In these current lean times, executive-level leadership is more important than ever. Casinos are trying to deliver the same level of service they always do, but reduced revenues mean they have to do it with a smaller workforce.

Making sure that everyone is pulling together to accomplish the same goals, keeping morale up and keeping the ship moving in the right direction is more important now than it is when things are good. Right now, there is little room for error.

And it was with that in mind that we selected these leaders for our annual compilation of People to Watch. Each one of them has the experience, the skills and the know-how needed to guide their casino, their company or their constituents through the rough waters expected in 2009. And, because challenging times tend to separate those who can from those who can’t, the actions that these people take throughout 2009 could be setting the plate for bigger things in the years ahead. Whether it be increased political ambitions, growing a gaming company or building on the history of a single casino, they are all setting the groundwork right now for the great things we expect to see from them in the future.

With that in mind, we present our list of People to Watch for 2009.

Andrew Pascal

President and COO, Wynn Las Vegas & Encore

Former Wynn executives are admired throughout the industry for their operational savvy, their entreprenuerialship and their ability to turn on a dime--to change quickly in response to market conditions.

Andrew Pascal, the president and COO of Wynn Las Vegas and Encore, is admired within the organization for those skills, but much of that was learned while he was away from the Wynn organization.

As a casino gaming “brat”—someone who was raised around gambling—Pascal had something of a head start.

“I grew up around it,” he said. “My dad was a bit of a gambler while I was growing up, so it held a bit of a mystique.”

During the summer breaks from school, he held a variety of jobs at the Golden Nugget, a casino coincidentally owned by his uncle, Steve Wynn (Pascal is Elaine Wynn’s nephew).

“I was exposed to so many different aspects of the resort,” he said. “It was very dynamic, and I learned so much. It didn’t take me long to realize that these resorts have so many different kinds of businesses under one roof. If you weren’t really clear about what you wanted to do professionally, it seemed like a good place to figure it out.”

When Wynn opened the Mirage, Pascal was with him, eventually rising to lead the slot department.

“Steve wanted us to focus more on the content,” he explained. “He’s known for building these incredibly fanciful resorts, but at the end of the day, people spend the time playing these games, and for the most part, they weren’t really evolving all that much.

“We created a whole suite of products that were unique to us, first at the Golden Nugget and later at the Mirage. The idea was to develop new, fun games that were unique to us and couldn’t be found anywhere else, and people would come back to us to play them. And if they happened to wander in from the joint across the street, they’d see something they had never seen before and they’d stay a while.”

Through this involvement, Pascal was exposed to the many slot manufacturers at the time and found them wanting. He met a group of technology experts from the San Francisco area and formed Silicon Gaming, a company that would revolutionize the slot industry. Whether it is the bold video graphics, the streamlined slot cabinets, really unique games or even server-based gaming, Silicon Gaming was truly ahead of its time. Today, every slot manufacturer applies and uses the innovations that were first found in Silicon Gaming products.

“It was an exciting time,” Pascal said. “It was an opportunity for me to get out on my own and learn a different set of lessons. It helped to dream big.”

Pascal said wile the company was dynamic and creative, the challenge was to get his partners to understand the consumer.

“With an entertainment-based product, you’re appealing to someone on an emotional level,” he said. “While we built a platform and a suite of games that was clearly revolutionary for our industry, we got a bit distracted initially by the technology and the capabilities of the platform we had created, and we lost sight of how to leverage those things to really enhance the gambling proposition.

“We ultimately figured that out, but it was a little too late.”

While Silicon Gaming was eventually swallowed up by slot giant IGT, Pascal says he learned a lot from that experience, and a subsequent position with IGT’s groundbreaking WagerWorks division, which is today one of the top providers of internet games in the world.

“The experience of being an entrepreneur, coming up with plans and strategies and being able to articulate that to your investors, your customers and your employees…that alone was invaluable,” he said. “I still apply those lessons today in my role at Wynn.”

Since he was appointed to lead Wynn Las Vegas more than three years ago, Pascal has been able to apply the principles he learned at Silicon Gaming and IGT, coupled with his experience at Mirage Resorts and Wynn Resorts. And he knows, in the end, it’s the quality of the experience, driven by the commitment and dedication of the employees, that makes all the difference.

“Everyone is trying to do the same thing,” he noted, “but we’ve been fortunate that we’ve been acknowledged by groups like AAA, Mobil and Michelin, and we take a lot of pride in that. At the same time, we don’t get overly obsessed with those things, because they’re just a byproduct of focusing on doing the right thing. First and foremost, it’s the guest.”

Again, it sounds like the lip service mouthed by all other casino resorts, from the most economical to the most expensive. But Pascal said Wynn does it different.

