Author: Casino Connection Staff

Three weeks after a lone gunman wrought bloody carnage on the Las Vegas Strip in the worst mass shooting in U.S. history, a city whose fortunes depend on a reputation for fun, freedom and heedless abandon is wondering when business as usual will return and what it will look like when it does.

The Wall Street analysts who follow the casino industry predict a short-term dip in visitation. But if similar tragedies are any indicator―the 2016 nightclub shooting in Orlando, Fla., to take an example―the impacts will be steadily less pronounced.

Experts with investment bank Morgan Stanley forecast demand to dampen for about six months and have a 4-6 percent economic effect, according to a new Associated Press report.

Las Vegas last year welcomed 42.9 million visitors and hosted almost 22,000 conventions. On average, 95 percent of the 149,339 rooms available were booked during weekends. Clark County, which includes the Strip area and most of the greater Southern Nevada market, recorded gambling revenue of $9.7 billion.

What’s certain is that resorts citywide are carefully re-examining their security measures to prevent anything like what happened on Sunday, October 1, when Stephen Paddock, a resident of Mesquite, Nev., 80 miles north of Las Vegas and a frequent visitor to the city, opened fire on an outdoor country music concert from a suite near the top of Mandalay Bay, killing 58 people and wounding 489 before killing himself as police closed in.

What has experts concerned is that Paddock, who checked in to the hotel that Friday, had managed to bring 20 rifles into his room and leave a car in the Mandalay parking garage laden with 1,600 rounds of ammunition and 90 pounds of chemical explosives.

But how much security is too much, particularly when it’s obvious and potentially intrusive, especially in a resort environment?

“You don’t want it to become a sort of ground zero military-type of operation,” said Michael McCall, who teaches hospitality at Michigan State University. “People are going there largely for fun.”

MGM Resorts International, the gaming giant that owns Mandalay Bay, told AP it has elevated security across its dozen Strip hotels but didn’t elaborate. The company also declined comment on any hotel or convention cancellations. Caesars Entertainment said its properties haven’t seen any cancellations above normal, and no conventions had been called off.

Elsewhere, there are noticeable changes.

The famed “What Happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas” slogan has been put on hold, and electronic billboards that typically promote restaurants, concerts, a topless pool and other entertainment are now showing a dedicated phone line for victims and their families, along with words of appreciation for first responders and casino employees.

MGM, for its part, quickly shelved a widely publicized corporate branding campaign launched just a couple of weeks ago―“Welcome to the Show,” it was titled―in favor of a message stressing unity and healing. The 30-second TV spot, set to the tune of “This Little Light of Mine” by Odetta, features the lines “Together We Are One, Together We Rise” and “Together We Shine” interspersed with visuals of Las Vegas and the company’s resorts. It ends with the hashtag #VegasStrong.

“There’s going to be a time when we go back to promoting Las Vegas as the greatest destination in the world, but that’s not now,” said Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority CEO Rossi Ralenkotter. “We need to take care of this, we need to take care of our customers, we need to take care of the community itself, and that’s what we will be doing.”

Meanwhile, MGM, which is already facing the first of what is expected to be a flood of victim lawsuits, has retained New York-based corporate communications firm Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher to assist with media and investor relations as the investigation into the shooting moves forward.

Joele Frank has helped companies including Herbalife, Chipotle, Hertz and Yahoo! fight off aggressive activist investors such as Carl Icahn, Bill Ackman, Dan Loeb and Jeff Smith in recent years. The firm advised MGM during the takeover of Mandalay Resort Group in 2005. Caesars hired the firm in 2015 during its contentious debt restructuring.

Ackman, whose hedge fund Pershing Square Capital fought Herbalife, once called Joele Frank “the best attack PR firm in the country,” according to a Las Vegas Review-Journal report.

“They are considered one of the two or three best at this particular kind of work,” said Paul Holmes, publisher of the public relations industry site The Holmes Report. “They do advocate their clients’ positions quite fiercely when necessary.”

Lawmakers in Maryland are talking about introducing a sports betting bill

New Jersey gets its day in the U.S. Supreme Court on December 4 as it seeks to challenge a federal ban on sports betting.

New Jersey has made several unsuccessful court challenges to the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 before, but this is the first time the state will argue before the High Court.

PASPA banned sports betting in all but four states—most notably Nevada—that already had some form of sports betting in place. New Jersey has challenged the constitutionality of the act, but lost in federal court. Appeals of that challenge were not heard by the Supreme Court.

