NEWS & NOTES

Pennsylvania’s Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem, despite being in the middle of the process of being sold to Alabama’s Poarch Band of Creek Indians, was slated to make its pitch last Thursday to the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board to renew its license for another five years. The Sands operates 3,000 slots and 230 tables, and includes an integral hotel, retail center and meeting space. The casino generated $539 million in revenue last year. Owner Las Vegas Sands Corp. announced last month that it will be sold to the Poarch Band’s Wind Creek Hospitality, and its name will be changed to Wind Creek Bethlehem.  •  Pittsburgh’s Rivers Casino announced that it has paid the city’s Sports & Exhibition Authority $4.2 million toward its annual contribution for the construction expenses of the PPG Paints Arena, home of the NHL Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins. The award of the license, now held by Rush Street Gaming, included the requirement that the licensee pay the authority $7.5 million annually to cover construction of the arena. Payments go through 2038, after which the casino will have contributed a total of $225 million for the construction, completed in 2010.  •  A fatal accident took place at Wynn Boston Harbor last week and a construction worker died after being injured. The company did not specify details. Wynn and the federal Occupation Safety and Health Administration are both investigating the accident. A Wynn spokesman said, “This is a very sad day for everyone at Wynn Boston Harbor.”  •  The South Dakota Commission on Gaming has approved new rules to discourage minors in casinos. Casinos must now post prominent signs warning that only people over 21 can gamble and to ban underage persons from loitering in casinos or near games and machines. The rules came after Cadillac Jack’s in Deadwood was fined $75,000 for three underage incidents last summer.  •  The city of Ridgecrest, California has asked for more time to comply with a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) from the Daily Independent regarding correspondence about the Timbisha Shoshone casino project. The newspaper seeks correspondence between city officials and the tribe regarding the tribe’s casino proposal and letters between those officials and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The city seeks 14 days over the usual ten-day period required to address such a request.  •  San Francisco’s NICOS Chinese Health Coalition has received a $25,000 grant to expand the Chinese Community Problem Gambling Project (CCPGP) to target the city’s Chinese population. Because of a higher acceptance of gambling, Chinese Americas are considered vulnerable to problem gambling. American casinos have increased marketing to the Chinese-American market. This includes busing them from Oakland and San Francisco to area casinos.  •  Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries has cut a $1 million annual grant to the Manitoba Gambling Research Program from its $12 million social responsibility budget. The agency plans to spend the money “in house,” says Bev Mehmel, director of corporate responsibility. “We fund addictions agencies,” she said. “We really need to be doing more program evaluations to ensure that the programs that we’re funding are meeting their goals and they’re effective.”  •  Arizona’s Ak-Chin Indian Community just opened the Ak-Chin Circle Pedestrian Bridge connecting the UltraStar Multi-Tainment Center at Ak-Chin Circle to Harrah’s Ak-Chin Casino. The 180-foot bridge is an air-conditioned walkway. The casino is amidst a multi-million-dollar expansion including 200 new hotel rooms, a spa and conference center.  •  While many casinos make a point of pouring alcoholic libations, Quinault Beach Resort and Casino near Seattle, prides itself on serving Quinault Alderwood Traditional roasted coffee at the casino’s coffee bar. The gourmet coffee is roasted over open wood flames in an Italian-made machine from the 1940s. Alderwood has been used by the Quinault tribe from times immemorial to smoke food.  •  The Clark County Commission, Nevada voted 6-1 to approve the sale of $750 million in public bonds for construction of a $1.8 billion, 65,000-seat stadium for the National Football League Raiders. Pricing and sale of the bonds is expected to occur later this month.  •  Full House Resorts has won approval from the Cripple Creek Historic Preservation Commission to move forward on a planned expansion of the company’s Bronco Billy’s Casino and Hotel in the Colorado city. Pending approval from Cripple Creek City Council the company said it will launch the $100 million project in May.  •  The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas is converting an area formerly occupied by its previous race and sports book (a new race and sports book opened over a year ago managed by CG Technologies) into a food and beverage concept. The makeover is part of a $100 million-plus upgrade of all 2,895 rooms in its twin hotel towers slated for completion the end of this year. The race and sports book was moved from the Boulevard Tower’s second level to the main casino floor in 2016.  •  The board of Melco Resorts & Entertainment has agreed to allocate restricted shares worth US$5.133 million to Chairman and CEO Lawrence Ho in appreciation of the company’s ongoing success and growing market reach.  ●  Macau retailer the Rainbow Group will build the Rainbow Life Plaza luxury mall in Hengqin. Rainbow sells major brands including Giorgio Armani, Versace, Escada and Jimmy Choo, among others.  ●  The Macau government expects to start construction of the new Guangdong-Macau passageway this year. In 2013, the central government approved a channel linking Macau and Zhuhai City to ease the overflow of travelers at the Border Gate. The plan includes a railway station, bus terminal, taxi stands, public parking, drop-off points for shuttle buses and a pedestrian walkway.  ●  In 2017, casino employees accounted for 30 percent of requests for help with problem gambling in Macau, according to an official from the city’s Social Affairs Bureau. Gaming scholar Davis Fong Ka Chio said the number is significant, but also means casino employees “are willing to seek help.”  ●  Macau’s newest integrated resort, MGM Cotai, will hosts the inaugural G2E Asia Awards on May 15. The awards will “recognize excellence and innovation within Asian gaming while celebrating the success and outstanding contributions of the non-gaming aspects of the entertainment industry.”  ●  Galaxy Entertainment Group says it is the first of Macau’s six gaming concessionaires to launch regularly-scheduled electrically-powered shuttles to transport patrons. In late 2017, the firm launched a service that links Macau to Zhuhai in Guangdong
Province, Mainland China. The buses are powered by electric motors rather than hybrid vehicles that use electrical power backed by a combustion engine.  ●  Pansy Ho’s Shun Tak Holdings has won a contract to operate bus lines across the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge.A subsidiary of the firm will set fares at HKD80 per trip, about one-third of the price by ferry.Some 90 to 140 buses are expected to run each day between the three cities, departing every five minutes at peak hours and every 10 to 15 minutes in the off-peak period. The buses are expected to begin operating later this year.  ●  A total of 402,846 tourists visited Macau during the Easter holidays, a decrease of 4.72 percent from the same period in 2017.According to official data, some 1.05 million inbound and outbound trips were registered in all MSAR checkpoints during the four days of the holiday from March 30 to April 2.  ●  Wynn Macau has announced new maternity and paternity benefits for all eligible employees, effective May. Paid maternity leave will be increased from eight weeks to 10 weeks. Paid paternity leave will be increased from two to seven days, exceeding the requirements of Macau labor laws.