New York gaming commissioners last week focused on expanded gaming—three potential casinos in the southern part of New York, and online sports betting. The commission has reportedly set a tax rate for mobile sports betting in the state, but that figure hasn’t yet been released.

In a long-expected development, sports bettors in New Jersey handed over more than $1 billion in bets in September. The record-breaking handle eclipsed the prior record of $996 million in December. Credit the return of football.

Starting October 19, people traveling from Macau to Zhuhai were no longer required to quarantine for two weeks on arrival. Local media reported flocks of travelers at the border crossing (l.).

Soon Crown Resorts will learn if it can continue to operate its flagship casino (l.) in Melbourne, Australia. Multiple Crown probes have affected casinos in three states, and will likely lead to an overhaul of gaming regulation across the country.

In Las Vegas and throughout Southern Nevada last week, tourism officials rejoiced to learn that international travel restrictions will end for fully vaccinated travelers come November 8.

California’s San Manuel Band of Mission Indians has released details of their plans for the Palms resort (l.) in Las Vegas. The $650 million deal marked the first off-reservation acquisition for the tribe.

Bally Corp.’s acquisition of Gamesys Group was completed recently and as a result the hierarchy of Bally’s has shifted. Former Gamesys CEO Lee Fenton (l.) named Bally’s CEO.

Sightline Payments says Everi infringed on five cashless gaming patents. Its lawsuit has observers wondering if intellectual property cases will proliferate as in the 1990s, when claims over slot features were common.

In North America’s expanding iGaming industry, two names are currently making news: platform provider GAN, which just hosted its first investor event, and Aristocrat, which will buy platform provider Playtech.

This week, the GGB Podcast sits down with Paul Burns, the president and CEO of the Canadian Gaming Association, on the legalization of sports betting by the Canadian government and what it means for the provinces and the industry as a whole.

Some megaresorts in Manila’s Entertainment City casino zone (l.) have reopened their gaming floors at reduced capacities. The resorts closed in early August following a Covid-19 surge.

To make up for gaming business lost to Covid-19, Korean officials are floating a plan to bring proxy betting to the country’s 17 foreigner-only casinos. Revenues at those properties fell 73 percent year-on-year in 2020.

The Las Vegas Sands Corp. continues to duke it out in a $12 billion lawsuit in Macau. Marshall Hao, the Sands’ former partner in the SAR, says he deserves a cut of the billions made by the U.S.-based gaming giant even though the relationship was dissolved prior to the opening of the Sands Macau (l.).

PH Resorts Group, a unit of Philippines business conglomerate Udenna Group, has delayed the planned opening of its new Cebu integrated resort, Emerald Bay (l.), until early 2023.

All six Macau casino concessionaires now require employees to either be vaccinated against Covid-19 or get a weekly test under new health and safety rules. Other Asia-Pac jurisdictions are taking similar precautions.

Jeju Shinhwa World (l.) in South Korea is taking heat from a local workers’ union for the mass layoff program that followed a year of hardship. The union accused management of “taking away workers’ rice bowls.”

The U.K. Betting and Gaming Council has introduced a new responsible gambling campaign, “Take Time to Think.” It kicks off with a series of TV ads, encouraging gamblers to set limits.

The owners of Campione d’Italia Casino (l.) want to reopen the casino, which declared bankruptcy in 2018. But roadblocks remain, such as the demand by the trade union’s demand that all 490 who lost their jobs be rehired.

Portuguese lawmakers have adopted legislation that will put time limits on gaming advertisements, banning them from TV and radio between 7 a.m. and 10:30 p.m. The ads will be treated like ads for alcohol.

The government of Lithuania is proposing to change the way it taxes casinos. It proposes to switch from a fee per machine and table to an 18 percent tax of gross gaming revenue.

Ukraine’s Commission for the Regulation of Gambling and Lotteries has published guidelines for dealing with unlicensed casino operators. The first step is blacklist, followed by bringing in police.

The U.K. Gambling Commission has suspended the license of BGO Entertainment following violations of the 2005 Gambling Act. The company was accused of failing to guard against money laundering.

