NEWS & NOTES

The United States Patent Office has denied a trademark for the nickname of Las Vegas’ new National Hockey League franchise, the “Golden Knights.” The agency gave as its rationale the “likelihood of confusion” with the registered mark of The College of Saint Rose of Albany, N.Y., which also uses the Golden Knights nickname. The team has until June to file a response to the denial.  •  Sands China has been awarded “Best Hotel Development” for The Parisian Macao at the China Property Awards 2016 held recently in Hong Kong. The awards are part of the Asia Property Award series organized by property group PropertyGuru.  •  Inspired’s Virtual Sports has passed regulatory field trial in Nevada to become the first land-based deployment of the platform in the United States. The platform will begin operating in 2017 at William Hill Nevada Casino Sportsbook locations statewide.  •  Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas is joining a growing number of major Strip resort operators in requiring that guests pay for parking. Charges will kick in early next year and will range from $7 to $10 with the possibility of increases during events and peak periods. Loyalty club members will get discounted pricing and free self- and valet parking under certain conditions, the resort said.  •  A total of 585 people have been fined for smoking in non-smoking areas inside Macau’s casinos so far this year. That’s an increase of 35.7 percent from 2015, when 431 people were fined during the same period, according to official data.  ?  Construction is about to begin on the Rain Rock Casino, which is being built by the Karuk Tribe in Yreka, in California’s northernmost town, with grading almost complete. About 300 construction workers will be employed. According to the tribe the casino will aim at the Southern Oregon market.  •  Scientific Games Corporation announced the market launch of two of its games that generated much buzz at October’s Global Gaming Expo—Seinfeld and The Simpsons. Seinfeld, on the Gamescape cabinet, features five video screens and bonuses featuring Jerry, Elaine, George and Kramer, as well as a bonus dedicated to the “Soup Nazi.” The Simpsons, also on Gamescape, features custom voice-overs by actors Hank Azaria and Dan Castellaneta, as well as custom content written by the show’s writers.  •  Maryland TV station WUSA9 reports that More than 100,000 people visited the new MGM National Harbor casino resort from its opening late December 8 through the following Sunday evening. More than 50,000 of those visitors came in the first 14 hours of operations beginning at about 10:30 p.m. December 8. Twice during the first two days of operations, police were forced to briefly close exits from the Beltway into the casino complex because traffic was backing up into Virginia from the Woodrow Wilson Bridge. There were periods over both days when the facility had reached its capacity, and officials were only letting people in when others left.  •  Paysafe Group Plc. has denied allegations from Spotlight Research, which claimed that the company was enabling both illegal gambling and Chinese capital control evasion. The company’s stock fell as much as 37.9 percent to 230.1 pence due to speculation surrounding the report, before recovering to trade at 334.2 pence after the company rejected the research. “Paysafe confirms that all material information in the report is either factually inaccurate or has been previously disclosed,” the company said in a statement.  •  International Game Technology announced that its Double Down social casino has released a new game themed on the daytime show of comedian Ellen DeGeneres, called “The Ellen DeGeneres Show 12 Days of Giveaways.” Inspired by the highly rated annual TV event, “Ellen’s 12 days of Giveaways,” the new social casino game entertains players with a holiday-themed graphics and sound package, iconic imagery from The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and three bonus events—Know or Go Pick Bonus, the Wheel of Riches Bonus and the 12 Days of Giveaways Free Spins Bonus. Players can now access the five-reel game on desktop or choice of mobile devices.  •  The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA), the governing body for both snooker and billiards worldwide, has selected Sportradar to provide its integrity-focused services for the next three years. This direct partnership will see Sportradar apply its award-winning Fraud Detection System over snooker’s thousands of matches each year, but will also see the company, headquartered in Switzerland, provide an annual Education Workshop to WPBSA stakeholders, as well as intelligence and investigatory support as required.