GC Technology (formerly Cantor Gaming) hopes it can mollify the wrath of the Nevada Gaming Control Board with a $1.75 million settlement offer. CG is a repeat offender in the Silver State, which means that all options are on the table, including the loss of its licenses. 
The latest malfeasances are — according to reporter Richard Velotta — “taking wagers from outside the state, taking bets after events had concluded, made incorrect payouts to 1,483 bettors and misconfigured a satellite sportsbook betting station for the 2018 Super Bowl.” CG has pled out on all counts. In addition to the $1.75 million, CG is offering to pony up a $250,000 donation to the Nevada Council on Problem Gambling, an offer we can all support.
If CG loses its license, a lot of casinos will have to find new sports book operators, including M Resort, Hard Rock Hotel, Tropicana Las Vegas, The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, The Venetian, Palazzo, Palms and Silverton. The proposed settlement is a big leap upward from GC’s rejected offer of $250,000, offered last summer. Velotta has all the details of what the new proffer would entail and it’s pretty extensive, including five years’ probation, in effect. If the current offer is accepted by the NGCB, it would mean that CG has paid $9 million over four years. I guess they call that the cost of doing business.
* New Mexico will notch a significant milestone when it launches the U.S.’ first-ever sports lottery game. The parlay card is the outcome of a collaboration between the Land of Enchantment and Intralot. The parlay is not confined to one sport, significantly, so 
you could wager on both the 4-10 Chicago Bulls and 1-8 Oakland Raiders, if you were so inclined. New Mexicans can’t make straight-up sports bets unless they go to tribal Santa Ana Star Casino, near Albuquerque. However, by teaming with the state lottery, Intralot has split the uprights. “We are always looking for games that strengthen our lottery brand by attracting Millennials and other new players,” said lottery CEO David Barden. “Lottery games of this type are fun to play and will move us in that direction.” We hope so.
Another state with restricted sports betting, Mississippi, will add another sports book 
to its roster this week when DraftKings opens a walk-up book at Scarlet Pearl Casino Resort. The latter is a latecomer to the sports-betting game, following early entrants Beau Rivage and Gold Strike, as well as IP Biloxi, Sam’s Town and Horseshoe Tunica. Scarlet Pearl has picked Station Casinos veteran Nicholas “Nico” Sfanos to run its book, which seems a good choice. It will start with advance betting only, moving to in-play wagering at some unspecified future time.
* Up in Canada, workers at the Gateway Casinos chain grudgingly accepted a labor settlement by a 51% majority, ending a five-month strike. The narrowness of the majority strongly suggests that labor didn’t achieve its goal of salary parity with other area casinos. Said British Columbia Government & Service Employees’ Union President Stephanie Smith, “Our members are going back to work, which is great news. But the ratification vote was close, which means there is more work to be done in all four of these workplaces. That work starts as soon as the picket lines come down.”
* Las Vegas has a new eatery now that a NoMad-branded restaurant has opened at Park MGM. Restaurateur Will Guidara describes his new place as “understated compared to Vegas and overstated compared to New York.” Guidara’s litany of “grand American cuisine” made my mouth water and hopefully prospective diners will feel the 
same. “We’re doing Baked Alaska, and tableside steak and tuna tartare and caviar service. It’s meant to be a celebration space — a night out on the town,” Guidara said. Appropriately for Las Vegas, NoMad is serving baked Dumont potato, named after notorious gambler Eleanor Dumont. The bar is pricey: $17 a cocktail, or $20 if you want a table side history of the martini. A meal for two could easily set you back $150-$200 but affordability is no longer the name of the game in Sin City. Guidara says he wants NoMad Las Vegas to be the most high-end of his restaurants and we’d say he’s achieved his goal.
