Here are some development highlights. Nine months before shovels are supposed to go into the ground, the financing for a baseball stadium on the Strip is still up in the air. The 8-month-old Durango is expanding, New York City’s casino process is a mess and Sands has a new target — Thailand.

Please click here to sign up for Indy Gaming.

The Oakland Athletics need to bring in a closer to shut down rampant speculation about their future $1.5 billion stadium on the Strip.

We’re not talking about A’s relief pitcher Mason Miller, who is enjoying a breakout season with 15 saves and was the winning pitcher for the American League in this month's Major League Baseball All-Star Game.

We’re talking about a financial closer ahead of the expected April 2025 stadium groundbreaking.

With about nine months to go, the A’s are still seeking equity investors to help offset a portion of the $850 million that owner John Fisher needs to secure for the 33,000-seat ballpark project (the state and Clark County are kicking in about $380 million in public funds to help fund construction).

“The Oakland A’s new stadium currently remains in a holding pattern,” JMP Securities analyst Mitch Germain wrote in a research note last week. “The last piece of the puzzle was private financing obtained by the owner for the remaining cost of the stadium. Chatter suggests this may have hit a roadblock.” 

Sandy Dean, a partner with the Fisher family and a representative for the A’s, told the Las Vegas Stadium Authority earlier this month that the team was in “good shape” on securing financing for the ballpark. But he didn’t offer specific details on how the franchise will fund its expected $1.2 billion share of the construction costs. According to Forbes, Fisher has a net worth of $3 billion.

Dean said the team intends to borrow $300 million, but a lender or lenders weren’t named. Sports financing company Galatioto Sports Partners has reportedly been retained to find investors.

Meanwhile, other partners on the stadium site are moving forward.

Bally’s Corp., which owns the rights to replace the now-closed Tropicana Las Vegas, reached an agreement last week to shore up its financial structure. Gaming and Leisure Properties, a real estate investment trust that owns the future stadium site, kicked in $175 million for the Tropicana’s demolition, including the expected implosion of the two hotel towers in early October.

“I'm sure any developer would like to be moving faster,” Gaming and Leisure Chief Operating Officer Brandon Moore said on the company’s second-quarter earnings call last week. “Progress is being made on the site. If you've been out there, you would see that.”

Gaming and Leisure Chairman Peter Carlino told analysts that he was still confident a stadium would be built on the site and that Bally’s would be able to replace the Tropicana.

“I am happy with what they're now doing,” Carlino said of Bally’s, without getting into specifics. “They've got a first-class team assembled. We've got a big seat at the table since we own the ground.”

As for the A’s, Moore said the team was “making progress,” citing the comments from the Stadium Authority meeting.

“The timeline remains tight and the A'