The state then tried an end run by voting to allow self-regulated sports betting at its casinos and racetracks. The state was acting on lower court rulings that suggested that PASPA only bans state-regulated sports betting. That law was also overturned in federal court after being challenged by the professional sports leagues and the NCAA.

However, this time New Jersey’s appeal to the Supreme Court was accepted and the court will conduct the hearing in December. The court’s willingness to hear this challenge has many analysts predicting the court is interested in whether the federal government is infringing on state’s rights with the ban, an issue that has not gotten New Jersey much sympathy from previous courts. More than 20 states have filed briefs in support of New Jersey with the court.

Meanwhile, several states have already begun preparing for sports betting should New Jersey prevail and the Court overturns PASPA. According to a report in cdcgamingreports.com, 15 states have already taken some legislative action to allow sports betting.

Connecticut and Mississippi have passed legislation to allow sports betting should PASPA be overturned and 13 other states have introduced similar legislation.

While the chance of a repeal has spurred interest in sports betting—especially among states looking for new revenue—analysts point out that until a ruling and guidance from the court, it’s difficult to say what shape, if any, sports betting could take.

Meanwhile, David Rebuck, director of the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement, commented that he is optimistic the state will win its case at the U.S. Supreme Court challenging its right to institute a sports-betting program. Rebuck said his agency and the New Jersey Casino Control Commission are already drafting sports-betting regulations in case of a victory.

After a Global Gaming Expo educational session on “Global Regulation: What Gaming Regs Should Be,” Rebuck made the comments to CDC Gaming Reports. “I’m always optimistic I am going to win,” Rebuck said. “If I didn’t think we would win, why would we be in this?”

The Supreme Court is expected to begin hearing oral arguments in December in the case, which challenges the 1992 federal Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, or PASPA. A decision is expected to be rendered by June 2018.

“My position is, we prepare to regulate with a big victory,” Rebuck told CDC Reports. “It may not be that way. We could lose. We could have a split opinion that interprets the decision in a way that goes in a different direction and allows a limited amount of sports wagering. You can’t predict what the Supreme Court is going to do. Nobody knows. We will prepare as best we can for a future which envisions sports wagering in New Jersey. If we are successful, we will be ready, and if we’re not, we will continue to figure out a way to try and get sports wagering in New Jersey.”

He added that the state is looking at both the Nevada sports-book model and the European model, which relies on online gaming. “Our strategy in New Jersey is very simple,” Rebuck said. “We’re going to have land-based and online, and in order to do that we need to take the best of both worlds. We need to steal from Nevada and what they’ve done great for 40 years, and we want to steal from Europe for what they do well for regulation.”

Also, lawmakers in other states are preparing for a possible repeal of PASPA if New Jersey wins its case. The General Assembly’s Joint Committee on Gaming Oversight last week heard testimony on sports betting from Sara Slane, a lobbyist for the American Gaming Association.

“Right now, there’s more momentum for repealing PASPA than ever before,” Slane told the panel. “I would urge you and other legislators to get out in front of this, because when it does happen, you’re going to have states ready to go in first position… to open up sports books.”

Joe Weinberg, president of the Cordish Companies, owner of the Live Casino outside of Baltimore, told the Baltimore Sun that he is “all in” for the push to legalize sports betting at the state’s six casinos, and Del. Frank Turner, who co-chairs the House gaming committee, says it might not pass next year if New Jersey wins its case, but lawmakers will continue the push for a law. “If we don’t move on it in ’18, we can move on it in ’20,” he said. The effort need to be successful in an election year because it would be a constitutional amendment requiring a statewide vote.

Like New Jersey’s Rebuck, Weinberg of Cordish stressed being ready if and when PASPA is overturned. “If we wait for 100 percent clarity on federal law, we will be two to three years behind the surrounding states,” he told the Sun, noting that it is important to continue offering “a full suit or gaming services” to remain competitive with other states.

A woman who was among the nearly 500 Las Vegas Strip concert-goers wounded in the worst mass shooting in U.S. history is suing MGM Resorts International in what is expected to be the first of many filed against the casino giant in the aftermath of the massacre.

Paige Gaspar, a 21-year-old Texas native attending school in California, claims MGM failed to provide adequate security for the outdoor event and did not respond quickly enough on Sunday night, October 1, when Stephen Paddock unleashed on the crowd a 10-minute barrage of automatic weapons fire from a suite on the 32nd floor of Mandalay Bay, killing 58 and wounding 489 before shooting himself as police closed in.

