Author: Casino Connection Staff

Even in the party atmosphere surrounding the opening of the new Hard Rock Atlantic City—formerly the Trump Taj Mahal—hard Rock CEO Jim Allen said the company still has its eyes on building a casino in the New Jersey Meadowlands.

“We have an ownership in the Meadowlands, and we have an exclusive right to operate the casino gaming operation there,” Allen said speaking at the opening June 28. “Yes, we would certainly be interested.”

Hard Rock has signed a deal to develop a casino with Jeff Gural, owner of the Meadowlands racetrack. However, the plan suffered a huge setback in 2016 when New Jersey voters overwhelmingly defeated a referendum to allow for expanding casinos beyond Atlantic City.

Though technically, a similar referendum could be put before voters this year, most politician see the issue as dead since the 2016 measure was defeated by an almost 4 to 1 margin. Still, proposals to re-introduce the idea surface occasionally in Trenton. But most estimates—including one by Gural—say it could be at least five years before proponents try to present another proposal to voters.

Speaking at the opening of Hard Rock Atlantic City, Allen said every study his company conducts projects a casino at the Meadowlands would be successful. The Meadowlands is adjacent to New York City and projections estimate a casino there could take in $800 million to $1 billion a year—at least until New York allows casino gambling in the city.

But Allen said any move at the Meadowlands would be done in a way that does not threaten the company’s investment in Atlantic City.

“If that (Meadowlands casino) looks like it’s going to happen, we will certainly not forget about the half-billion dollars we have invested in this building,” he said.

Also, Hard Rock has moved quickly to enter New Jersey’s online gambling market and has already completed regulatory testing and launched an online casino site at Hardrockcasino.com.

“Our online gaming team has done an amazing job launching one of the most dynamic online gaming experiences in the industry,” said Matt Harkness, Hard Rock’s Atlantic City president in a press release. “We’re excited to extend the Hard Rock brand beyond the Boardwalk and let casino players play across the Garden State.”

In some other Atlantic City notes, the city’s casinos as well as the state’s racetracks dodged a bullet as the state legislature and Governor Phil Murphy reached a last-minute, $37.4 billion budget deal and avoided a state shutdown.

In the event of shutdown, the city’s casinos and racetracks would have been allowed to stay open for seven days even as state regulators were furloughed. However, reports surfaced that sports betting operations—which only began last month—may have had to close immediately.

Also, former employees of the closed Trump Taj Mahal received settlement checks as a result of a labor dispute with the former casino’s management. The checks were issued on the same day the property was re-opened as the Hard Rock, according to the Press of Atlantic City.

The $1 million settlement was between Unite Here Local 54—the city’s largest casino union—and the casino hotel’s former ownership group, Trump Entertainment. The figure was divided equally among 944 employees Thursday and Friday. Each employee received a check for $850.76, the Press reported.

According to the Press, the settlement dates back to 2014, when Local 54 members at the Taj Mahal went on strike for 102 days. The casino hotel filed for bankruptcy and then filed a motion to reject the terms of employment contracts with former employees, which a bankruptcy court upheld.

Local 54 filed numerous unfair labor practice charges against the casino. The National Labor Relations Board found the charges to have merit. Before the issue went to trial last year, the union and the former casino reached a settlement.

“I think it’s very satisfying that on the same day that we were able to reopen Hard Rock we were able to deliver these checks,” said Bob McDevitt, president of Local 54 told the paper. “It helps to ease some of the pain and suffering our members went through.”

Of the 450 Local 54 members who were former Taj Mahal employees, 385 were hired by Hard Rock and a total of 800 former Taj Mahal employees were given jobs with the new casino hotel, the Press reported.

The recently launched trade war started by President Donald Trump and accelerated by the Chinese government may have far-reaching impacts for gaming. Macau and Las Vegas are particularly vulnerable.

