As Kazuo Okada battles to regain control of Universal Entertainment and its Tiger Resort, Leisure and Entertainment unit, TRLEI may be planning a Japan IR bid. In 2017, the companies ousted Okada for misuse of funds. Okada plans to contest a public offering for Tiger currently under way in the Philippines after Tiger bought a publicly traded company. Tiger owns the Okada Casino Resort (l.) in Manila.

A hearing of a House subcommittee this week will focus on sports betting. The Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security and Investigation will review the state of the sports betting industry in the U.S. and come up with recommendations for Congressional action, if any. The wild card is a possible request from testimony from Las Vegas Sands Chairman Sheldon Adelson (l.), who is well known to be opposed to online gaming.

FanDuel’s New Jersey sports book will pay an $82,000 winning ticket to a Newark man even though a computer glitch allowed the bet to be issued at over inflated odds. FanDuel said it decided to make the payment after meeting with New Jersey regulators. The player bet on the Denver Broncos to win late in the team’s recent game against the Oakland Raiders.

Peter M. Carlino (l.), Richard Haddrill, Philip P. Hannifin and Steven Perskie will be presented with industry’s highest honor at G2E next month. The four are the latest class to be inducted into the prestigious American Gaming Association’s Gaming Hall of Fame.

The long-awaited $960 MGM Springfield enjoyed a remarkably lucrative first week, bringing in almost $9.5 million, and welcoming 150,000 visitors the first three days. MGM President Michael Mathis called the opening “tremendously successful.”

Two more casino firms have joined the list of suitors interested in running a casino at the former Athens airport, Ellinikon Airport (l.). Miura Holdings and Clairvest join Caesars Entertainment, Hard Rock, Mohegan Gaming and others.

Macau’s casino industry is back in business following Typhoon Mangkhut, a Category 10 storm that struck the MSAR September 16. Mangkhut caused severe flooding but did not match the wrath of Typhoon Hato in 2017.

Activist investors are ganging up on the biggest companies in the gaming industry, which could mean big changes, not only in those companies, but also in the financial structure of the business. What would that look like?

This week, the GGB Podcast sits down with Mike Rumbolz, the president and CEO of Everi, on how he combined two diverse companies into one powerful gaming brand.

Myanmar’s Lower House of Parliament has approved a casino bill that could open the door to foreigners-only casinos in the Southeast Asian nation. Minister U Aung Hlaing Win (l.) envisions locating the gaming halls along borders.

Alliance Global Group, which owns half of Resorts World Manila (l.) operator Travellers International Hotel Group, has announced that the group will invest PHP240 billion (US$4.4 billion) through 2020 to expand the IR.

Casino commissioners in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands have red-flagged a plan by Imperial Pacific International to build a total of 2,000 new hotel rooms at its resort (l.) on Saipan.

The growth of casinos in Cambodia—and the resulting influx of tourists from Mainland China—reportedly is making some residents unhappy. There are now two casinos on Bokor Mountain with more to come, next to one of Cambodia’s most revered national parks.

Junket operator Tak Chun Group has expanded its Tak Chun VIP Club at Galaxy Entertainment Group’s StarWorld Hotel and Casino (l.) on the Macau Peninsula. It recently opened new rooms at Sands China’s Plaza Macao.

Phase II additions to Tigre de Cristal (l.) in Russia’s Far East will include an indoor beach club and upscale retail district, says the Primorsky Krai Development Corp. The casino zone is 30 miles from Vladivostok.

The UK Advertising Standards Authority has taken action against three gambling organizations for advertisements that had an inappropriate appeal to children and encouraged irresponsible gambling. Action was taken against William Hill, Kwiff and , Bell Fruit Casino, whose ad was viewed on Dude Perfect 2, a game targeting children.

The UK Treasury will lose more than £100 million for every year that it postpones cutting maximum stakes on fixed-odds betting terminals, according to a report. The report says delaying the cut from £100 to £2 would also delay other measures the treasury proposed to offset revenue losses, which could bring in £419m of other benefits. The report was from the Centre for Economic and Business Research.

Amne Suedi (l.), principal of the Shikana Law Group, predicts that African nations will be at the center of a growth spurt of casino gaming development. All have “immense growth potential,” she said.

Argentine gaming operator Crown Casino, has begun its Rio Negro Viedma (l.) casino building project in the Sol Del Rio province. The $11.5 million project will be developed in phases.

Senator Larry Campbell’s (l.) ties to Great Canadian Gaming, which is being splashed by an ongoing investigation of casinos and money laundering in British Columbia, is proving an embarrassment. After saying no comment to questions about his being on the company’s board of directors, Senator Larry Campbell has abruptly resigned as chairman of a key financial subcommittee.

Regulators in Washington State have joined with 15 European countries to work together to re-classify video games featuring loot boxes under gambling regulations. The coalition cited the risk of blurring the lines between gambling and gaming in a declaration of their partnership. The coalition will also focus on third-party websites that aide in gambling virtual items.

David Rebuck (l.), the head of New Jersey’s Division of Gaming Enforcement, testified before the state legislature last week, telling that that all the applications for sports betting licenses have been granted, but any future applications will be vetted strongly.

Microgaming has released a new video slot titled Sidewinder In partnership with Swedish studio Just for the Win. The company says the game has a fresh new twist that multiplies a player’s win potential.