The suit, filed October 10 in Clark County District Court, also faults Mandalay Bay, alleging the hotel did not properly monitor guests and adequately train and supervise employees, a failure that allowed Paddock to hole up in the room for days with an arsenal, the suit says.

MGM owns Mandalay Bay and the open-air venue, the 15-acre Las Vegas Village, where the concert, the Route 91 Harvest country music festival, was held.

Also named in the action are Live Nation Entertainment, organizer of the concert, which drew 22,000 attendees, Slide Fire Solutions, a company that manufacturers a device Paddock used to convert his semiautomatic weapons into fully automatic ones, and the estate of the 64-year-old gunman, a resident of Mesquite, Nev., some 80 miles to the north, who was known to several Las Vegas casinos as a frequent video poker player.

Gasper was shot in the chest and underwent multiple surgeries, according to news reports citing a page on the website GoFundMe.

“Paige loves Las Vegas and went to the Route 91 concert expecting to have the wonderful time people are accustomed to having here in our city,” her attorney Nathan Morris said. “She wanted us to take action to address the safety failures that happened to her, and together we believe that through this action we can make Las Vegas as safe as it should be, so that it remains a world-class destination that we know it is. We have to maintain our reputation as the safest place on the planet.”

MGM declined to respond, according to news reports. Chairman and CEO James Murren has said the company is “working with law enforcement and will continue to do all we can to help all of those involved,” including donating $3 million to assist the victims, their families and first-responder organizations.

Beyond that the company said it was deferring all communication on the case to the FBI and Las Vegas police, a standard procedure, according to security experts, in the aftermath of crises of this magnitude.

However, MGM has questioned a revised timeline the Clark County Sheriff’s Department released concerning the events surrounding the shooting. The new timeline, which may figure prominently in the Gaspar suit and the others that are likely to follow, suggests a Mandalay security guard was shot by Paddock six minutes before he began firing on the crowd, not in the middle of the ambush, as originally reported.

“We believe what is currently being expressed may not be accurate,” an MGM spokesman said.

Interviewed last week on Fox News Sunday, two days before Gaspar filed her suit, Steve Wynn weighed in to say Paddock’s behavior would have raised red flags at his resorts.

“The scenario that we’re aware of would have indicated that he didn’t let anyone in the room for two or three days,” the chairman and CEO of Wynn Resorts said. “That would have triggered a whole bunch of alarms here, and we would have―on behalf of the guests, of course―investigated for safety.”

Inquiries are launched at Wynn properties when a guest has a “Do Not Disturb” marker on their room for more than 12 hours, he said. But a spokesman for Wynn said that the policy had only been implemented after the shooting.

Concluding back in 2015 that Las Vegas was susceptible to this kind of attack, Wynn said he brought in security consultants to ensure his Strip resorts, Wynn Las Vegas and Encore, were safe as could be. Doors are guarded at all times and there are magnetometers “at every employee entrance and at every place of human collection like the nightclubs,” he said.

Despite these claims of discreet magnetometers, visitors to Wynn were wanded by security officers before entering any entrance to the property on the day after the shooting. Subsequent days saw security cordons relaxed.

“Under most circumstances, it’s unnecessary to wand people or to do any kind of invasive procedure,” he said. “The things we’re looking for, that represent potential threats, are much more obvious and allow us a great deal of freedom in allowing us to not interfere with the normal flow of people.” He didn’t elaborate.

Nevada Gaming Control Board Chairman A.G. Burnett has taken a somewhat different tack, saying there was little, if anything, any casino could have done to prevent the tragedy.

He added that he’s called on his agency to deploy extra plainclothes security in the state’s resorts but provided no details.

“I’m not sure myself exactly which casinos they’re going to be in and when,” he said. “And I don’t want anybody to know.”

Amid concerns the shooting might scare off the convention trade that is the lifeblood of the Strip, Murren appeared at the Venetian last Tuesday to address attendees of IMEX America, the world’s largest gathering of professionals in the meeting and convention industry, telling them how much the people of Las Vegas depend on them.

“They have a job because of you. And without you, they don’t have a job,’’ he said. “You are doing what you can do. You are coming here supporting this destination and helping those families take care of themselves.’’