In a new report, Hong Kong-based risk management firm Steve Vickers & Associates says Macau’s gaming industry is “highly exposed” in the trade war heating up between the United States and China. Operators with close ties to U.S. President Donald Trump may be especially vulnerable, the report adds.

The report posted on SVA’s website said the trade conflict will “alter the shape of commercial activity across Asia,” harming some companies and possibly benefiting others, reported GGRAsia.

A passage published in the South China Morning Post observed that “U.S. patience towards China’s mercantilism—exemplified by the provision of cheap credit and subsidies to exporters, the systematic appropriation of intellectual property and a failure to open its economy—has run short.”

The Trump administration has slapped 25 percent tariffs on $50 billion of Chinese imports, $34 billion of which took effect earlier this month, in a bid to force Beijing to rein in longstanding trade practices the U.S. claims are unfair. China quickly responded with tariffs on U.S. exports in the same amount. The administration has since raised the stakes with proposed levies on an additional $200 billion of Chinese goods. China has vowed to retaliate.

“Further escalation” of the trade war “seems inevitable, as tensions intensify,” SVA predicted. “Investments are also at risk. Washington plans to curtail Chinese investment in high technology companies while (Chinese President) Xi Jinping has threatened to ‘punch back.’” Xi did just that, imposing new tariffs on American exports.

“Any significant slowdown or fall in the yuan’s value may lead to Beijing’s further curbing of capital outflows, (thereby) dampening casino revenues,” the report added. “Moreover, three of Macau’s six gaming concessionaires are U.S. companies: Las Vegas Sands, MGM, and Wynn Resorts. And LVS founder Sheldon Adelson boasts close ties to U.S. President Trump.

“These companies now sit on a geopolitical fault line,” said the firm. “Their Macau concessions can therefore be on the line.”

And does Las Vegas need to be concerned that an escalating U.S.-China trade war will threaten visitation levels from one of its largest and most lucrative tourism markets?

Experts say the jury is out.

There are those who are not optimistic, like Gary Hufbauer, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank.

“My guess is that there will be many Chinese who will feel uncomfortable traveling to the United States if this trade war goes forward from here,” he recently told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Which could mean fewer big-spending Chinese gamblers and shoppers in Strip casinos.

As tensions rise the Chinese embassy in Washington has gone so far as to warn its citizens about traveling in the U.S., saying there’s a lack of public security and that shootings, robberies and theft are common.

“Travelers in the United States should be alert to their surroundings and suspicious individuals and avoid going out alone at night,” the embassy stated earlier this month.

“The atmosphere for pleasure travel is not so good right now, and it’s getting worse,” according to Hufbauer.

If so, it’s going to prove a costly problem.

Chinese travelers were good for 131 million international visits last year, up 7 percent over 2016, according to the China National Tourism Administration. In the U.S. they comprise the fifth-largest overseas tourist market, generating more than 2.24 million arrivals through the first nine months of 2017, according to the National Travel and Tourism Office, a division of the Department of Commerce.

And they spend too. A 2017 analysis from New York-based Nielsen found that Chinese tourists spent an average of $762 per person shopping on their most recent overseas trip. Non-Chinese tourists spent an average of $486.

“China is one of the fastest-growing international inbound markets,” said Jonathan Grella, executive vice president for public affairs for the Washington, D.C.-based U.S. Travel Association. “Increasing Chinese visitation is a golden opportunity to reverse the trade balance, bolster competitiveness and create American jobs.”

China is the sixth-largest source of international travelers to Las Vegas, contributing well more than 200,000 visitors annually, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

Stephen Miller, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, doesn’t think the city needs to worry yet that they’ll go away.

The worst that could happen, he believes, is that Beijing restricts travel to the U.S., as it did to South Korea in 2017 when it banned all group tours to that country during a diplomatic standoff over defense system installations. But even if the U.S. winds up on the receiving end of similar measures, Miller believes the effect would be minimal.

