G2E returned to Las Vegas last week, filling the halls of the Venetian with thousands of guests, vendors, speakers and educational sessions. Though masks and vaccines were mandatory, optimism was the prevailing mood.

Hirofumi Yoshimura (l.), governor of Osaka, Japan says, a full proposal for an integrated resort in the prefecture and city, in development by MGM Resorts and Orix Corp., will be completed by the end of the year.

Researchers at the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority contend that fears about the delta variant of Covid-19 caused a drop in visitation to Las Vegas and all of Southern Nevada in August.

A glitch in a self-exclusion program caused a delay in online gaming going live in the Netherlands. The Centraal Register Uitsluiting Kansspelen had to wait three days, until October 4, to launch. Holland Casino (l.) owns one of the 10 licenses granted thus far.

The Association of Gaming Equipment Manufacturers last week acknowledged Sebastian Salat (l.) and Alan Feldman with memorial awards for excellence in commercial gaming and communications.

Partnering with Betfred, Paragon Casino Resort has opened Louisiana’s first legal sportsbook and the largest gambling expansion since the lottery, casinos and video poker were approved in the early 1990s.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony October 1 opened the $330 million expansion at Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort in North Carolina. It includes the venue’s fourth hotel tower and the Cherokee Convention Center.

Public Health England has released its review of gambling-related harms. The agency assessed six types of harms. Among the findings: online gambling represented 23.4 percent of at-risk gamblers.

On October 4, Flutter Entertainment elevated its president to CEO of FanDuel. Amy Howe will succeed Matt King, who left in July and resurfaced at Fanatics.

This week, the GGB Podcast features a discussion with Nick Khin, the senior vice president and chief operating officer, and Domenico Pastia, senior vice president of global product, for IGT about how the companies Peak cabinets are accelerating development of new games and player acceptance.

Casinos in Manila’s Entertainment City, including Solaire (l.), are closed under new Covid-19 safety provisions, though some resort amenities remain open. Metro Manila will operate under a strict Covid alert level until at least October 15.

In a Golden Week speech, Macau Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng (l.) pledged full cooperation with the Chinese central government in the development of Hengqin Island in Zhuhai.

Casinos in Nepal, including Tiger Palace (l.), reopened late last month, more than 18 months after they shut down due to Covid-19. The government is helping out the battered industry by waiving the annual royalty fee for the last fiscal year.

Malaysia’s Resorts World Genting opened with “limited offerings” starting September 30. “We will be reopening more facilities and offerings once interstate travel is allowed,” RWG stated.

Saipan’s casino regulator, is poised to yank the casino license of Imperial Pacific Casino (l.). Commonwealth Casino Commission Executive Director Andrew Yeom said IPI is millions in arrears in regulatory fees.

Swedish regulator Spelinspektionen hopes to curb problem gaming by reducing available credit. Regulatory chief Camilla Rosenberg (l.) said it “promotes the protection of players with problematic gambling behavior.”

Sisal SPA, an Italian company that operates SuperEnalotto lottery, has set high goals, to achieve “zero problematic players, zero gender pay gap and zero CO2 emissions” company by 2030.

Codere Online saw its revenue for the first half of 2021 jump 33 percent. While Spain led the way, Mexico and Columbia were major contributors to the results. Credit also goes to an increase in active players

In a move to increase access to gaming revenues, Esports Technologies acquired Aspire Global for almost $80 million. The deal allows esports betting to be offered to 1.25 million new customers.

Complaints over required use of official league data in all aspects of contests, including final scores, were among the issues raised in comments over Maryland’s proposed sports betting regulations. Sportradar’s Brandt Iden (l.) says the data arrangements should be agreements between operators and not mandated by the state.

Last week, the sportsbook at Mohegan Sun suspended betting on women’s basketball. Critics pointed out that the tribe owns a WNBA team, the Connecticut Suns.

MGM National Harbor is awaiting approval for its sports betting operation, and will be able to launch without much delay once it gets the OK from Maryland regulators.

Sports betting operator BetMGM has forged an exclusive market access partnership with the Puyallup Tribe of Indians to operate retail sports betting at the Emerald Queen Casino (l.) in Washington state. And FanDuel will partner with the Suquamish Clearwater Casino Resort.

Vietnam has issued a decree adding 27 sports leagues and tourneys from all over the world to events Vietnamese can wager on. Prior to the decree, only FIFA-sanctioned contests were eligible.

