Scientific Games Corporation has once again been selected by the South Dakota Lottery as its primary instant game provider. The lottery awarded Scientific Games a new three-year contract for instant games and related services that may be extended for an additional three years. Building on its 29-year successful business relationship with the lottery, the company will roll out its SalesMaker retail development and training program across South Dakota over the next several years as part of the agreement. Norm Lingle, executive director of the South Dakota Lottery, said, “For nearly three decades, Scientific Games has helped us create fun and entertaining instant games that appeal to South Dakotans.” • Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd. recently launched a series of responsible gaming awareness activities across its properties. From September 5-14, 6,030 employees participated in the activities, designed to help them better identify and stop problem gaming. ? The contractor of the Grand Lisboa Palace construction site has pledged to rehire local cleaners who told the Labour Affairs Bureau they had been laid off after working for just two or three days. Representatives of the Macau Federation of Trade Union struck a deal with the SJM project earlier this month. ? South Korean investor G.O. Max I&D Company is pitching a plan to build a racetrack in northern Vinh Phuc Province in Vietnam. The plan also includes a 72-hole golf course, a sports and entertainment area, an equestrian center and polo club, housing and villas. ? The government of Macau has announced plans to convert a former leper colony in Ka Ho Village in Coloane into a tourist attraction. The village includes six Portuguese-style houses built in the late 19th century to house lepers, which it did until the 1990s. ? The $440 million del Lago casino project rising along Route 414 in Tyre, New York is 74 percent complete, says Wilmorite Vice President James McKenna, whose company is building the casino. He reported the news to the Seneca County Board of Supervisors last week. More than 600 workers are at the site. When the casino is completed it will employ about 1,800, said McKenna. So far 2,000 applications have been received, most from within 20 miles of the casino. They have also signed up 188 students for the first dealer school, which begins October 3. • The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, which is building the new $21 million Gray Wolf Peak Casino near Evaro, Montana with partner SK Gaming, envisions an opening date of November 1, according to SK CEO Bryon Miller. “Everybody’s excited to actually get the property going. It’s a far contrast in comparison to the old Gray wolf and the new building we’re rolling out,” he said last week. The 34,000 square foot casino will devote 10,000 SF to gaming and employ about 120 workers. • Legendary Rock bad boys Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley have announced that their new Rock & Brews restaurant at San Manuel Indian Bingo & Casino in Highland, California will in October sometime. The eatery will have a stage for live entertainment, 225 seats and will feature monitors playing over 1,000 songs with high def Technomedia special effects. Simmons and Stanley have nine of their restaurant chain throughout the state. A grand opening later this year will benefit veterans and active military. • Although Minnesota’s Indian casinos don’t pay state taxes to the state, they create economic benefits, especially for nearby communities. The Minnesota Indian Gaming Association says tribal casinos over the last quarter century generated billions of dollars in economic activity. They employ 13,371 and attract 23 million tourists annually. The 14th largest employer in the state, Indian gaming keeps its books a secret, but the association estimates they create $1.8 billion each year. They also benefited non-gaming businesses to the tune of $482 million last year. They also donate to charity. In 2016 the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community, owners of Mystic Lake Casino Hotel, donated $500,000 to light athletic fields. • British Horseracing Authority (BHA) has named Genius Sports to provide its Price Monitoring System to help BHA identify and investigate irregular betting patterns as they happen. The system will be delivered via Genius’s proprietary Sport Integrity Monitor. It will monitor live betting prices, industry averages and odds fluctuations at bookmaker locations. It will monitor about 1,500 races a year in the UK. According to BHA spokesman Robin Mounsey, such technology “forms an essential piece of the complex integrity jigsaw and British Racing has led the way in its use for safeguarding betting integrity for some time.” • Harrah’s Las Vegas has agreed to pay $850,000 to settle two class-action lawsuits accusing the resort of underpaying workers. Some 185 employees joined the suits, which were filed to recoup unpaid overtime, disputed pay for dual-rate supervisors and for improperly rounding workers’ hours. The settlement covers current and former hourly paid dealers were employed at various times from 2007 through 2014. • Las Vegas’ NHL expansion team has sold out its season tickets for the team’s 2017 debut at the T-Mobile Arena on the Strip. Sales were halted when deposits reached 16,000. Fans still may place deposits for fulfillment as tickets become available, the team said. The arena seats 17,500 for hockey. • In a nationwide effort to prevent underage gambling, Paraguay’s National Gaming Commission has tightened machine gaming regulations in the country, banning their operation in small businesses, such as retail shops and pharmacies, public areas such as plazas, sidewalks and parks and restricting them to special zones that may not be situated within 500 meters of any educational facility such as a university, college, or school.
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