Joined by U.S. Travel Association President Roger Dow, Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority President Rossi Ralenkotter and IMEX Group Chairman Ray Bloom, Murren spoke briefly and somberly. “The meetings and convention business―that is the backbone of this entire business model. Without that, everything else falls away,’’ he told the audience.

About 12,000 people were expected to attend IMEX America, including 3,000 exhibitors from 150 countries. The show ran through Thursday at Las Vegas Sands’ Sands Expo and Convention Center.

LVS and the family of chairman, CEO and majority shareholder Sheldon Adelson said they’ve established a $4 million relief fund. Caesars Entertainment has organized $2 million in donations and said it will be making additional contributions along with entertainers Celine Dion and Ringo Starr, who have pledged to donate show proceeds to aid the victims. The company also is providing support by delivering food and supplies to hospitals for staff and victims’ families, lodging for volunteers and coordinating blood drives to help replenish the city’s depleted supply.

An online drive on the GoFundMe site organized by Clark County Commission Chairman Steve Sisolak and Sheriff Joe Lombardo has raised an additional $10 million or more. That effort, launched in partnership with the National Compassion Fund and supported by the foundations of several casino companies, is ongoing.

Its indebted past behind it, Caesars Entertainment is looking to a future rich with growth―$2 billion worth, to be exact.

“With reduced leverage, increased free cash flow and the new REIT structure, we are positioned with a solid foundation to pursue a diversified growth strategy,” CEO Mark Frissora said last week in announcing the long-awaited emergence from bankruptcy of the gaming giant’s largest subsidiary, Caesars Entertainment Operating Co.

The announcement coincided with the introduction of a new board of directors under a new chairman, James Hunt, a 10-year Walt Disney Company veteran.

Hunt, for his part, praised Caesars’ “strong brands, first-class properties and talented people” and said, “I am committed to working tirelessly with our board colleagues and our management team to drive long-term value creation.”

Next up, Frissora said, is execution on a corporate-wide strategy “to unlock new growth opportunities,” underlying which is the successful restructuring of CEOC, which took two years of difficult give and take with lenders under the supervision of U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

CEOC voluntarily filed for Chapter 11 protection in January 2015, buried under more than $18 billion of debt, a legacy of the 2008 leveraged buyout of Harrah’s Entertainment by private equity giants Apollo Global Management and TPG Capital.

The agreement that was finally hammered out and approved by a bankruptcy judge in Illinois earlier this year eliminates roughly $10 billion of CEOC’s debt, principally by giving creditors majority ownership of its 21 resorts through a newly created real estate investment trust, VICI Properties. As part of the agreement, Caesars Entertainment is merging with its Caesars Acquisitions Co. affiliate, which will be 32 percent owned by CEOC’s lenders. The enlarged parent, consisting of 26 U.S. and international resorts, will be VICI’s sole tenant and operate and manage the REIT portfolio.

The conglomerate will still carry more than $9 billion of debt, a vast improvement over the $25 billion-plus it carried prior to the bankruptcy filing, and it now boasts an enterprise value of approximately $20 billion, including the $2 billion cash war chest.

Frissora, who guided the company through most of the bankruptcy, remains an executive member of the board. Along with Hunt the other new directors joining him are: Thomas Benninger, John Boushy, John Dionne, Matthew Ferko, Don Kornstein, David Sambur, Richard Schifter, Marilyn Spiegel and Christopher Williams.

The Trump Administration is slowing if not reversing an Obama Administration policy that did not discourage tribes from applying to put lands far removed from their reservations into trust for tribal casinos.

The administration is proposing changes to the land-into-trust process that often takes as a long as decade to go from application to decision. It is proposing that tribes be informed up front of their actual chances, so they won’t spend time and resources on the attempt.

John Tahsuda of the Kiowa Tribe, who is a recent addition to the Trump administration as acting assistant secretary for Indian Affairs, last week told the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs: “For instance, in the case of off-reservation land-into-trust efforts, the commitment of time and resources required can be exorbitant, particularly if that proposal is denied. Therefore, we believe it is important to be upfront about proposals that may not be acceptable.”

Tahsuda recently announced a fast-moving schedule for implementing the new proposal, including scheduling the first consultation with tribes in about a week, followed by three more in November.

In 2008 the Obama Administration reversed a policy of the Bush Administration which had used a “commutable distance” standard to reject many requests to put land into trust off the reservation. Now it appears that the Trump Administration may restore that old standard, or at least partially reverse the Obama standard.