The Cullen Commission, named for Commissioner Austin Cullen (l.), has concluded its investigation of money laundering and corruption in British Columbia casinos. Recommendations are due in the next few months.

Sony Pictures Entertainment will sell its video game studio GSN Games to mobile gaming firm Scopely in a deal valued at $1 billion in a 50-50 combination of cash and stock.

Research into Australian gambling activity has found that gambling overall is down, but gambling online has doubled. The most popularity gambling activity was lottery, drawing 10 percent of survey respondents.

Parimutuel betting, lottery and charitable bingo are the only legal gambling in Kentucky. But state Rep. Adam Koenig (l.) will reintroduce sports betting legislation in the 2022 session.

Louisiana Gaming Control Board Chair Ronnie Johns (l.) says 13 of 20 state-licensed gambling operations have applied for sports betting licenses. Several could open sportsbooks by November 1.

Supply chain issues prevented Wisconsin’s Oneida Nation from launching legal sports betting at the start of the NFL season, according to Vice Chairman Brandon Yellowbird Stevens (l.). But officials of the state’s first tribe to offer sports wagering expect it to be available by Week 11.

A Florida District Court judge says West Flagler Associates, owner of Magic City Casino (l.) in Miami, had no standing to sue the Seminole Tribe and Governor Ron DeSantis over the new compact’s sports betting provision. But other legal battles await.

Thousands of wagers were place online October 19, the launch of sports betting and online casino games in Connecticut. Mashantucket Pequot Chairman Rodney Butler (l.) called it “nothing short of historic.”

Four California mayors, including Oakland’s Libby Schaaf (l.), have endorsed a measure to combat homelessness with revenues from legal sports betting. Eighty-five percent of taxes would go to fund permanent shelter, addiction treatment and mental services.

The National Football League is launching a $6.2 million campaign of programs to prevent or treat problem gambling in sports betting markets in the U.S.

Penn National Gaming announced that it has completed its acquisition of Canadian media and sports betting technology company Score Media for $2 billion in cash and stock.

DraftKings has purchased a stake in Horizon Acquisition Corp, a SPAC that was created to take Vivid Seat public. The goal is to raise more than $769 million in cash and stock.

Sportradar Integrity Services has uncovered 1,100 suspicious matches since April 2020, shortly after the Covid-19 pandemic began. Some 655 of those occurred since January, with football the usual suspect.

U.K.-based sportsbook Entain has completed its purchase of esports company Unikrn. The acquisition gives Entain its first entry into the esports market. The company expects to return to play in 2022.

Illinois gaming regulators OK’d south suburban Chicago casino proposals from Matteson and Homewood-East Hazel Crest (rendering at left). Lynwood and Calumet didn’t make the cut. The winner will be announced early next year.

The Lake Tahoe economy needs more than tourism to flourish, says a new report from the Tahoe Prosperity Center. Tourism now accounts for more than 60 percent of the regional economy, up from 40 percent in 2010.

Marriott International has officially exited a long-stalled project to transform the former Fontainebleau Casino (l.) project into a JW Marriott megaresort.

Despite its plan to focus on Asian operations, the Las Vegas Sands Corp. just acquired two office buildings in Las Vegas where it will open new headquarters. The $21.55 million deal closed in September. The company’s previous headquarters was located inside the Venetian (l.) in Las Vegas.

Vigo County, Indiana commissioners and Hard Rock have signed a local development agreement that would let the operator break ground on a casino (l.) in Terre Haute the day after it’s selected to receive a gaming license.

The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board has fined the owner of Parx Casino (l.) for allowing underage gambling. It also banned parents who left children in the car while gambling from entering state casinos.

Officials at Bally’s Evansville (l.) in Indiana said a “hardware system outage” was the cause of the shutdown of the gaming floor on Monday, October 18 until late Tuesday morning.

In Georgia, Macon-Bibb County Mayor Lester Miller (l.) is talking with operators about developing a casino in the former Macon Mall. He predicts lawmakers will call for a referendum next year on casino gambling.

