Caesars Entertainment employees need a pay raise. Cost of living expenses have gone up for everyone everywhere and the casino company recognizes that it needs to gives its workers a boost. The money has to come from somewhere, and certainly not from its own pockets, so Caesars has decided to let its customers carry the burden of the increased wages.

During the company’s recent conference call with shareholders to go over the first-quarter financials, executives with Caesars said that it will be able to cover higher salaries by reducing comps offered to customers. The comps have been used to show gratitude for loyalty, but there will now be less offered in the way of free stays and free food.

Eric Hession, chief financial officer for Caesars, told investors that the low unemployment rate in the U.S. is forcing companies to pay more to attract better employees due to increased competition. In addition, a 2018 agreement between the firm and the Culinary Union, which represents a significant percentage of Caesars employees, required increased wages. Hession added, “A lot of it is stemming from basically a lack of labor, or having difficulty finding great talent in a lot of these markets. As a result, that pushes up the price of labor.”

Revenue at Caesars has been good so far this year. Net income has risen by 7.3% year-on-year to reach $2.12 billion —if which $955 came out of Las Vegas—and income from operations jumped 92% to $240 million. However, the company reported a net loss of $217 million. This didn’t impact trading, though, as shares have risen 3%.

If Macau is going to continue to grow, it’s going to need to find more employees. The Talents Development Committee has released data showing the administrative district will need an additional 7,525 employees to have full staffing in 2020, reports GGRAsia.

Macau has had statistical full employment for several years now, with an incredibly low unemployment rate. However, with its current pool of local, suitable workers already fully employed, there’s simply no more talent to hire for the growing casino industry.

The most obvious solution to the problem is to allow more non-resident workers to be imported from Mainland China and other nearby countries. That would require action by the Macau government, who maintain control of quotas for imported labor.

In late 2018, the industry employed 57,246 employees full-time, an increase of 1.1% year over year. Going back a year, the data shows 97.4% of middle management, 17,896 people strong, were Macau locals. Senior management roles were filled by 383 locals, representing 76.8% of that level.

Bans on gambling advertising are becoming even more popular in Europe. While not a ban, per se, Spanish broadcaster Euskal Irrati Telebista (EITB) have announced they will no longer carry any gambling-related ads on their TV, radio and digital platforms, reports SBC News.

The Basque Country broadcaster issued a statement explaining the decision, claiming they were “protecting and safeguarding the right of the most vulnerable against the serious problems of addiction that gambling and betting can create.”

It’s not really a total ban though. ONCE lottery games will still be advertised. Statis betting odds will also be permitted during broadcasts of local football team Basque Pelota. So really, that’s a healthy amount of gambling advertising still.

They aren’t the first Spanish broadcaster to “ban” gambling advertising. TeleMadrid, also known as Radio-Television Madrid, were instructed to end their gambling-related content by the Assembly of Madrid.

The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) is not resting, putting out new material to help against problem gambling. On May 3, the commission released its latest framework, this time specifically to help reduce gambling harms experienced by children and young people.

The report was developed by Ipsos Mori in collaboration with the UKGC, and laid out the types of damage that could be caused to young people by gambling. It was created by looking at Ipsos young person survey and determining how they are most affected by overboard betting.

The UKGC’s Programme Director for Safer Gambling, Helen Rhodes, said of the initiative: “Gaining a better understanding of the impact of gambling on children and young people is a key priority for the Commission.

“Childhood and adolescence is a key stage of development and any harms experienced at this stage in life can be detrimental to the future development, confidence and potential of young people.”

States that offer legal sports betting will no longer be prohibited from hosting college championship events, according to the body that oversees US college sports.

On Thursday, the board of directors at the National Collegiate Athletics Administration (NCAA) issued some policy changes, including the decision to rescind the NCAA Championships Policy Related to Sports Wagering, which banned any state that legalized single-game betting from hosting college championship competitions.

The NCAA’s no-championships-for-you policy dates back to 2012, when the New Jersey state government approved its initial single-game sports betting legislation. The NCAA promptly pulled five collegiate championship events from the state, leading then State Sen. Ray Lesniak to slam the NCAA’s approach as “ludicrous and hypocritical.”

The NCAA lifted its New Jersey ban the following year but continued to oppose the state’s betting legislation in court, along with the four major North American pro leagues. However, when the US Supreme Court determined in May 2018 that the leagues were on the wrong side of history, the NCAA did an abrupt about-face and began advocating for federal betting regulations.

The UK gambling sector has once again come up short of its goal to adequately fund the industry’s self-funded problem gambling charity.

On Friday, the GambleAware charity revealed that its voluntary contributions from UK gambling operators over the 12 months ending March 31 totaled £9.6m. While this was “marginally more” than the charity received in the previous 12-month period, it fell below its £10m target and well below the 0.1% share of gambling revenue that operators are supposed to remit.

GambleAware also received £7.3m as its share of regulatory settlements between gambling operators and the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC), which has dramatically ramped up its enforcement activity of late, meting out some £27m in penalties in 2018 alone.

The voluntary funding shortfall doesn’t mean GambleAware will have to close its doors anytime soon, but the charity warned that its funding needs are set to increase under the UKGC’s new National Strategy to Reduce Gambling Harms, the three-year program announced last month that will include a “firm regulatory enforcement approach” toward recalcitrant licensees.

Regional casino operator Penn National Gaming (PNG) says legal sports betting is giving a proper boost to revenue in its other verticals.

This week, PNG delivered its Q1 financial report card, which showed revenue of $1.28b in the three months ending March 31, a 57% improvement over the same period last year, although slightly below the company’s earlier predictions of $1.3b. Earnings (after paying $208m in rent to PNG’s landlord) were up nearly 40% to $183.1m while net income fell nearly one-quarter to $41m.

The revenue figure was significantly goosed by PNG’s addition of 12 Pinnacle Entertainment casino properties, while the net income decline was the result of a significant rise in interest payments on the financing of that acquisition. PNG’s revenue (and interest payments) will grow even faster following this month’s expected completion of its $300m deal for Detroit’s Greektown casino operations.

Once the Greektown deal is in the bag, PNG’s portfolio will consist of 42 venues (soon to be 41 following the June closure of Resorts Casino Tunica) across 19 jurisdictions. All of PNG’s regional divisions reported healthy revenue gains in Q1, led by the Northeast segment ($550.6m, +20%).

Regional casino operator Eldorado Resorts said dodgy weather did a number on its Q1 numbers while its CEO dodged questions about a potential tie-up with Caesars Entertainment.

On Thursday, Eldorado reported generating revenue of $627.7m, record operating income of $123.7m, adjusted earnings of $166.5m and net income of $20.85m in the three months ending March 31.

Comparatives with the same period last year are somewhat moot, given last spring’s transformative $1.85b acquisition of Tropicana Entertainment, not to mention a couple Pennsylvania properties changing hands and the addition of the Grand Victoria Casino in Illinois. Besides, it’s a Friday and we’re bone-idle lazy.

What is clear is that Eldorado now operates 26 properties across the US, and adjusted earnings were up at 17 of these venues, including nine properties where earnings were up double-digits.