By james art North Strip resort-casino Fontainebleau will “temporarily suspend operations” at the 50,000-square-foot LIV nightclub beginning Monday, Nov. 25, for renovations and expansion. In a news release Tuesday, resort officials said the club will reopen Dec. 28 with its lineup for the New Year’s festivities.
Below is a roundup of other gaming and casino news from Las Vegas and elsewhere.
Analysts review Station Casinos development plan
Red Rock Resorts executives may be considering different development priorities, according to an Oct. 8 research note from Deutsche Bank’s Carlo Santarelli. After meeting with the operators of Station Casinos, the analyst said he believes the company can now prioritize the development of 128 acres on Cactus Avenue near Las Vegas Boulevard, along with its second phase in Durango and development in Henderson’s Inspirada community.
“We believe the primary drivers of selection are related to population growth in local areas surrounding the complex, and to a lesser extent Durango’s experience with cannibalization rings,” according to the report.
BetMGM player turns $0.40 bet into $533K trip to Las Vegas
A West Virginia online casino player has hit a huge jackpot, resulting in a half million dollar payday and a trip to Las Vegas.
Jonathan Hamrick turned a $0.40 bet on the Bison Fury online slot game into nearly $533,000. Hamrick’s big win included a VIP trip to the Aria Hotel-Casino in Las Vegas, complete with spa treatments, high-end shopping and celebrity dining cooks.
Hamrick, a student, said he played on the BetMGM app while waiting for class to start.
“I went in, hit spin a few times, and all of a sudden I switched games and hit the button again and it said, ‘Congratulations, you’ve won $532,000,'” he said. “For a while I didn’t believe it. But once it got into my account, it started to become real to me.
Hamrick said he will use some of the profits to pay off his student loans and other debt.
A Caesars Entertainment board member has abruptly resigned
Rodney Williams, executive chairman of Caesars Entertainment’s board of directors, resigned Monday, effective immediately, according to a company filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Williams’ resignation was not the result of any disagreement with Caesars on “any matter related to the company’s operations, policies or practices,” the filing said.
Reno-based Caesars Entertainment operates eight casino hotels on the Las Vegas Strip and one non-gaming hotel.
Big casino in UAE
The developers of Wynn Al Marjan Island in Ras Al Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates say the resort’s casino will be 225,000 square feet, on par with the largest casinos in Las Vegas.
Wynn is working with local partners Al Marjan Island LLC and RAK Hospitality Holding LLC to build the resort and has previously said the casino would account for about 4 percent of the property.
The resort is expected to have a total of 5.6 million square feet, of which 120,000 square feet is dedicated to retail space and 100,000 square feet of conference and meeting space.
It will be the first casino gambling development in the UAE, and the country’s Chief Commercial Gaming Regulatory Authority recently confirmed that other emirates could get casinos, opening the door to a possible MGM Resorts International property in Abu Dhabi, where Sphere Entertainment last week announced it would locates the world’s next Sphere entertainment venue.
NBAA in town
The National Business Aviation Association kicks off its annual convention in Las Vegas on Tuesday, which means a variety of corporate jets usually seen during the Formula 1 Grand Prix of Las Vegas will fill the skies of Southern Nevada this week.
One of the first exhibitors at NBAA this week: the Las Vegas Spaceport, which plans a runway between Las Vegas and Pahrump in Clark County.
Spaceport leaders are looking for companies that want to park their planes there, as well as vendors at the airport.