NEWS & NOTES

Las Vegas Sands’ Venetian and Palazzo resorts have raised the daily fee charged to their hotel guests from $39 to $45, the highest on the Strip. The fee, which is assessed at various rates in all the major Strip hotels, is used to offset the costs of amenities such as fitness center access, internet use, phone calls, guest business services and electronic access to newspapers and magazines.  •  The non-profit MGM Resorts Foundation will hold its 12th annual Women’s Leadership Conference on August 27 and 28 at the MGM Grand Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. Founded with the goal of enhancing career and personal development, education and professional networking, the conference donates its proceeds to different local organizations dedicated to the welfare of women and girls.  •  Las Vegas’ off-Strip Palms Casino Resort is partnering with concert promoter Live Nation to contract with rock band Blink-182 for a residency at the Palms’ newly renovated Pearl Concert Theater. The residency, titled “Kings of the Weekend,” will feature 16 shows starting in May and ending in November.   •  The Mashpee, Board of Selectmen will review a federal lawsuit filed by opponents of the proposed Mashpee Wampanoag casino in Taunton, Massachusetts, challenging the Interior Department’s 2015 decision to take land into trust for the tribe. The board will review different possible outcomes of that litigation. The board, which has supported the tribe’s efforts, wants to “understand all our options,” said one member.  •  The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board’s planned auction of a fifth mini-casino license was postponed last week to April 4 in Harrisburg, due to a snowstorm. The board will auction a total of 10 licenses for casinos that can deploy up to 750 slots and 40 gaming tables. Four have been sold for Westmoreland, Lawrence, York and Cumberland counties.  •  Foxwoods Resort Casino has officially opened the HighFlyer Zipline, a 33-story high ride that runs from the top of Fox Tower to Mashantucket Pequot Museum & Research Center 3,750 feet, reaching a top speed of 60 mph. The ride operates on four parallel lines. Senior Vice President of Resort Operations Jason Guyot said in a release that the ride was part of the resort’ mission “to reimagine what a modern-day resort casino should entail.”  •  By 2023 Macau’s six casino operators will be exclusively using clean-energy vehicles in their shuttle bus services for customers, says the head of Macau’s Transport Bureau, Lam Hin San. The local gaming industry has pledged that at least 15 percent of the passenger buses run by each casino licensee would be powered by clean-energy sources—electricity or compressed natural gas—by May 1.  ●  A unit of Las Vegas Sands Corp. has amended certain term loans and revolving loans negotiated by the group for use at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore. The maturity of the term loans has been extended from August 2020 to March 2024.  ●