“Wealthier people are the ones coming to the United States, and they might have a better ability to avoid travel restrictions,” he told the Review-Journal. “The Chinese might feel offended that we’re picking on them and decide to go to Europe instead of the U.S. But that’s still to be seen.”

Barry Lin, vice general manager of destination marketing services for online travel booking service Tuniu.com, based in Nanjing, China, isn’t concerned either. Brinksmanship over trade will have little influence on his fellow citizens’ travel plans, he said.

“The trade war is just between the governments. The Chinese tourists, they don’t care a lot about the politics side. Once they have the money, they want to go abroad, stay in a good hotel, eat good food and buy something they cannot get in China. I think the trade war is just temporary. It will blow over very soon.”

The board of Wynn Resorts has rejected Elaine Wynn’s bid to have gaming industry icon Phil Satre appointed chairman or vice chairman amid signs that their recent battles over the company’s direction and governance are flaring up anew.

Ms. Wynn, the company’s largest shareholder with 8.8 percent of the stock, a holding worth around $1.5 billion, also has renewed her call for the annual elections of directors.

She also is calling for an “independent compensation consultant and truly independent legal counsel” to evaluate whether the departure this week of Executive Vice President and General Counsel Kim Sinatra—who as Steve Wynn’s reputed No. 2 may have played a key role in covering up her boss’s alleged sexual predations

Leagues see state-by-state regulation

Top officials of Major League Baseball and the National Collegiate Athletic Association clarified their positions on so-called “integrity fees” in connection with legal sports betting in separate forums last week.

MLB is one of the professional sports league which, along with the National Basketball Association, has lobbied for state sport-betting laws to include fees to each league in connection with wagers on their games. Some call them “integrity fees” to cover purported extra costs of maintaining the integrity of the games in the face of expanded sports wagering. Others call it a “royalty” on the “intellectual property” of the games themselves. Opponents call it a simple money grab by already-rich leagues.

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred explained his position last week on the Boomer and Gio sports talk radio program in New York, saying his primary goal in seeking a fee is to protect the integrity of baseball.

“Integrity monitoring is a really expensive undertaking,” Manfred said. “It’s very sophisticated. It involves the analysis of massive amounts of data in order to detect patterns in the betting that can be of concern.”

Manfred first said the league only wants a portion of sports wagers to cover those increased monitoring costs and not to make profits, but later showed his hand that he considers it a fair royalty. “I do not think it’s unreasonable to suggest that people who are free riding on our product should have to compensate us,” he said.

Current casino states that have enacted sports wagering are generally dead-set against paying royalty fees. For instance, New Jersey state Senate Speaker Stephen Sweeney said last month that the state will never approve such fees to the leagues. “The leagues are asking to be paid to allow games to be played fairly,” Sweeney wrote in a letter to governors of all 50 states last month.

Manfred said in the radio interview that MLB should not “rely on a bunch of state regulators to ensure the integrity of our sport,” although states have effectively regulated all forms of gaming for decades. “Quite frankly, I don’t believe they’ll be as good at it as we will be,” he said.

Meanwhile, a top NCAA official said the collegiate sports organization will not pursue sports betting integrity fees.

Speaking to a group of college athletic business administrators at the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics’ annual convention, NCAA Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Kathleen McNeely said that as long as sports-betting regulation is conducted on a state-by-state basis, individual schools should decide whether or not to pursue such fees from sports-betting operators.

(The NCAA and the NFL are advocating for federal regulation of sports betting.)

Some schools are already advocating for fees. Penn State President Eric Barron, in a letter to the state gaming board asking for a moratorium on wagers involving in-state college fees, suggested that his school may lobby for some type of integrity fee to pay for compliance hires and other sports betting-related expenses. The University of Pittsburgh has also floated the idea of an integrity fee.

McNeely said the NCAA national office “will not be going after any gambling revenue. We know it will cost money to monitor, but (NCAA President) Mark Emmert has been pretty firm in saying he doesn’t think it’s appropriate for the NCAA to try to access that revenue. Schools will need to look at their own values and decide.”

