NEWS & NOTES

Frontier Airlines is expanding its Las Vegas schedule this summer with 16 new weekly flights to four cities. The Denver-based carrier will add service from McCarran International Airport to Washington, D.C.’s Dulles International Airport and to Bismarck, N.D., Sioux Falls, S.D., and Indianapolis.  •  Station Casinos is launching a new free-play social gaming app in the second quarter in partnership with GameAccount Network. StationPlay will enable Boarding Pass loyalty card holders to earn points while playing slots, video poker, bingo and poker variants on both desktop and mobile devices.  •  Security officers at Excalibur Hotel & Casino on the Las Vegas Strip have rejected union representation. The vote was 80-16 against membership in the International Union, Security, Police and Fire Professionals of America.  •  Indian casino operator Delta Corporation Ltd. Has gotten the go-ahead from Gaussian Networks shareholders to buy the online poker website Adda52.com for about $22 million. Delta issued this statement: “With this transaction, Delta Corporation Limited will widen its business horizon and increase its overall footprint thereby consolidating its overall leadership position.” The website has a player database of more than 100,000. Delta operates casinos in Sikkim and Goa and plans to open its Delta Daman in the territory of Daman.  •  Valley Forge Casino Resort CEO Eric Pearson has bought 60 new slot machines to go along with a $6 million facelift expected to be finished at the Pennsylvania casino this month. Pearson, who joined the resort in October, noted that they have purchased more new machines in the past three months than in the previous five years. These will be mostly of the new “skill-based” type that appeal to younger audiences.  •  Interblock DD, which supplies electronic table games to casinos, has completed installing a 50-seat stadium-style machines at Resorts World Genting in Malaysia. They were installed in the new Sky Casino, which just opened. The machines offer baccarat, roulette and sic bo, all conducted by live dealers, or without live dealers—fully automated. They employ 27-inch-high definition screens.  •  Innovative Technology, which manufactures banknote validators to casinos and others that accept large amounts of cash, has been granted certification by the Bank of England. The company was given a 100% grade for accepting authentic banknotes and rejecting counterfeit ones. This is important since the bank will be introducing a new £10 polymer bank note into circulation next month.  •  Macau visitation could benefit from China’s announcement that it will restrict travel to South Korea. The travel warnings follows the installation of a U.S. missile system designed to protect South Korea from North Korea. The system is reportedly looked at as a potential threat by China.  ?  Tencent Holding Ltd. Chairman Ma Huateng has proposed building a technology zone in southern China that could rival San Francisco’s Bay Area. China’s fourth-richest man says the zone would serve former colonies Hong Kong and Macau.  ?   The 13, a luxury hotel in Macau’s Cotai district may not open as planned early this year. In a news release, 13 Holdings Ltd. indicated that the hotel, which is said to have cost US$7 million (MOP56 million) per room, is in “the final stage” of development with plans to “bring the project to the market in 2017.” The group said it has held private preview parties for the likes of Prince Albert of Monaco and the Emir of Abu Dhabi in Monaco and Dubai. ?  There were 580 fewer casino dealers in Macau in 2016 despite the opening of two new large-scale casino resorts in the city’s Cotai district during the period. The industry employed a total of 24,039 dealers at the end of December, a year-on-year decrease of 2.4 percent, according to the Macau Statistics and Census Service.  ?  The UK government has published its Horserace Betting Levy Regulations for 2017. Both houses of parliament must approve the draft legislation, which would tax UK-based offshore betting operations. UK racing expects the levy to generate an extra £30million to £40 million for the sport.