Las Vegas sets new revenue record

LAS VEGAS – Nevada casinos set a record in November, reporting a ninth straight month of $1 billion or more in house winnings, gambling regulators said Wednesday, providing another sign that business in the nation’s tourist-dependent gambling mecca has returned to pre-pandemic levels.

The $1.32 billion in casino winnings reported statewide last month was up from $1.22 billion in October, and almost reached the record $1.36 billion figure set last July, the Nevada Gaming Control Board reported.

The streak beat the previous record of eight consecutive months set before the Great Recession, from October 2006 to May 2007, board senior analyst Michael Lawton said.

Nevada sports betting also set records – reaping a record $72 million in November on sports wagers totaling $1.1 billion.

Lawton said the previous record was $61.8 million in sports bets won by casinos in November 2020, and he noted sports books took in more than $1 billion in wagers in consecutive months for the first time.

China seeks U.S. help in space

BEIJING – China is calling on the United States to protect a Chinese space station and its three-member crew after Beijing complained that satellites launched by Elon Musk’s SpaceX nearly struck the station.

A foreign ministry spokesman accused Washington on Tuesday of ignoring its treaty obligations to protect the safety of the Tiangong station’s three-member crew following the July 1 and Oct. 21 incidents.

The Tiangong performed “evasive maneuvers” to “prevent a potential collision” with Starlink satellites launched by Space Exploration Technologies Corp., the government said in a Dec. 6 complaint to the U.N. Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space.

The United States should “take immediate measures to prevent such incidents from happening again,” said the spokesman, Zhao Lijian.

Zhao Lijian accused Washington of failing to carry out its obligations to “protect the safety of astronauts” under a 1967 treaty on the peaceful use of space.

From wire reports