Residents of the Virginia city of Bristol were offered on Thursday a first close-up look at the proposed Hard Rock Hotel & Casino before they cast their vote on the project at the November 3 ballot.

Hard Rock International representatives and business leaders from the area on Thursday unveiled a 3D model of the planned casino at the former Bristol Mall where the proposed hotel and casino resort will be developed if voters approve it.

The model displays the exterior of the future casino complex and a 350-room hotel building with a pool and outdoor entertainment area.

The casino portion of the proposed Hard Rock resort will feature two levels. Aside from the gaming area with up to 2,700 slot machines and up to 100 table games, the complex will feature seven dining outlets, four bars, a 3,200-seat indoor entertainment venue, an outdoor entertainment venue with capacity for 20,000 people, a Hard Rock Cafe, retail space, a spa and fitness center, and a 35,000-square-foot meeting and convention venue.

Hard Rock Bristol is projected to create 2,000 new jobs and to generate more than $15 million in tax revenue for its host city as well as millions more in gaming tax revenue for both Bristol and neighboring localities.

Sportsbook under Consideration

Revealing more details about their plans in Bristol, Hard Rock Senior Vice President of Business and Casino Development Sean Caffery, said that they also plan to add interactive sports experience for golf and racing at some point in future.

And after the approval of a sports betting regulatory framework earlier this week, Mr. Caffery said that they are mulling the possibility to apply for a wagering license and offer athletic gambling at their Bristol casino.

The Virginia Lottery Board approved sports betting rules earlier this week, paving the way for the start of the licensing process in October. The regulator will be accepting license applications from interested operators between October 15-31.

Hard Rock’s Bristol project is spearheaded by city business leaders, including The United Co. CEO Jim McGlothlin and Clyde Stacy, President of Par Ventures and owner of the former Bristol Mall.

City leaders selected Hard Rock as their preferred casino partner in May and the Virginia Lottery Board pre-certified the company’s proposal in July, two necessary steps before the project appears on the November 3 ballot.

Bristol voters will be asked to vote yes or no to the following question:

Shall casino gaming be permitted at a casino gaming establishment in the City of Bristol, Virginia at 500 Gate City Highway, Bristol, Virginia 24201 (former Bristol Mall) as may be approved by the Virginia Lottery Board?

Thanks to Virginia’s recently passed “no excuse absentee voting” law, residents of Bristol will be able to start voting on the casino proposal from today, September 18. November 3 is the last date they will be able to cast their vote on the matter.

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A ruling expected to be issued this week by Greece’s highest court could clear the final hurdle before a €1 billion project for the development of a casino resort as part of the larger Hellinikon scheme for the transformation of Athens’ former international airport into a massive multi-purpose complex.

In January, the Hellenic Gaming Commission selected US casino operator Mohegan Gaming & Entertainment (MGE) as the only bidder that would be allowed to enter the next stage of the bidding process for the casino portion of the Hellinikon resort.

Hard Rock International, also a US-based gaming and hospitality company, was the other bidder for the right to build a casino as part of the larger scheme.

Hard Rock appealed the Gaming Commission’s decision, arguing that the bidding process was mired by a conflict of interest because the law firm that had been hired to advice the regulator and the Hellinikon IRC Tender Committee had been representing a member of Mohegan’s team since 2008.

The Florida-based casino operator said that it “firmly believes it was wrongly disqualified based on an inaccurate rationale and a clear conflict of interest.”

The Greek Council of State rejected Hard Rock’s appeal in May. The company now awaits a final decision on the matter, but it seems that the court’s ruling would not bring good news for its effort to expand into the Greek gaming market.

Top Court Expected to Yet Again Reject Appeal

According to Greek news outlets citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter, the Council of State will this week issue its final decision and will once again reject Hard Rock’s case.

That final decision will pave the way for the Hellenic Gaming Commission to finally open Mohegan’s financial offer and declare the company the preferred bidder.

