NEWS & NOTES

Poker King Club has launched a new poker room at the Venetian Macao, a Sands China Ltd. property. The new club will host the Suncity Cup with an HK$8 million guaranteed main event. Poker King Club has three poker rooms: Poker King Club Macau, Poker King Club Manila at Solaire Resort and Casino in Manila, and Poker King Club Korea at Maison Glad Hotel Jeju.  ●  Melco Resorts & Entertainment will open two restaurants and a bar at the company’s $1 billion Morpheus Hotel in collaboration with Chef Alain Ducasse. The 780-room hotel, set to open in May 2018, will include an entire floor dedicated to Ducasse.  ●  The Macau casino sector has one fewer Michelin-starred restaurants in the 2018 edition of the “Michelin Guide to Hong Kong and Macau.” Terrazza, an Italian eatery at Galaxy Macau, was bumped from the list.  ●  Japan plans to impose a ¥1,000 departure tax on everyone who goes abroad starting in April 2019. The individual tax would be levied on those departing by plane or ship, with the revenue used to promote tourism.  ●  JR-West Hotels, a chain operator in western Japan, has opened its first overseas branch in Singapore, hoping to attract more tourists from Southeast Asia and Oceania to Japan.  ●  Macau Secretary for Transport and Public Works Raimundo do Rosário is urging the city’s Big 6 casino operators to share a shuttle bus service to help alleviate traffic congestion.Rosário recommended electrically powered buses that would travel between the Border Gate and neighboring Zhuhai in Mainland China.  ●   The opening of MGM Cotai in January should increase the number of MGM China employees in Macau from 6,000 to about 12,000. The 1,390-room resort, which will offer almost 31,000 square feet of meeting space, could create leasing demand for between 500 and 1,000 units from casino staff and raise rents by about 5 percent in 2018.  ●   MGM Resorts Japan has become an official partner with the Osaka government in its bid to host the 2025 World Expo at Yumeshima, the same location that is likely to become host to the nation’s first major urban IR.  •  The San Felipe Pueblo of New Mexico has changed the name of its casino from San Felipe Casino to Black Mesa Casino. The rebranding came after a $12 million remodel. The San Felipe Travel Center has also been renamed as Black Mesa Travel Center. Tribal members say the name has more meaning for them and is “very culturally significant” according to a spokesman.  •  A consortium led by IGT that includes Scientific Games has extended its contract to with the Italian National Lottery (Lotterie Nazionali) until 2028. The consortium will pay Italy €800 million in three installments for the rights to the Italian Scratch & Win concession. IGT owns 64 percent, Scientific Games owns 20 percent and Arianna 2001 owns 16 percent.   •  The Boston Billiard Club in Nashua, New Hampshire has opened a new poker room. A smoking ban forced the casino to reinvent itself and to convert from a pool hall to an emphasis on poker. A spokesman said, “Our goal is to be more of a Las Vegas-style casino than just a card room.”  The casino, which first opened in 2000 has spent $500,000 on renovating. It reopened the day before Thanksgiving.  •  The Nevada Gaming Commission has approved Las Vegas attorney Brian Shapiro as bankruptcy trustee for the Klondike Sunset Casino in the Las Vegas suburb of Henderson. The Klondike has been operating under U.S. Bankruptcy Court protection since October 2016. Owners Nevada Gaming Partners are looking to sell it at auction.   •  Work is under way on the Las Vegas Strip to replace the turf surrounding the famed “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” sign. The project includes replacement of 1,850 square feet of turf and installation of a concrete curb border. A popular photo opportunity for visitors, the sign has stood for 60 years on Las Vegas Boulevard just south of Russell Road. It was entered in the National Register of Historic Places in 2009.  •  Golden Entertainment has opened a PT’s Gold gaming tavern in southwest Las Vegas, its fifth in the city this year and the 56th for the company in the Las Vegas Valley.