The Golden State, befitting its enormous economy, has a complicated political structure. So complicated, with so many interests, that it seems unlike it will legalize sports betting for a long time. Steve Stallings (l.), chairman of the California Nations Indian Gaming Association, says tribes are unified in opposing sports betting at racetracks and card rooms.

The advertising and cross-promotional agreement between the bookmaking giant and the Vegas Golden Knights is wide-ranging and includes the display of league-wide odds on the T-Mobile Arena’s giant video board. It could be the template for partnerships with betting operators across the NHL.

Since it opened at the former Las Vegas Hilton in 1986, the SuperBook (l.) has been regarded by locals as the best of breed in sports wagering. For the Westgate and operating partner Paragon Gaming, that’s a good bet for expanding the brand nationally.

So far, only two of Pennsylvania’s land-based casinos, Penn National’s Penn National Race Course and Parx Casino (l.) outside of Philadelphia, have opted for licenses to operate sports betting, while experts and pundits predict who the most likely next licensees will be.

Racetrack casinos, such as New Mexico’s Zia Park Casino, Hotel and Racetrack (l.), are looking hungrily at the possible profits to be made if the Land of Enchantment legalizes sports gaming. The Zia is just a few miles from Texas, where forms of gaming are severely limited.

Formula One racing has signed a sponsorship and data rights deal with Interregional Sports Group to work towards the development of live in-play betting. The deal is reportedly worth $100 million over five years. As part of the deal, ISG will have the right to sub-license betting partnership rights to select betting brands around the world.

Maverick Casinos, an operator of two casinos in upstate Nevada, is acquiring Nevada Gold & Casinos and its nine tables-only venues around Seattle. The company also owns a Las Vegas locals casino, but that’s been sold separately. Maverick’s sights are set on growing the Washington operation. Maverick founder Eric Persson (l.) has resigned from his position at Aruze Gaming to concentrate on growing Maverick.

Nebraska’s racetracks, including Atokad Park (l.), say they need an infusion of capital that being able to offer slot machines would bring. Otherwise they are going into inevitable decline. So they are pushing an initiative that would allow them to add slots and become racinos.

Boyd Gaming has officially taken title to Pennsylvania’s Valley Forge Casino Resort (l.), announcing plans to move quickly with expansion plans under the state’s new gaming law.

Investigators with the Massachusetts Gaming Commission were in the Las Vegas last week gathering information about Steve Wynn (l.) and his former company, and could release their findings by the end of the month. A separate investigation by the Nevada Gaming Control Board is also wrapping up and could be made public soon after.

No viable bidders turned up for a bankruptcy auction in Las Vegas for the troubled Asian-themed off-Strip resort. Its principal investor has filed for court permission to shutter the hotel, which is all that remains open, and halt salaries and payments to vendors.

Casino developer Dan Gilbert has been promising for years the casino he opened in its “temporary” location in the old Higbee department store building (l.) would eventually be replaced by a permanent structure. Six years after the casino opened Phase II is just a promise.

The company behind a new high-speed rail network in Miami, believes it can repeat the feat for a stalled bullet train project linking Las Vegas with the massive Southern California market. If it’s right, trains could be running by 2022.

The New Jersey Casino Reinvestment Development Authority responded to a state audit critical of its spending and accounting procedures by saying that the agency—which is charged with distributing casino funds for redevelopment—has conducted its own regular audits and vowed to work with the state to address any problems.

Members of the Massachusetts-based Mashpee Wampanoag tribe are still disbelieving the recent action by the Department of the Interior, which ruled that its earlier action put more than 300 acres into trust would be reversed. The ruling came two years after a federal judge ruled that the department erred in putting the land into trust in the first place. Tribal vice chair Jessie Little Doe Baird (l.) tearfully pleaded with Congress to restore the land.

Texas Congressman Brian Babin (l.), has introduced the Texas Equal and Fair Opportunity Settlement Act (H.R. 4985) which would recognize the right of two Lone Star tribes to offer Class II gaming. Without it, the tribes will continue to have to fight off attempts by the state of Texas to shut their casinos down.

Just as predicted, the opening of the MGM Springfield has affected slots revenues of both tribal casinos in Connecticut. However, so far, the ding isn’t as severe as had been predicted, with both casinos dipping a little over 1 percent, Foxwoods (l.) at -1.6 percent.

The Spokane Tribe of Washington has put out an RFP for a project that would beef up its existing Chewelah Casino (l.) and add a hotel. The RFP has a September 28 deadline for submittal.

Kevin Sheehan has resigned his position on the board of directors of Scientific Games four months after being replaced as the company’s CEO.

The CEO and chairman of NagaCorp, Tan Sri Dr. Chen Lip Keong, has increased his ownership of the company by buying 6 million additional shares. He paid a total of HK$43.8 million (US$5.58 million) for the shares.

Evolution Gaming Group will supply its live-dealer roulette and baccarat electronic table games to London’s Les Ambassadeurs Casino.

IGT will stage the world debut of its Blake Shelton video slots at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tampa, with machines available as of September 25.

Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (l.) will deliver the keynote address at the Sinter Meeting of the National Council of Legislators from Gaming States. Christie gets credit for instituting the federal lawsuit that eventually overturned the law that prevented legal sports betting.