The Plaza Hotel & Casino will honor two popular Las Vegas sports teams with its weekly Welcome to the Weekend Friday Fireworks Show this week and next.

Tomorrow night, Friday, July 11, members of the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) dance team, the Scarlet Dance Line will be the guests of honor to ignite the fireworks from the TNT box at 9:15 p.m. at Carousel Bar. UNLV alumni and fans are encouraged to wear university gear to Carousel Bar, which will have a DJ starting at 7 p.m. and offer a special cocktail, the Rebel Rita, a frozen strawberry margarita made with Mi Campo Blanco, for the night.

Next Friday, July 18, the mascot for the Vegas Knight Hawks, Risk will be on hand as the TNT ignitor at Carousel Bar honoring the professional indoor football team that plays at Lee’s Family Forum in Henderson. A DJ will again be entertaining guests at Carousel Bar starting at 7 p.m.

Staged from the top of the Plaza’s South Tower every Friday at 9:15 p.m. from May through September, the public can watch the Welcome to the Weekend Friday Fireworks Show for free from in front of the Plaza on Main Street, which will be closed to vehicular traffic during the show for viewing the fireworks from Carson Avenue to Ogden Avenue.

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The Plaza’s fireworks will be dependent on weather conditions and are subject to change or cancellation. Updates will be available on the Plaza’s social media channels, including Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

CopyBet has extended its deal as Front of Shirt Partner of Queens Park Rangers Football Club, continuing the successful collaboration for the 2025/26 season.

The renewed agreement reinforces CopyBet’s position as the club’s primary partner, and enables the fantastic relationship to continue to grow. CopyBet’s logo will adorn the front of the Men’s First Team shirts, and all adult retail shirts.

“We are proud to continue our partnership with Queens Park Rangers as the club’s Official Front of Shirt Partner for the upcoming season, reflecting our ongoing commitment to supporting the Club and the exciting journey ahead. We look forward to another memorable season together, both on and off the pitch,” stated Anton Ivanov, Business Development Director, CopyBet UK.

The relationship, which started in July 2022, has seen CopyBet begin as the Club’s Back of Shirt Sponsor, before moving to the Front of Shirt position for the 2024/25 season, with a memorable debut in our 4-0 home win against Leeds in April 2024.

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QPR Commercial Director Euan Inglis added: “CopyBet have been a fantastic partner over the last three seasons, Anton and the whole team are a pleasure to work with. The Club are delighted that CopyBet have exercised their option to extend their partnership with the Club for another season.”

Members of the European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA) contributed €3.8 billion in taxes to the European economy in 2024 and achieved record progress in safer gambling and social responsibility, according to the association’s fifth annual sustainability report published today. The report reveals that EGBA members sent 100 million safety messages to their European customers in 2024 – a 48% year-on-year increase – and 69% of their customers, or 26.7 million of them, use safety tools, with half doing so voluntarily.

The Sustainability Report 2025 outlines the collective efforts of EGBA members to contribute positively to European society through safer gambling, social investment, and responsible business practices. It presents data on customer demographics, use of safety tools, investments in sports and society, employment and diversity, and environmental performance. The report covers the online operations of EGBA members in the EU and UK and tracks their year-on-year progress.

“This year’s report shows our members are not only positive contributors to Europe’s economy but also setting industry benchmarks for safer gambling,” said Maarten Haijer, Secretary General of EGBA. “We’re especially encouraged by the success of personalised safety messages, which our report shows to be positively impacting between 42% to 46% of customers showing high-risk behaviours. That’s genuinely meaningful progress that builds trust and helps raise standards across the wider industry.”

“Our members are showing that leadership in our industry is about more than commercial success – it’s about protecting players, supporting communities, and investing in Europe’s future,” Haijer added. “But sustaining these achievements requires stable and supportive regulatory frameworks and stronger enforcement against black market operators based outside Europe, who threaten the safety of European citizens and contribute nothing to our societies. The regulated industry makes substantial investments, but we need a longer-term policy vision in some national markets.”

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EGBA and its members are committed to fostering a strong culture of social responsibility while evolving to meet rising societal expectations. Through their shared commitment to sustainability, our members continue to demonstrate that safer gambling and business success go hand in hand.

Key sustainability highlights from EGBA members (2024)

Social Contributions

• €3.8 billion contributed in taxes to European economies, including corporate and gaming taxes, providing funding for public services and community initiatives.
• €735 million invested in European sports through sponsorships, fees, and streaming rights payments – with streaming rights accounting for the largest share (62%).
• €156.8 million donated to charities and community initiatives across Europe, representing a 4% yearly increase.

Promotion of Safer Gambling

• A record 100 million messages were sent to customers to promote safer gambling, a 48% year-on-year increase. 28% of these messages were personalised, based on a customer’s individual playing behaviour, and were primarily delivered to customers via pop-ups (67%) and email (25%).
• Personalised messages had positive impacts on 42-46% of customers with high-risk behaviours, with customers either improving their play or maintaining stable patterns following targeted messages. 21% of these customers also activated or strengthened safety tools following personalised messages.
• 89% of all employees received safer gambling training – accounting for over 55,000 employees across online and land-based operations (up from 80% in 2023).
• €148.9 million contributed to research, education, and treatment (RET) services to support gambling harm prevention in Europe, making it €290 million in RET contributions in the past 5 years.

Safer Gambling Tools

• 69% of all customers used safety tools – representing a record 26.7 million players (a 28% yearly increase). Half of these, 13.2 million customers, used tools voluntarily.
• Deposit limits remained the most popular tool, used by 65% of customers who use tools voluntarily.

Customers

• 38.6 million customer accounts, representing a 19% year-on-year increase.
• 75% of customers were male (up from 72% in 2023), while 25% of customers were female (down from 28%).
• 15.9 million customer service interactions, a 10% yearly increase, with the most popular topic being offers/bonuses (18%).

Employment and Diversity

• 62,698 total employees across both land-based and online operations, with 57% male and 43% female employees.

Energy and Environment

• Total energy consumption decreased by 11% to 190.2 gigawatt hours (GWh), covering both land-based and online operations. 78% of energy use was sourced from renewables, an increase from 64% in 2023.
• Greenhouse gas emissions were 1.15 million tonnes CO2e, with value chain emissions (Scope 3) accounting for 95% of the total. 

Source: EGBA