She added that since the NCAA remains opposed to legal sports betting, “it feels a little disingenuous to think about taking revenue” from that activity.

A topping-off ceremony recently took place at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida, as the final structural beam was hoisted to the top of the guitar-shaped, 450 foot tall structure. The beam, adorned with the flags of the U.S., Florida and the Seminole Tribe of Florida and a small tree, was signed by tribal members and construction workers. The hotel is part of a $1.5 billion complex under construction at the tribe’s flagship Hollywood property.

Expected to open in fall 2019, the property, visible for miles from locations around Broward and Miami-Dade counties, will offer 638 hotel rooms in the guitar tower plus 168 rooms in the pool tower overlooking a private cabana area. A 10-acre lagoon-style pool will offer Bora Bora-style cabanas in the center with private plunge-pool access and butler service. Paddleboarding and other water sports activities, a day club and private pool area also will be offered.

The new gaming area expands the existing casino by 30 percent, featuring 3,000 new slot machines, 193 table games and a 46-table poker room.

In addition, there will be 30 new restaurants, lounges and bars, a new 41,000 square foot Rock Spa, 21,000 square feet of new retail space and a 120,000 square foot meeting and convention area. A new 6,500-seat Hard Rock Live concert venue will have its own television studio and broadcast center capable of hosting awards shows and other events.

Hard Rock International Chief Executive Officer James Allen said the hotel created about 2,000 construction jobs and is expected to require 2,000 more employees. “People tell me, ‘You’re a little crazy to build a hotel in the shape of a guitar.’ We are overwhelmed with the warm reception we’ve received about how amazing this building is here in South Florida. We truly think this becomes a reason to come to South Florida, not just for the purpose of gaming but to see the world’s only to-scale guitar-shaped hotel.”

He continued, “There is no other brand—none, zero in hospitality—that has a presence in 75 countries around the world. But at the same time, it’s the history of the tribe and its culture and sovereignty.”

Allen added Hard Rock will build a second guitar-shaped hotel in Barcelona, Spain and two more are in the planning stage, including one in Japan.

Delaware’s three racinos saw about $1 million in revenue come in during the first 20 days of full sports betting in the state.

A report from the Delaware Lottery Commission said that between June 5—when sports betting began in the state—and June 24 the three sportsbooks in the state took in $7 million in total bets, holding about 14 percent. In all, of 69,698 wagers were placed.

Delaware Park sold $5.2 million in sports tickets. Dover Downs reported $1.1 million in bets and Harrington Raceway took in $590,000. According to reports, Delaware Park saw $653,277 in net proceeds. Dover Downs netted $143,952 and Harrington earned $77,987.

According to an analysis by Legal Sports Report, the breakdown of the $1,000,247 in revenue saw about $125,000 go to the state’s sports betting suppliers—Scientific Games, William Hill and StadiumTech. After paying that share—or 12.5 percent of total revenue off the top—the rest of the revenue is divided up in the state with the state’s racinos keeping 40 percent.

Another 10 percent of remaining revenue, or about $85,353 this month, is allocated to horse racing purses. The remaining 50 percent goes to the state for about $437,609 during the reporting period.

Delaware was the first state to offer full sports betting after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a federal ban under the federal Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act. Delaware already had a partial exemption to the ban as it offered a type of parlay football betting through its lottery prior to the act being passed by Congress in 1992.

For comparison, over the 2017-18 NFL season, total revenue from the state’s parlay betting came to about $4.8 million. The state’s revenue share totaled $2.4 million.

Lottery officials said the betting was higher than expected, with about 75 percent of action on baseball and the rest split between futures bets and the World Cup. Lottery director Vernon Kirk had expressed concerns that sports betting would not be as lucrative to state as the parlay betting since single bets are easier to win. However, he acknowledged that sports betting is off to a strong start, especially considering that the NFL season hasn’t even begun.