“It’s about a lot of little decisions,” he said. “But it all starts with how our employees feel and how they react the first time they’re standing in front of a guest. If they’re checking them in, serving them in a restaurant, dealing them a game in the casino…what we try to do is empower them. We want them to focus on the guest; to give them a sense of what we are and create a level of warmth that you may not find to such a great extent anywhere else. Hopefully, it gives the guest a sense that we really care; we appreciate that they’re here, and we want to make sure they have nothing less than a flawless experience while they are here.”

Pascal said his experience begins and ends with the lessons taught by the master, Steve Wynn.

“He involves you in the process, whether he is designing a restaurant or a room or a resort, or re-architecting a casino division,” he said. “He’s very engaging; he solicits your ideas and opinions. Just by observing him asking the questions as he collects the information, then applies his own experience and comes up with a solution, that we all then vet, it’s a fascinating, stimulating process. It’s a style that I then try to apply as I engage my team. I want to make sure that they feel as connected and involved in that process as I feel in the design process. He’s given me a lot of latitude to approach managing this resort in a way that fits me and my style.”

That level of entrepreneurial direction is what sets Wynn Las Vegas and Encore apart from all the other resorts on the Las Vegas Strip, according to Pascal.

“Too often, people who work in big companies or big resorts think that all they have to do is to execute their job function—deliver the good meal or execute the sequence of service in the front of the house,” he said. “If they start thinking about who we are or who the customers are, it gives them a slightly different point of view. That makes them value the customer more, which means they put more of an effort into establishing the relationship with that customer. It helps them really understand that customer or how to attract more of them. That’s what’s going to drive the business.”

—Roger Gros

Richard Brown

President and Chief Executive Officer, Planet Hollywood Worldwide Resorts

After eight years at American Casino and Entertainment Properties, where the focus was on operations and cost containment, Richard Brown is now charged with building a brand that is recognized worldwide. When billionaire owner Carl Icahn sold American Casino (consisting of the Stratosphere and the two Arizona Charlie’s in Las Vegas, along with the Aquarius in Laughlin) to Goldman Sachs early in 2008, Brown became a free agent. He was introduced to Planet Hollywood founder Robert Earl, and the rest is history. Planet Hollywood is a perfect fit for Brown. His expertise, honed by years at Harrah’s and ACEP, is marketing. So expanding a powerful brand should fall right into his wheelhouse. It all started in Vegas, he said.

“If you look at what we’ve done on the Las Vegas Strip, the brand standards that have been developed here are outstanding, especially considering the previous property here,” he said. “I’ve brought numerous prospective clients here, and they are totally amazed at the transformation. Robert and Mike Mecca and their team have really set the standard, for me, to take and grow on a worldwide basis.”

The previous history with the Planet Hollywood restaurants, which all closed except for the one at the Forum Shops in Caesars Palace, doesn’t dissuade Brown from the brand.

“As a brand, it is a broad-based brand,” he explained. “When you consider how Robert uses celebrities--everyone likes celebrities and identifies with them. Whether you’re 21 or 71, entertainment appeals to all of us. That is a great mass appeal. Even in international markets, Hollywood is extremely appealing.”

Operations is only one leg of the stool that is the plan for the expansion of Planet Hollywood.

“Some potential clients are looking to license the brand,” he said. “Many of those prospective clients are in markets where competition is tough, and they need a little bit more to compete effectively.

“Another way we’re going to expand the brand is through licensing and management. A location that doesn’t have a solid management team in place can come to us for help in both branding and management. Thirdly, we will be an acquirer of properties in this environment. We are close on a few things, either wholly buying a property or, in some cases, a joint venture partnership.”

In that last category, Brown has his eyes on properties currently considered second-tier by some of the major gaming companies.

“I am in contact with all of the major operators in the business,” he said. “Due to their debt structure, they’re probably going to have to eliminate some of their non-strategic assets. We want to be aggressive about pursuing those assets, because they may fit into our business plan very well.”

Brown has simple goals for Planet Hollywood Resorts in the next five years.

“I would like to see our brand in the major markets,” he said, “some appropriate Native American markets and internationally in major destination resorts. We want to be in places where we get noticed and where our essence plays very strongly.”

—Roger Gros

Terry Jicinsky

Senior Vice President of Marketing, Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority

Wisconsin native Terry Jicinsky thought he would attend school in Las Vegas for a few years before moving on to become a professor. More than 20 years later, LVCVA’s marketing master has transformed the way people view Las Vegas, perhaps despite his best laid plans.

As the senior vice president for the LVCVA, Jicinsky supervises the Visitors Authority’s account with R&R Partners, the group’s advertising agency of record. The creative team at R&R spends every day crafting new marketing campaigns for the LVCVA, and Jicinsky approves the final products.