Once this happens, a contract between Mohegan and the state will have to be drafted and signed and than cleared by the State Audit Council and the Greek Parliament. All these steps are expected to be completed by the end of the year or in early 2021.

Picking a preferred casino developer is a required step before construction work on the whole Hellinikon complex could finally begin.

Mohegan unveiled last October the INSPIRE Athens concept that includes a casino with at least 1,200 slot machines and 120 table games, luxury hotel, entertainment venues, convention center, retail space, dining outlets, sprawling resort pools, and “a comprehensive mix of premium amenities.”

The resort will feature two towers that will be connected with an infinity pool placed on top of one of the skyscrapers and about halfway up the other. Las Vegas architectural firm Steelman Partners was tasked with the casino resort’s design.

Mohegan said earlier this year that it has remained committed to its Greek plan, despite the Covid-19 pandemic and its impact on the company’s finances. The US company will develop and operate its Greek resort in partnership with local construction giant GEK Terna.

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An Australian punter who is suing bookmaker BetEasy for nearly A$1.2 million in unpaid winnings told court that she did not herself open a betting account with the operator and that it was actually created by a Crown Resorts employee when she joined the casino operator’s Signature Club.

Renee Bell is seeking to receive the difference of A$1.44 million after landing a monster parlay in May 2018 of which BetEasy paid out just A$250,000.

Ms. Bell’s case received great media attention this past April, when it emerged that the punter was suing the sports betting operator in a bid to claim her winnings.

In May 2018, Ms. Bell placed A$500 worth of multi-bets on several horses that had a potential return of A$1,443,695.90 with BetEasy. The bookmaker operated as CrownBet at the time.

The punter successfully tipped a couple of horses to win their races around Australia. A A$100 five-leg all-up bet returned A$1,260,748.80, while four other A$100 bets returned a combined A$182,447.10. However, Ms. Bell eventually received A$250,000, which was only a fraction of what she had originally expected to be paid out.

BetEasy also returned Ms. Bell’s A$100 bet and canceled her other four bets, refunding her A$400.

Ms. Bell Says She Did Not Agree to T&Cs

Under BetEasy’s terms and conditions upon opening an account with the operator, “the maximum payout for a multi-bet for racing and sports or a combination of both is (A)$250,000.”

However, Ms. Bell said that she did not agree to the operator’s terms and conditions and that she never opened a betting account with BetEasy. The punter said in her lawsuit against the bookmaker that she did not know she had an account until she received an email three days after signing up to Crown Resorts’ Signature Club.

According to court documents, Ms. Bell “did not agree to CrownBet’s terms and conditions and such terms and conditions were not brought to her attention” when she joined the Crown Signature Club. In addition, “she did not agree to CrownBet’s terms and conditions and such terms and conditions were not brought to her attention” when she first logged into her CrownBet (BetEasy) account.

BetEasy said in its defense that by using its website to open an account or by placing bets, punters agree to the terms and conditions on its website. The Supreme Court has scheduled a directions hearings on the lawsuit for November 13.

BetEasy ceased to exist earlier this year when its parent company The Stars Group merged with rival Flutter Entertainment in one of the largest gambling M&A deals of 2020. Following the combination of the two gambling giants BetEasy merged with Flutter’s Australian brand, Sportsbet, as part of the enlarged group’s single-brand strategy for the Australian betting market.

BetEasy was formed in 2018 when The Stars Group purchased an 80% stake in the former CrownBet from local casino operator Crown Resorts. The online wagering operation was rebranded as BetEasy. Late in 2019, The Stars Group purchased the remaining 20% in the bookmaker from Crown Resorts to assume full control over the business.

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Online casino and sports betting operator Cloudbet has expanded its existing offering with content from live roulette specialist Authentic Gaming, news emerged today.

Launched in 2013, Cloudbet is one of the pioneers of crypto gambling. The brand offers betting on different sports as well as a diverse range of online casino games from a number of major providers.

