NEWS & NOTES

Executives from the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City will officially announce the resort’s grand opening date and entertainment lineup at a press conference on April 18. The Hard Rock occupies the former Trump Taj Mahal neighboring Resorts on the city’s north Boardwalk.  •  Macau labor activists are demanding longer paid leave for new mothers or new fathers, and a “14^th month” bonus. The group Professional for Gaming of New Macau is asking operators to match or improve on the paid maternity and paternity leave deals announced by Wynn Macau Ltd. on April 3. Wynn extended maternity leave from 56 days to 70 days, and paid paternity leave from two days to seven days.  Another labor group, the New Macau Gaming Workers’ Rights Union has petitioned all six gaming operators to raise salaries and increase paid parental leave.  ●  The Macau Canidrome greyhound track is preparing to close its doors by July 21. According to government figures, gross revenue from greyhound racing has fallen every year since 2012, and in 2017 was MOP46 million (US$5.7 million). Profits for the company in 2015 came to just MOP4.8 million, down more than 80 percent from the previous year.  ●  Agroup of Wynn Macau employees are calling for stricter control of casino smoking.They have asked the operator to close one smoking area, and claim that smoking customers are warned in advance before government inspectors arrive.  ●   Moody’s Credit Agency has assigned a “AA1” rating to the $750 million in public bonds slated to go on sale this week to help fund the domed stadium under construction for the National Football League Las Vegas Raiders. The ratings agency described the bonds as “high quality” and “subject to very low credit risk” because they are backed by a dedicated increase in the Clark County hotel room tax.  •   Steve Wynn is reported to be selling several paintings by Andy Warhol and Pablo Picasso from his private collection. They include Picasso’s self-portrait “Le Marin,” his “Femme au chat assise dans un fauteuil” and Warhol’s “Double Elvis (Ferus Type)” and are valued in total at more than $150 million. The works are slated to be auctioned at Christie’s in New York in May.  •  Brazil’s LATAM Airlines has announced a summer schedule of thrice-weekly flights between Sao Paulo and Las Vegas’ McCarran International Airport beginning June 2 and running through September 20. The schedule will be resumed December 15 and will run through next February, the airline said.  •  Pacific Century Inc., a consulting firm appointed to monitor construction of Saipan’s Imperial Pacific integrated resort, has hired casino and hospitality analysts Euro Asia Consultants to assist island authorities in managing the development. The 329-room hotel and casino are scheduled to be completed in August.  •  Poker Central is opening a 10,000-square-foot TV studio and e-sports broadcast venue at MGM Resorts International’s Aria on the Las Vegas Strip. ESP Gaming, a gaming content creation company, is also partnering on the project, which is slated to begin streaming and on-demand broadcasts next month.  •  Maryland’s six casinos combined to set a monthly revenue record in March, topping $150 million for the first time, according to the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Agency. As usual, revenues were led by MGM National Harbor, which generated $60.4 million from slots and table games, a record monthly take. MGM’s revenue was 17.9 percent higher than the same month a year earlier. Live Casino & Hotel in Anne Arundel was second with $47 million during the month, up about 1 percent over March 2017. Horseshoe Casino Baltimore generated $24.8 million, down 7.8 percent.  •  In Pennsylvania, slot machine revenue reached its largest month-over-month gains since February 2016 with 5.4 percent in revenue in March, according to the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board. The combined gross revenue generated in March was $221,350,220. The prior March, that number was $209,984,147.March brought in $115.5 million in table game revenue.  •  The Maine House did not act on a bill proposed by a non-voting tribal representative of the legislature. Rep. Henry John Bear of the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians proposed a bill to ask the state’s Supreme Judicial Court its opinion on whether his tribe and other tribes could offer gaming. Bear referenced the 1987 U.S. Supreme Court’s Cabazon ruling that opened the door to Indian gaming in the U.S. The bill failed 73-67.  •  Foxwoods Resort Casino has announced that the Foxwoods Thrill Towers will reopen for the season beginning this week. It includes two rides, the Sky Drop and the Sky Launch. Four the Sky Drop, four riders are lifted to the top of the tower and dropped 120 feet, brought to a halt with a magnetic brake. The Sky Launch shoots two riders seated back to back to the top of Thrill Tower and back down.  •  Stockton University will sell the Seaview Hotel and Golf Club in Galloway Township in anticipation of the opening of a new campus in Atlantic City. The university operated the hotel as part of its hotel and hospitality curriculum, but also as housing for students. That housing will now be available at the Atlantic City campus. Stockton bought the resort for $20 million in 2010. Students there had access to swimming pools, housekeeping and room service, as they lived in hotel rooms rather than traditional dorms.