In Colorado, Democratic state Rep. Alec Garnett filed a bill title for a sports betting measure in the next legislative session. His bill would require a voter referendum on the issue in November 2019, if two-thirds of lawmakers agree it should be on the ballot. “I think the best way is to come together, let’s figure out what we believe is the right balance, and go ask voters, ‘Do we think this is going to work?’” he said. Colorado’s Attorney General is expected to announce soon whether a referendum on sports betting is necessary. It would require 55 percent of voter approval to pass.

Republican state Rep. Cole Wist and other lawmakers believe a voter referendum is likely, especially considering expanding beyond Blackhawk, Central City and Cripple Creek, the only cities where casino gambling permitted—and today’s technology. “The question of a mobile interface may give rise to a related question about whether or not that’s truly consistent with the language of the constitutional amendment,” Wist said.

Garnett noted, “If something happens on Sunday morning, a weather system moves in and the Broncos are going to be playing in 6 inches of snow, the line’s going to move. It would be unrealistic to expect somebody to drive up to Black Hawk or Central City and change that bet that they made a couple of days before.”

But Peggi O’Keefe, executive director of the Colorado Gaming Association, said the organization will protect the interests of the three approved gaming towns. “I think this is something we want to make sure doesn’t pop up on every street corner or in people’s backyards,” she said.

Regulatory attorney Tom Downey said referendums make an issue more likely to pass. He noted even if sports betting would pass a referendum, rules would have to be written “to fill in the details and get it up and running. Lightning speed would be January 1st of 2020,”Downey said. He noted legal challenges could delay sports betting even more.

Colorado Gaming Association President David Farahi, who runs Monarch Casino in Black Hawk, said, “Everyone is trying to get their mitts into the sports betting cookie jar. What I can tell you, most people don’t understand, is that that cookie jar is not filled with giant cookies, it’s filled with crumbs.” Farahi said sports wagering would much needed revenue growth for the state’s casinos, but noted profit margins are less than 5 percent. “And so that will, I think, temper people’s appetite for a huge fight,” Farahi said.

The last “huge fight” occurred in 2014, when casinos stopped Mile High Racing & Entertainment, operator of Colorado’s sole horse racetrack, from expanding gaming at racetracks outside the three approved towns. It was one of the most expensive political battles in state history, with both sides raising a total of more than $36 million.

Recently members of the West Virginia Joint Standing Committee on Finance received an update on SB 415, regarding the West Virginia Lottery’s implementation of wagering on collegiate and professional sports. The bill passed during the 2018 regular session and Governor Jim Justice signed it into law March 9, before the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the federal ban on sports betting.

West Virginia Lottery Managing General Counsel Danielle Boyd said work has been ongoing during the past few months to secure the infrastructure required to start accepting sports wagers in West Virginia’s casinos and on mobile apps. She said casinos are building “sports wagering lounges” as well as digital platforms on mobile applications to be ready to accept wagers for the upcoming football season—a “realistic but ambitious goal,” Boyd said.

She said users of the sports betting app must be located within West Virginia’s borders when they make their wagers; special apps will be able to determine the geo-location of users to make assure compliance with state and federal laws.

Regarding security, Boyd added, “There is everyday monitoring of all transactions. There are multiple protections in place. The technology has been working very well in other states, protecting customers.”

Under the current rules, integrity fees will not be paid to sports leagues. However, West Virginia Lottery Director Alan Larric said discussions are “ongoing” between the casinos and sports leagues regarding integrity fees.

Meanwhile, photos of Larric have been posted on Facebook indicating he’s continuing to run Larrick Law Offices, specializing in real estate law. That is prohibited under state law, which states, “The director serves on a full-time basis and may not be engaged in any other profession or occupation.”