As part of the recently penned deal, Cloudbet has added 16 live roulette tables from Authentic Gaming to its existing offering. The new games the operator now offers to its players include the provider’s 24/7 Roulette, Grand Roulette, and hit Blaze Roulette, among others. The games are streamed from Authentic Gaming’s state-of-the-art Live Arena Studio.

Based in Malta, the provider is famous for its live roulette content that is streamed from the floors of a number of popular casinos, including Bad Homburg, the birthplace of single-zero roulette.

Authentic Gaming was established in 2015. Up until earlier this year, the provider was owned by LeoVegas and was one of three entities to comprise the online gambling group’s LeoVentures investment company for innovative gambling-related groups.

LeoVegas announced last October that it would sell the live roulette specialist to Genting in a €15 million deal that was finalized earlier this year.

Taking Experience to the Next Level

Commenting on the recent addition of Authentic Gaming products to their games library, a Cloudbet spokesperson said that their prime objective is to “help customers take their gaming experience to the next level” and that this is why they are constantly looking for “new ways to upgrade our product.”

The operator’s spokesperson added that their partnership with Authentic Gaming is a prime example of their goal.

As part of its alliance with the live casino provider, the operator has also launched Cloudbet Live Auto Roulette, a bespoke live roulette title that offers Authentic Gaming’s signature Bet on Stats feature. The newly released game marks the first time Cloudbet has attached its name to a casino game.

The operator’s spokesperson said that the rollout of the branded roulette table marks another milestone for Cloudbet and that there are “more exciting features and products” in the pipeline.

Authentic Gaming’s recent deal with Cloudbet is the latest alliance with a major operator the provider has landed in recent months. Earlier this year, the live casino specialist teamed up with online gambling giant 888 Holdings to provide it with its content.

Under the terms of that earlier deal, 888’s online casino brand, 888casino, gained access to Authentic Gaming’s entire games library. The provider agreed to roll out its content across 888casino’s UK, Swedish, Danish, and Italian websites.

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Spain will grandfather existing online gambling sports sponsorships after imposing its proposed ban in October, although the government isn’t yet sure how long a grace period will be permitted.

On Friday, Spanish media quoted Consumer Affairs minister Alberto Garzón saying there would be a “short transition period” for the country’s sports clubs to rid themselves of their online gambling sponsors after the Royal Decree on gambling advertising takes effect in October.

Garzón (pictured right) has been made to look foolish over the past couple weeks as a flurry of new sponsorship deals between online bookmakers and Spanish football teams was announced. Garzón has accused betting operators of “huge recklessness” for mounting “an absurd challenge” to the government’s stated aims.

This month has already seen Betway sign second-division footballers RCD Espanyol de Barcelona; MarathonBet re-up with Sevilla FC; William Hill re-up with Málaga CF and ink a new deal with UD Logroñés; Grupo Orenes’ Versus brand sign a three-year pact with Atletico de Madrid; Betsson sign UD Ibiza while La Liga inked a four-year Asian-facing partnership with M88.

Garzón said Friday that the Royal Decree on gambling marketing would be approved by the Council of Ministers “in a few weeks,” after which “no one will be able to re-sign any sponsorship contract.” Garzón warned that gambling operators would need to “correct” their attitude “because the law is the law.”

However, Garzón noted that “as is done in all laws,” there will be a transition period “to allow those contracts to expire.” Garzón said the government was “right now studying all legal issues” to determine what length of transition period was permissible, but he warned that it “will be a short period and not two years or three as some clubs will like.”

Garzón also found time to defend the Decree’s blatant favoritism toward the state-run SELAE and ONCE lotteries, which will be able to continue marketing their wares to Spanish customers with only slight modifications. Garzón claimed the Decree was “not about killing flies with cannon shots,” while arguing without evidence that lotteries were a “reserved” form of gambling that didn’t cause similar harm to society as online betting and casino products.

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