Voting has begun for Urban One’s proposed casino in Richmond, Virginia. Al Sharpton, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe and others support the project, but the ONE Casino Resort (l.) isn’t a sure thing.

Clark County, Nevada commissioners have unanimously approved plans by Elon Musk’s Boring Company to build an underground transportation network through the Las Vegas resort corridor.

U.S. Army 2nd Lieutenant Deja Harrison says she was denied entry into Harrah’s New Orleans (l.) using her driver’s license and military ID. Harrison filed a complaint with the Department of Justice and a civil rights lawsuit.

The Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation has asked the state to allocate nearly $24 million for the new Florida Gaming Control Commission, approved by Governor Ron DeSantis (l.) in May.

Oracle founder Larry Ellison has acquired the Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe Resort, Space and Casino (l.). Ellison frequently visits Incline Village, which is known as “Billionaires row.” He acquired the Hyatt for $345 million.

The U.S. Supreme Court is stepping in to decide a long-simmering legal dispute between the state of Texas and the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo and the Alabama-Coushatta tribes of East Texas. At issue is whether they can offer gaming.

The Navajo Nation Council was set to consider a ban on smoking in all public areas and workplaces on its reservation land, which would include the tribe’s casinos.

Scientific Games has signed a five-year agreement to continue as the primary instant game supplier for the Missouri Lottery, one of the world’s top 20 instant-game lotteries.

The U.K. Gambling Commission has delayed the selection of the next National Lottery licensee. The agency has four applicants and will make the final pick in 2022.

Ex-Nevada regulator Sandra Douglass Morgan (l.) has joined the board of directors of Allegiant Travel and Caesars Entertainment. Allegiant CEO Maurice Gallagher called her “a dynamic leader” who can “navigate today’s most complex industry issues.”

Mary Beth Thomas, counsel for Tennessee’s secretary of state, is now executive director of the Tennessee Sports Wagering Advisory Council. The body will take over sports betting regulation from the state lottery.

The Saginaw Chippewa Tribal Council has named Melinda Coffin as CEO of its Soaring Eagle properties. A member of the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe, Coffin has extensive experience in the gaming industry.

Laila Mintas, CEO of Play Up USA, is a new non-executive director for Sports Information Services, a multi-channel supplier of 24/7 live betting services. Mintas is joined by Uber General Manager Giovanna D’Esposito.

Vancouver-based Alpha Esports has announced the appointment of Adam Morrison to the position of president. Morrison brings more than a decade of experience in esports, gaming and digital media.

Wipfli has named 27-year tribal gaming veteran Andrew Hofstetter as director of its national tribal gaming consulting practice, where he will be in charge of performance and development of the practice.

Miami-based F&B operator 50 Eggs Hospitality Group will partner with Michelin-starred chef Tetsuya Wakuda (l.) on a new restaurant concept scheduled to open next year at Las Vegas and Singapore casinos.

Australia-based Tabcorp, has announced executives for its two divisions, which will demerge next summer. The two divisions will include its Lotteries & Keno and Wagering & Gaming businesses. Sue van der Merwe (l.) will become CEO of the Wagering & Gaming division.

The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Commission announced the addition of 12 games from Everi Digital to its platform, to be released over the next few months.

California’s Soboba Casino Resort has selected the full suite of OPTX software solutions for marketing, slots, player development and artificial intelligence.

PayPerHead, a leading bookmaker software company, is a specialist in reseller tools. The products are designed to boost agents’ bottom lines by providing their brand and expertise to agents with fewer clients.

Due to ongoing travel restrictions, Reed Exhibitions and the American Gaming Association have again canceled the in-person version of the Global Gaming Expo (G2E) Asia.

With the theme, “Together never felt so good,” ICE London will return February 1-3, 2022, following a two-year break. The largest international gaming event, ICE London attracts industry professionals at all levels.

The National Indian Gaming Association will hold its 2021 Mid-Year Conference & Expo November 15-17 at California’s Pechanga Resort Casino.

The producers of Australia’s “Regulating the Game” regulation program say international visitors will be welcomed back for the 2022 edition set for March 7-11 in Sydney.