Larrick, who was hired by Justice in 2016, previously has acknowledged he still runs his practice, although he has hired another attorney to help manage operations. He was confirmed by the Senate which knew about his ongoing legal work. Nick Casey, Justice’s former chief of staff, hand-wrote and signed a postscript to that letter granting Larrick 90 days to hire another attorney to help him.

The Florida Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering, part of the Department of Business and Professional Regulation that oversees gambling, recently issued a summer jai-alai permit for West Flagler Associates to develop and operate a jai-alai fronton, card room and restaurant in the Edgewater area, north of Miami. West Flagler is negotiating with Crescent Heights, which owns most of the block at 3000 Biscayne, to lease the lot and construct a new building.

The Havenick family, West Flagler owners, already operate Magic City Casino in Miami, which recently stopped greyhound and will offer jai alai; Naples-Fort Myers Greyhound Racing & Poker in Bonita Springs. Last year the 1^st District Court of Appeal reversed a denial of West Flagler’s second jai-alai permit application and ordered it to be reinstated, under a loophole in state law.

West Flagler Associates Vice President of Political Affairs Isadore Havenick said, “We’ve just been waiting for a year and a half for the state to decide what to do. We see it as just another entertainment offering in the Miami area. We’re very happy and looking forward to employing people and creating someplace new in downtown Miami.”

The summer jai-alai permit limits wagering on jai-alai games between May and November. Poker games may be offered after the first jai-alai game is played. Havenick said in the off-season the facility will feature comedy performances and concerts. The venue will create 300-500 jobs, he said.

Meanwhile, several Miami business and cultural leaders voiced their opposition to the Edgewater gaming facility, stating they have lawyers researching state and local laws in an attempt to stop the development. Critics said it would be a blow to the groups that have worked hard for years transforming once seedy areas into a thriving cultural and residential center.

Miami Design District developer Craig Robins said, “This will just lower the bar dramatically. It will do for that area what the sleazy bars and clubs did for Ocean Drive. It will bring the whole area down. It’s a disgraceful idea.”

Alberto Ibarguen, president of the Knight Foundation, which has invested millions of dollars in cultural and entrepreneurship programs in downtown Miami, commented, “It’s hard to imagine making a worse mistake. Miami’s ascent as a global, 21st Century city has been nothing short of remarkable. Why should we agree to cheapen that?”

Jorge Perez, chairman and chief executive officer at the Related Group development company, stated, “I will do anything that is in my power to oppose this and block this and kill this. Miami has grown beautifully in the past two decades into a real city where culture is thriving. Neighborhoods and downtown are getting filled with young people and families. It’s getting filled with art and businesses. Casino gambling in any form in the downtown area would be horrendous. I just need to find out who is responsible for this, so we can mount an attack.”

Perez added, “It would be very sad to see that two families with established roots in Miami would damage this community in such a way for what is financial gain. It would seem to me to absolutely absurd.”

Havenick said he expected some negative reaction to the gaming facility and plans to contact opponents to “alleviate their concerns.” He said, “As a resident of that neighborhood, I don’t believe it’s a bad thing for the neighborhood. “This will be a good attraction. It is not going to be anything more than poker and jai alai. We’ve said that all along. It is not a casino. It’s simply poker in an area that has many other forms of entertainment, and this is another form of that. To come out against a project before you know all the details is fairly shortsighted.”

The MGM Springfield Casino has announced that its parking garage will be open for free to both patrons and members of the public. The seven-story garage is nearing completion to coincide with the planned August 24 opening of the$960 million casino.

A spokesman for MGM, Saverio Mancini, responding to questions from the media said, “With less than 50 days until our grand opening, it’s an exciting time for downtown Springfield. In the coming weeks, we look forward to providing the public the details about how to access our property, including our free parking.” The parking structure has about 3,400 spaces.

The building of the casino in the city’s South End complicated parking for residents and commuters in the area by depriving them of 500 existing parking spaces.