In his testimony to the Senate committee Tahsuda conceded that the “commutable distance” standard will be considered. Another possibility is that tribes will need to submit maps showing where their reservations are in relation to the new land they want to put into trust.

Just showing that a casino could be lucrative for the tribe won’t be enough to satisfy the new requirements, said Tahsuda. “Things like employment opportunities, ability to host cultural activities, community activities in the facility, those should be part of the considerations that are impacted from the distance from a reservation.”

Tribes may also be required to show how the proposed acquisitions will impact state and local governments.

The new policy against off-reservation applications had been strongly hinted at since March when Ryan Zinke took office as Secretary of the Interior. At that time Zinke removed the power to make such decisions away from regional BIA offices and reserved them to himself or other political appointees—rather than career officials.

A critic of the new approach is U.S. Senator Tom Udall of New Mexico, vice chairman of the committee. He says the policy would violate Trump’s state goals of easing regulatory burdens on business and of promoting new jobs. He pointed out that the land-into-trust policy would add new steps to a process that already takes several years and called it adding “regulatory obstacles.”

The committee also heard from the chairman of the Forest County Potawatomi Tribe, which opened the first off-reservation casino in 1990 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Harold “Gus” Frank told lawmakers, “We have a diverse set of business that allow us to create opportunities for our people and local communities, including two casinos.”

The Bureau of Indian Affairs is accepting writing comments on the new proposal until December 15, as well as holding the listening sessions and tribal consultations.

In September, Disney Worldwide Services, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company, made three donations totaling $575,000 to the political committee Voters In Charge, which is leading a petition drive for a the Voter Control of Gambling Amendment that would give Florida voters—not legislators–the “exclusive right to decide whether to authorize casino gambling” in the state.

The primary contributor to the campaign, Disney has given $2.325 million as of September 30, according to the committee’s recent finance report.

Voters In Charge had submitted 285,526 valid petition signatures as of last week, according to the Florida Division of Elections website. To be on the November 2018 ballot, 766,200 signatures are required. “We are on track to accomplish our goal. We look forward to being on the 2018 ballot, mounting an aggressive statewide campaign,” said Voters In Charge Chairman John Sowinski.

Voters In Charge said although the state constitution prohibits all gambling “other than parimutuel pools,” legislators over the years, working with the Seminole Tribe of Florida, have steadily gained power on casino expansion issues, leaving voters out. The committee said politicians believe they “can bypass the constitutional prohibition and legalize casino gambling.”

Disney has worked to stop gambling expansion in Florida for years. Officials said much of the state, especially the Orlando area where Walt Disney World is located, is a family friendly tourism destination that would be negatively impacted by casino gambling.

New York’s new upstate casinos are likely to end their first year as decided underachievers.

A new analysis by USA Today Network of gaming revenue tallies compiled by the state show the three resorts could miss their 2017 projections by more than $200 million combined, if current trends continue.

It’s a gap that appears to point to a statewide market overloaded with gambling options, not to mention a licensing process that rewarded developers for an optimism that in hindsight looks to have been misplaced.

Tioga Downs in the Southern Tier, the first of the three to open in the form of an existing racino converted to a full-scale casino, predicted $103 million in gaming revenue its first year. Through August, it has generated $52 million and is on track for $70 million for the year.

Rivers Casino & Resort, which opened in Schenectady in February, expected to win $222 million. It has brought in $82 million through July and could finish the year short by $80 million.

del Lago Resort & Casino, which opened in February near Syracuse in the Finger Lakes region, is on track to miss its $263 million forecast by at least $100 million.

“The projections we had were wrong,” Tioga Downs owner Jeff Gural acknowledged.

State and local officials are now wondering about the impacts on projected tax revenues and jobs―the two biggest selling points when New York voters approved the licensing of as many as seven full-scale casinos under private ownership, all with house-banked table games, in a 2013 referendum.

The state currently is home to seven full-scale casinos owned by Indian tribes, with an eighth set to open next year, plus nine machine gaming venues at racetracks. A fourth commercial casino, the largest to date, the $1 billion Resorts World Catskills, slated to open next March 90 miles north of New York City.

“I always thought that we were oversaturating the central part of the state,” said Assemblyman Gary Pretlow, who chairs the Gaming Committee in the lower chamber.

Operators, however, respond that with their resorts still in the process of adding hotel rooms and other attractions, such assessments are premature.

“It’s much too early to make any judgment on gaming performance,” a spokesman for the state Gaming Commission said recently.

