Borgata Atlantic City fully integrated as MGM property; $40 member bonus in April

Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, Atlantic City, is going to be fully integrated as an MGM Resorts International property in April. The work will allow for:

• Earning Tier Credits for non-gaming spend (dining, hotel and more)

• A better experience with M life Rewards cards working at all MGM Resorts properties

• TheBorgata.com to have a fresh, new look with easier navigation

• Express Comps balances to be simplified (MGM & Borgata Express Comps are now combined)

“To implement these exciting changes, and prepare us for new promotions and events, we will pause promotional offers from April 17–30,” said Melonie Johnson, president and COO of Borgata, in an email to members. There will be limited disruption on the casino floor during this time. For any inconvenience this may cause, Borgata has added $40 Bonus SLOT DOLLARS to members M life Rewards account valid from April 1 – April 16.

“This will be in addition to the rest of your promotions. Rest assured, you will still be able to earn and redeem SLOT DOLLARS and Express Comps during this time,” Johnson said. “We are excited to resume promotional offers starting in May.”

Company Profile; Rush Street Interactive, Inc.

In the latter half of 2013, New Jersey became the first U.S. state to legally permit online casinos. Rush Street Interactive, Inc. (RSI) entered the New Jersey online casino market approximately three years after that market opened and there were already numerous competitors in the market at that time. Less than three years after beginning operations in New Jersey, RSI was ranked the #4 online casino brand in New Jersey based on revenue, out of 19 total operators in the market at that time, according to the Eilers & Krejcik Gaming (EKG) United States Online Casino Tracker for April 2019.

Today, Chicago-based RSI is a leading online gaming and entertainment company that focuses primarily on online casino and online sports betting in the U.S. and Latin American markets.

On May 14, 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that PASPA – a nationwide ban of sports betting – was unconstitutional, thus allowing states to enact their own sports betting laws. Since the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision 22 states and the District of Columbia have legalized sports betting. Of those 23 jurisdictions, 15 states have authorized statewide online sports betting while eight remain retail-only at casinos or retail locations.

RSI provides customers an array of leading gaming offerings such as real-money online casino, online sports betting, and retail sports betting, as well as social gaming, which involves free-to-play games that use virtual credits that can be earned or purchased. The company launched their first social gaming website in 2015 and began accepting real-money bets in the United States in 2016. The company currently operates online casino and/or online sports betting in eight states (Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia). RSI's Betrivers.com website and phone app went live in Virginia on Jan. 27, 2021. In addition, the company has secured potential market access to New York, Ohio, Maryland, Missouri and if certain conditions are met, Texas.

RSI has been operating online gaming in Colombia since 2018, a country with a population of approximately 50 million. Online gaming is also authorized in Mexico and Brazil, which have populations of approximately 128.9 million and 212.6 million, respectively. The highest populated country in Latin America, Brazil, legalized sports betting in December 2018.

Real-money online casino and online sports betting offerings are provided under BetRivers.com and PlaySugarHouse.com brands in the United States and under RushBet.co in Colombia.

Experienced gaming operators Neil Bluhm, Greg Carlin and Richard Schwartz founded Rush Street Interactive, LP (“RSILP”), which is now an indirect subsidiary of RSI. Company founders had invested approximately $50 million into RSILP. This capital was primarily used to fund the development of our proprietary online gaming platform and offerings, recruit and grow an experienced team, and expand into new geographic and product markets.

Online casino revenue from slot machines and table games in New Jersey grew from $277.3 million in 2018 to $461.8 million in 2019 according to the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement. Furthermore, land-based casino revenue in New Jersey grew during that same period from $2.51 billion in 2018 to $2.69 billion in 2019 according to the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement, showing that land-based casino revenue can grow at the same time that online casino revenue grows. In 2020, New Jersey online casino revenue continued to increase to $931.6 million while revenues from land-based casinos decreased to $1.51 billion.

As of March 22, 2021, RSI had a global workforce of approximately 264 employees and contractors, with approximately 37% of people working in technical roles. Approximately 50% of their people are based in the United States with the remaining 50% being based elsewhere in the world, including Canada, Colombia, Estonia and Mexico.

According to EKG, the United States generated approximately $1.15 billion in online sports betting revenue in 2020, despite the impacts of COVID-19 and the cancellations, postponement, shortening or rescheduling of sporting events and seasons. Only 35% of the United States currently has access to online sports betting, according to EKG.

If every U.S. state was to legalize online casino, based on state level projections from EKG, it is projected that the U.S. market would generate approximately $20 billion in revenue. Similarly, if every U.S. state was to legalize online sports betting, based on state level projections from EKG, it is projected that the U.S. market would generate approximately $15 billion in revenue.

NASA is targeting no earlier than April 8 to fly a helicopter on Mars

NASA is targeting no earlier than April 8 for the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter to make the first attempt at powered, controlled flight of an aircraft on another planet. Before the 4-pound (1.8-kilogram) rotorcraft can attempt its first flight both it and its team must meet a series of daunting milestones.