It is not uncommon for casinos in Las Vegas, and elsewhere to charge for casino parking. In fact, MGM Resorts began charging for parking in Las Vegas in 2016.This led the way for competitors such as Caesars Entertainment, Wynn Resorts and the Cosmopolitan to follow suit.

Encore Boston Harbor

The Massachusetts Gaming Commission, which is being sued by a former part owner of land that Wynn Resorts purchased for what was then called Wynn Boston Harbor, and is now called the Encore Boston Harbor, has asked the court to include Wynn as a third-party defendant.

The lawsuit involves FBT Everett Realty LLC, which formerly owned the 30 acres that Wynn purchased for casino. It was forced by Wynn to lower its asking price after allegations arose (later proven false) that one of the principals of the LLC was a convicted felon, Charles Lightbody. FBT alleges that Wynn promised it would make the company whole with an under the table payment that never materialized. Having lost out with Wynn, FBT is trying its luck with the MGC.

Although the commission believes it is likely to win the lawsuit, it wants Wynn to pay if it loses. The price FBT had asked for was $75 million, the price that Wynn paid was $35 million. FBT is demanding the difference.

The commission argues that if FBT wins the lawsuit, and MGC is forced to pay the difference, the casino company would be unfairly enriched.

The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board has levied a $52,000 fine on the Valley Forge Casino in King of Prussia, reportedly for going overboard on issuing free-play rewards to its loyalty club members.

According to the board, lower-level employees were found to have regulatory loaded loyalty cards with free play rewards, totaling 557 times in 2016 and 2017 for a total or $411,000, in violation of regulations requiring close control of such player rewards.

Casino lawyer Michael D. Fabius told the Philadelphia Inquirer that no fraud was involved in the free-play awards, as each was approved by a supervisor with the authority to issue comps.

“We have absolute confidence that every one of these free-play transactions was issued to a real customer with a real business reason,” Fabius said. He noted that 170 customers received the slot play noted by the board, with 80 percent of the award money going to the casino’s top 20 players.

The gaming board has been hyper-sensitive to excessive free play since a scam by an executive of Mohegan Sun Pocono in which he loaded free play totaling $420,000 to cards to a cocktail waitress, using numbers she lifted from player cards while serving drinks. The waitress then played the amount through and cashed out to split the money with the executive. That scam resulted in a $1 million fine for Mohegan, the largest fine issued by the board in the 14-year history of gaming in Pennsylvania.

Valley Forge officials agreed to pay the fine in the current case.

Kim Sinatra is the latest Wynn Resorts executive to depart in the wake of the sex scandal that forced Steve Wynn, Wynn Resorts chairman and founder, to resign and sell his interest in the company. Sinatra stepped down as executive vice president and general counsel for the company, which informed the Securities and Exchange Commission that Sinatra has “ceased to serve” as those position in a one-sentence revelation.

Sinatra had been elevated to the number-two position in the company following Wynn’s departure, second only to CEO Matt Maddox. But her ascendancy was always shadowed by the company’s failure to reveal the multi-million dollar settlement made by Wynn Resorts (via a third corporate entity) with a woman who claimed to have been harassed by the casino magnate to the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, as part of the investigation licensing the company for its Boston Harbor casino. As general counsel, this settlement would have fallen under Sinatra’s oversight.

Sinatra has denied that she knew anything about a rape allegation against Wynn, as alleged by his former wife, Elaine Wynn.

Six board members have either left the board or announced their intentions to leave, while three new members were appointed, all women. The company has changed the name of its Boston Harbor casino from Wynn to Encore to further distance itself from the founder.

In a note to investors, Jefferies analyst David Katz calls the move a positive for the company.

“We view the announcement of Wynn general counsel as anticipated and reflective of the pressure the company’s management team is facing in the near term from regulators and shareholders,” Katz wrote. “We remain confident in the long-term fundamentals of the business and the underlying asset value. We view the current share price as opportunistic, despite changes that have or could occur in the management team as a result of these pressures.”

No replacement has been named for Sinatra.