In support of that the commission notes that the state’s share of casino revenues is up nearly $200 million since the expansion, with most of those funds designated to support education.

“The truth is, from an economic development standpoint, it’s been a huge success,” said Gural.

“We are filling rooms with tourists who are visiting the attractions and businesses throughout the Finger Lakes,” said del Lago General Manager Jeff Babinski. “While our revenue in the first eight months has been below projections, we are confident that we are moving in the right direction.”

“The variance with the projections doesn’t bother me that much,” said Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who pushed for the expansion five years ago. “They have all been wildly successful in creating jobs and building beautiful complexes. Now they have actual data, and they’ll adjust.”

The price has been steep, though. This year alone it may cost the state and a slew of local communities more than $100 million in funding from the Seneca Indian Nation, which has halted payments from the slot revenues of its three casinos in protest over the expansion, which the tribe sees as a violation of the regional exclusivity it was promised when the payments were contracted.

Pretlow, meanwhile, expects the casinos, at least one if not more, will petition Albany for relief, as the racinos are doing. And he won’t be happy about it, he said.

“My prediction is they’ll be coming back and asking for tax breaks to take money out of education again, and I’m going to have to fight it. Because it’s not right.”

Less than a year from opening its doors, MGM is accelerating work both inside and out on the MGM Springfield.

Last week the developer began work on the roads at the intersection of State and Main streets and to gut the old armory building, a structure damaged by the tornado of 2011. The building with two iconic towers will be made structurally sound and restored as a restaurant and club.

Now that cold and wet weather will soon descend on the Bay State, MGM is shifting over to inside work on the six-story hotel. What exactly the interior will look like is a corporate secret at the moment, said MGM Springfield Mike Mathis, since the casino is in competition with the two tribal casinos in Connecticut, Foxwoods and the Mohegan Sun.

The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement is warning online gambling operators in the state that they could lose their state licenses if they don’t take steps to block gamblers from their international sites.

Australia has just enacted new online regulations that effectively ban online poker and casino games in the country. Sports betting remains legal in Australia.

New Jersey has a policy that licensees there cannot operate in jurisdictions where online gambling is clearly prohibited—called black markets.

David Rebuck, director of the division, sent a letter to online gambling companies operating in the state that they must quit the Australian market or they could face punitive actions including loss of their New Jersey licenses. He sent a similar letter last year as Australia was proposing its new regulations.

“Operators must comply with Australia’s new laws and cease offering all prohibited services to customers in Australia,” the new letter said. “Failure to do so many result in the division taking regulatory action against your company, including finding your company unsuitable for licensure in New Jersey.”

Companies will also have to provide evidence that they are taking measures to block Australians from gambling on their sites and if they’re continuing operations to explain why.

Several major online companies have already exited the Australian market after the rules went into effect, including 888 Poker and PokerStars, both of which are licensed in New Jersey.

In another story related to Australia, The North South Wales government is reportedly considering restrictions for “synthetic lotteries” such as those run by online betting agency Lottoland. Synthetic lotteries allow players to bet on the outcome of international lotteries without technically entering the actual contest.

Officials say such complicated payment agreements may be in violation of the state’s wagering rules. The Australian states of Western Australia and Victoria have also announced moves towards restricting synthetic lotteries while Queensland is reviewing the practice.

Cooper Levenson is holding a dance party to raise much-needed funds for Puerto Rico residents in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. The fundraiser is a Latin Dance Party to be held at Resorts Casino on Wednesday, Oct. 18, from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. There will be a pre-event Latin dance lesson at 5:30 p.m. The minimum donation to attend the event is $25 per person. One hundred percent of the proceeds will go to Puerto Rico.

“Our hearts are with the people of Puerto Rico, who are facing insurmountable odds to rebuild their lives,” said Ken Calemmo, chief operating officer, Cooper Levenson. “We wanted to do what we could to help.”

Cooper Levenson has several staff members with family in Puerto Rico. They have had no contact from them since the storm.

Sponsors for the event include AtlantiCare, the Greater Atlantic City Chamber of Commerce, the Press of Atlantic City, SNJ Today, Argyle Interactive, and WEMG-MEGA 105.7 FM and 1310 AM. Sponsorships are available and range from $500 to $1,500.

For questions on sponsorships or tickets or if you cannot attend the event, but wish to make a donation, call Angela Robinson at (609) 572-7642 or email arobinson@cooperlevenson.com.