Ingenuity remains attached to the belly of NASA's Perseverance rover, which touched down on Mars Feb. 18. The rover currently is in transit to the "airfield" where Ingenuity will attempt to fly. Once deployed, Ingenuity will have 30 Martian days (31 Earth days) to conduct its test flight.

Flying in a controlled manner on Mars is far more difficult than flying on Earth. The Red Planet has significant gravity (about one-third that of Earth's) but its atmosphere is just 1% as dense as Earth's at the surface. During Martian daytime, the planet's surface receives only about half the amount of solar energy that reaches Earth during its daytime, and nighttime temperatures can drop as low as minus 130 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 90 degrees Celsius), which can freeze and crack unprotected electrical components.

"While getting deployed to the surface will be a big challenge, surviving that first night on Mars alone, without the rover protecting it and keeping it powered, will be an even bigger one,” said Bob Balaram, Mars Helicopter chief engineer at Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).

"Ingenuity is an experimental engineering flight test – we want to see if we can fly at Mars," said MiMi Aung, project manager for Ingenuity Mars Helicopter at JPL. "There are no science instruments onboard and no goals to obtain scientific information.”

Ingenuity will run its rotors to 2,537 revolutions per minute and, if all final self-checks look good, lift off.  After climbing at a rate of about three feet per second (one meter per second), the helicopter will hover at 10 feet (three meters) above the surface for up to 30 seconds. Then, the Mars Helicopter will descend and touch back down on the Martian surface. Once the first few flights are complete the mission control team will develop a plan on how to move forward with Ingenuity.

The Ingenuity Mars Helicopter was built by JPL, which also manages the technology demonstration for NASA Headquarters. It is supported by NASA's Science Mission Directorate, the NASA Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate, and the NASA Space Technology Mission Directorate. NASA's Ames Research Center and Langley Research Center provided significant flight performance analysis and technical assistance.

At NASA Headquarters, Dave Lavery is the program executive for the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter. At JPL, MiMi Aung is the project manager and J. (Bob) Balaram is chief engineer.

Chinese weather satellite breaks into pieces in space

The U.S. Space Force's 18th Space Control Squadron (18 SPCS) has confirmed the breakup of China's Yunhai 1-02 satellite in Earth orbit. The breakup occurred on March 18 at 03:41 a.m. EDT, the military said in a post on Twitter. The 18th SPCS is tracking 21 pieces from the breakup - "analysis is ongoing."

Yunhai-1 is a series of Chinese meteorological satellites. The satellites are built by Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology and used for observation of atmospheric, marine and space environment, disaster prevention and mitigation, and scientific experiments. Yunhai 1-02 was launched in 2019.

The Yunhai 1-02 event follows the breakup of NOAA 17 that just occurred on March 10. NOAA 17 is a U.S. weather satellite.

Wanna bet Virginia? High stakes in the commonwealth's gambling future

Aside from the state-run lottery, there are four different forms of gambling currently allowed under Virginia law: casino gaming and sports betting; horse racing and historical horse racing; skill gaming; and charitable gaming.

See the DCNewsroom's Virginia Gambling Guide for a look into the commonwealth's gambling future.

NOAA weather satellite breaks into 16 pieces in Earth orbit

The U.S. Space Force's 18th Space Control Squadron (18 SPCS) has confirmed the breakup of NOAA 17 which was formally decommissioned by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in 2013 following an 11 year on-orbit operating life.

“Data indicates the breakup likely occurred March 10,” the Space Force said in a post on Twitter. The 18 SPCS is tracking approximately 16 pieces, which are being incorporated into routine conjunction assessment to support spaceflight safety. There is no indication that this breakup was caused by a collision with another object, Space Force officials said. NOAA 17 was launched into orbit in 2002.

A similar event happened in November 2015 when the U.S. military's Joint Space Operations Center investigated the breakup of the NOAA 16 weather satellite.

New Alaska Airlines seasonal service between Anchorage and Minneapolis-St. Paul

Alaska Airlines announced Friday new seasonal service at one of the airline's key hubs in Alaska with new nonstop service between Anchorage and Minneapolis-St. Paul. This additional nonstop flight means Alaska Airlines will provide the most nonstops from the state of Alaska than any other carrier.

The new service to the Land of 10,000 Lakes is in addition to the newly added nonstop service between Anchorage and Las Vegas, Denver and San Francisco, along with the expansion of year-round service to sunny Phoenix and Maui.

This summer, Alaska will fly nonstop to 11 destinations between Anchorage and the Lower 48 and Hawaii including: Minneapolis-St. Paul; Chicago; Denver; Honolulu; Maui; Las Vegas; Los Angeles; Phoenix; Portland, Oregon; San Francisco and Seattle. Four of the cities on the West Coast are also Alaska hubs, which allow for improved connectivity for guests traveling to other locations.

Introductory one-way fares between Anchorage and Minneapolis-St. Paul start at $98, and one-way fares between Minneapolis-St. Paul and Anchorage begin at $99. The new service starts June 19.