NEWS & NOTES

Golden Nugget Atlantic City announced it has reached a new milestone for game offerings on its online site GoldenNuggetcasino.com. The site has launched 500th desktop game. When added to the site’s 300 mobile games, it is now the first US online casino to hit the 500/300 mark, officials said in a press release.  •  The Nevada Gaming Control Board has unanimously recommended that the gaming license for the SLS Las Vegas on the Strip be transferred to the property’s new owner, the Meruelo Group, which operates the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno, Nev. Meruelo bought the struggling 1,300-room North Strip casino hotel from Stockbridge Capital Partners last May for an undisclosed price.   •  The Las Vegas Victims’ Fund has raised more than $31 million to aid those injured in the October 1 mass shooting on the Strip and their families. The fund began distributing the monies last week. Those interested in learning more are directed to the LVVF website at https://lasvegasvictimsfund.org.   •  Station Casinos has increased the redevelopment budget for its off-Strip Palms Casino Resort by $135 million. The total budget of $620 million now includes an accelerated third phase featured an enlarged casino floor, an Asian-style restaurant, a pedestrian connection to the parking garage and new exterior signage. The first phase of the project is slated to open later this year.  •  Caesars Entertainment has raised parking fees at seven of its Las Vegas Strip resorts. Rates at the Flamingo, Harrah’s, The Linq, Cromwell, Bally’s and Paris Las Vegas are going up $2 to $9 for people parking from one to four hours and by $2 to $12 for more than four hours. Caesars Palace fees will rise by $2 to $12 for less than four hours and by $3 to $15 for more than four hours.  •  Maryland regulators reported that MGM National Harbor continues to account for the largest amount of the state’s casino gaming revenue. MGM generated $53.1 million in February gaming revenue from slots and table games, up 16 percent from last February. Live! Casino at Arundel Mills, which is in the middle of an expansion project that will add a hotel, had just shy of $47 million in gaming revenue, up 1.5 percent from a year ago.  At Baltimore’s Horseshoe Casino, February gaming revenue totaled $21.4 million, down 2.7 percent from last February. Results were mixed at Maryland’s three other smaller casinos. Gaming revenue was up 22.4 percent at Ocean Downs Casino, up 4 percent at Rocky Gap Casino Resort, and down 5.3 percent at Hollywood Casino Perryville.  •  Las Vegas-based Interblock, which manufactures luxury games and electronic table games, has placed a fifty-seat Diamond Stadium in the Muong Thanh Ha Long Hotel’s new Hollywood One Club in Vietnam. The club is the first five-star gaming club in the city of Ha Long Bay. The Interblock Stadium has one live table with several games all accessible from one play station, so players can change games without cashing out.  •  Ohio’s Hard Rock Rocksino in Northfield plans to send out a bus, the Rocksino Express, that will pick up players in the Northeast part of the state three days a week. It will visit a variety of cities in four counties. There’s a $10 cost to ride but riders will get $20 in free play.  •  Nevada-based Scientific Games has been awarded a five-year contract by the Arizona Lottery to provide technology to “make it easier and more efficient for the Arizona Lottery to manage its business,” said a spokesman for the company.  •  The Buena Vista Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians, who have tried for more than ten years to build a casino in the Golden State’s Gold Country have agreed to a very high interest for the five year $205 million bond they will use to finance the facility. The 14.425 percent is more than double the average rate for U.S. junk bonds. It reflects the project’s controversial nature. The bond is rated Caa1/B1. Fortunately for the tribe, its casino will be operated by Caesars Entertainment, which will brand it Harrah’s NorCal. The casino is expected to open in a little more than a year.  •  The Snoqualmie Casino, near Seattle, Washington, March 12 held a ribbon cutting for the redesigned Mist Bar. The new bar includes a 360-degree video display that encircles the lounge. The bar includes a sports ticker and four 75-inch TV screens.  •  The auction for the fifth mini-casino by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, slated for Wednesday, March 7, was postponed to Friday because of last week’s snowstorm. And when it was hold on Friday, there were no bidders. •  Australia’s Star Entertainment Group will open the 17-story Darling Hotel at the Star Gold Coast on March 22. Designed by Steelman Partners, it features seven suites on each level, VIP gaming and a rooftop restaurant and bar with infinity pool. The Sovereign private gaming club will offer baccarat, roulette and blackjack plus 200 electronic gaming machines.  ● Macau hotels enjoyed 90.3 percent occupancy in January 2018, with more than 1.17 million guests checking in. That was an increase of 8.7 percentage points year-on-year, the Statistics and Census Service said.There are114 hotels and guesthouses operating in Macau, seven more than in the same month of last year, with guest rooms rising 2.6 per cent to 37,000. Five-star hotel rooms represent more than half of the total number.  ●  Macau unemployment dropped for the three-month period that ended in January. The number of unemployed was about 6,900, down by 200 from the previous period. New labor force entrants searching for their first job accounted for 9.9 percent of the total unemployed, down by 2.7 percentage points.  ●   The number of Macau’s full-time gaming employees increased 1.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2017, reaching 56,625.Official data showed that the number of dealers rose by 1.7 percent to 24,450.