The Indiana Gaming Commission will announce the casino licensee for Vigo County in November. Contenders for the Terre Haute venue are Churchill Downs, Full House, Hard Rock and Terre Haute Entertainment.

Midwest Gaming, a partnership between Rush Street Gaming and Churchill Downs, withdrew its Waukegan casino license application, leaving Full House Resorts and North Point Casino as the finalists.

Early voting in Virginia has begun and that means Richmond residents will determine by November 2 whether they want Urban One to develop its proposed $565 million ONE Casino + Resort (l.).

More than $20.53 million sits in the Massachusetts Race Horse Development Fund. The fund is fed by contributions from the gaming industry. However, the Bay State horseracing industry is defunct.

Churchill Downs will open Derby City Gaming Downtown (l.) in Louisville’s entertainment and dining district, opening in early 2023. The venue will feature 500 historical horseracing machines and create 100 new permanent jobs.

The Republican Parish Executive Committee of St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana unanimously voted to oppose the proposed $329 million Camellia Bay casino (l.). A December 11 referendum will decide the issue.

In Platte City, Missouri, the public was invited to watch five video gaming machines destroyed (l.). They’re the only machines found to be illegal in the only successful felony prosecution of a Missouri game vendor.

Slots at Bally’s Quad Cities (l.) in Rock Island, Iowa now operate 24/7. Bally’s bought the former Jumer’s Casino & Hotel for $120 million from Delaware North in June and completed rebranding the venue in September.

Golden Entertainment, owner of the Strat in Las Vegas, will add a $70 million, four-story golf attraction to the property on an adjacent seven-acre tract. The course will be known as the Atomic Range (l.).

The Catawba Indian Nation is expanding its temporary Two Kings Casino (l.) in Kings Mountain, North Carolina, doubling the number of slots. Meanwhile planning continues for its $239 million permanent facility.

Having lost its fight against the state of New York over payments, the Seneca Nation has requested a delay in compliance. The tribe, owner of three casinos, wants to wait until federal reviews of the adjudication.

On the same day, both Moody’s and Standard and Poor raised the credit ratings for the Quapaw Nation’s Saracen Development, operator of the tribe’s Saracen Resort Casino (l.) in Pine Bluff, Arkansas.

The tribal council of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee has balked at allocating $3.5 million to start work on Sequoyah National Golf Club hotel. The tribe says its existing $25.3 million contract is binding.

Washington’s Spokane Tribe October 5 held a groundbreaking for the hotel it is building next to the Chewelah Casino. The construction project is expected to be completed by the end of 2022.

The World Poker Tour has announced a new addition to its WPTDeepStacks event. It will be held October 27-November 8 at the Choctaw Casino (l.) in Durant, Oklahoma.

October 1 marked the beginning of the Netherlands Lottery online operations. At the same time Scientific Games went live with its OpenGaming platform and OpenBet technology to assist the lottery.

The Association of Gaming Equipment Manufacturers last week announced the appointment of gaming industry veteran Daron Dorsey (l.) as its new executive director, succeeding Marcus Prater.

Ian Williams, formerly president of online gaming at Churchill Downs Inc., was named chief operating officer at WynnBET, overseeing trading, marketing, customer service, payments and data science teams.

Patrick Jonker has left William Hill international managing director at a time when the company faces a merger with 888 Holdings. Jonker let a resurgence when he came on board in 2019.

Rhode Island native Clifford K. Perry has been named director of table games for the two casinos in the state operated by Bally’s Corp. Perry has had a long career directing table games in Massachusetts and Connecticut.

Industry game design veteran Ted Hase, formerly of Aristocrat Gaming, has joined Scientific Games as senior vice president of game design, leading the supplier’s Las Vegas game studio.

EveryMatrix has named Ashley Bloor business owner for its RGS Matrix solution, charged with strengthening the division’s market position and commercial success.

The AGEM Index continued to rise in September, setting a new record point total of 1,046.74, led by a 22.5 percent stock increase for International Game Technology.

Sightline Payments and IGT last week announced a partnership to deliver cashless gaming solutions through Sightline’s award-winning digital commerce platform Play+ and IGTPay cashless solutions.

Conscious Gaming and GeoComply have announced a pilot agreement with IXUP Ltd. that will leverage IXUP’s secure data collaboration for the U.S. online gaming and sports betting markets.