to be completed in about a year.  Project Manager Mike Fitch observed “This is a four-diamond resort. In order to maintain that four-diamond resort status, you’ve got to keep resetting the bar.” He said guests would notice a “night and day” difference between the for and after rooms. There will be new lighting fixtures, new furniture and an updated media hub.  •  Casino Kings, based in the UK, has announced that it will add 27 games from NetEnt and NYX Gaming. Among the games that will be added to the line-up are Gonzo’s Quest, Universal Monsters Dracula, Scarface, South Park, Reel Chaos and Neon Staxx. The games add to the number that are available for mobile platforms, such as Casino Kings’ Touch platform, which earned Casino Kings  the Slot Provider of the Year, Innovation in Mobile and Mobile Supplier of the Year at the EGR Awards 2015.  •  Authorities in Macau have pledged to make travel to the territory easier if they come from Mainland China or Hong Kong via the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge. According to reports, a Macau International Airport spokesman said if such passengers use a special bus service to take them across the bridge, they will have to go through one customs check only.  ?  Melco Crown Entertainment has announced it will pay a special dividend after a better-than-expected Q4. The operator’s new Studio City property in Macau got off to a “satisfactory start,” according to UBS analysts, and City of Dreams Manila reported an increase in VIP volumes of around 8 percent. The special dividend of $0.2146 per share will be paid next month.  ?  Police in Macau are looking into so-called “blue card” fraud, in which work permits are sold so gamblers can more easily visit the city. A recent blue-card suspect said he paid HK$50,000 (US$6,225) for his card.  ?  The number of non-resident workers in Macau has risen almost 160 percent in five years, from around 70,000 foreign workers in mid-2010 to more than 181,400 in 2016. The rise has not affected local unemployment rates, which remain at a healthy 2 percent.