Jicinsky has worked for the LVCVA for 16 years, and for him, marketing Las Vegas is simply letting the world know what the city has to offer.

“I’m marketing something that’s uniquely positioned, and it’s so varied,” he said. “There’s just so much to do in Las Vegas, and there’s something for everyone.”

The economic downturn has required more creativity on the part of the marketing team at the LVCVA. Last year, the group pushed an immediacy campaign, with commercials urging visitors to visit Vegas “right now.” There was also a huge step forward in the LVCVA’s online presence with Visitlasvegas.com, a website spotlighting resort and nightlife offerings in the city.

This year, Jicinsky and his partners at R&R are crafting a campaign based on a recent pilgrimage to Las Vegas made by half of the residents in Cranfills Gap, Texas.

“The Vegas-bound campaign is really all about proving or showing to the visitor that it’s still a lot of fun to be here; there are still a lot of things going on,” Jicinsky said.

In February, the LVCVA will be partnering with Sports Illustrated for a TBA event connected with the magazine’s annual swimsuit issue. The group will also be teaming up with Bon Appetit magazine to host “Vegas Uncork’d,” a food-and-wine festival Jicinsky hopes will bring refined tastes to Sin City.

“We’re looking for partners like that, whether it be Bon Appetit on the food side or Sports Illustrated on the sports side, that we can tie into their audience and put a Las Vegas message in front of people who like to do what we have to offer in Las Vegas.”

Each event and each campaign is part of Jicinsky’s strategy to draw visitors to Vegas not in spite of tough times, but because of them. Las Vegas is an escape, and in 2009, Jicinsky intends to showcase the value and excitement of Sin City to the world.

— Caitlin McGarry

Marilyn Winn

Regional President, Rio, Paris and Bally’s, Harrah’s Entertainment

A cursory glance at casino executives throughout gaming suggests that it is a male-dominated industry. The ratio is changing, however, and there are a growing number of women holding executive-level positions in Las Vegas and throughout the world. It is something that Marilyn Winn, regional president for Harrah’s Entertainment in charge of Rio, Paris and Bally’s in Las Vegas, attributes to nothing more than the commitment necessary to climb the ranks in the industry.

“I don’t put much into the glass ceiling,” she said. “You pretty much have to marry this business. Now we’re finding women who were willing to pay their dues just like the men have, but the men typically had a wife at home watching the kids. It is something that will ebb and flow.”

Winn got her start in the gaming industry in 1988 after responding to an ad for a human resources position at what was then the Holiday Casino, now Harrah’s Las Vegas. From that point, her career was a steady rise to the top, including executive positions in both human resources and operations. She has led the corporate human resources team for Harrah’s Entertainment, as well as a number of properties, including Harrah’s Shreveport, Harrah’s Las Vegas and Rio. She currently oversees Rio, Paris Las Vegas and Bally’s.

“The greatest challenge as well as the greatest responsibility is ensuring that the folks who report to me have what we’re looking for,” she said. “If you have the right management team, it makes three properties or 10 properties so much easier; if you have the wrong team, it makes one property a nightmare.”

Like so many other operators, Winn is dealing with the economic slowdown. While some companies are looking to cut corners or lay low and ride out the storm, that is not an approach Harrah’s is willing to accept.

Instead, Winn said she is digging into the player and guest data the company has compiled through its Total Rewards program. An aggressive direct mail campaign offering attractive room rates as well as bonuses like dining and entertainment deals is part of the strategy to bring people to Las Vegas. The next step is keeping them at Harrah’s properties.

Research from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority shows that the average visitor will go to five different casinos while they are in the city. Harrah’s has seven properties in the market, so when properly handled, the customers never have to go to a competitor’s property. It is a bigger challenge with the Rio, which is located off the Strip, but a free shuttle to Harrah’s, Caesars Palace and to the Paris and Bally’s helps.

“[Gaming is] the most discretionary of all purchases, so when customers are finding their wallets really crunched, we’re probably the last guy they are thinking about going to buy something,” Winn said. “The key is we want to bring in those customers, but we want them to come with money.”

The other component of the economic challenge is controlling costs at the three properties. There are only so many staff cuts that can be made before customer service suffers, and the protracted nature of the recession has made voluntary reductions less attractive to the company’s workforce. While attrition has afforded for some less painful decisions about staff levels, it puts more stress on the workers who remain. Winn said it is important to let people know that the company knows they are working harder and that it is appreciated.

The slate of new projects scheduled to open along the Strip also presents a challenge.

“Talent retention will be a challenge as different companies grow,” she said. “If they pick off some of our talent, that will be challenging.

“There are a lot of reasons why someone might leave a position, and we hope the relationship we have is strong enough to keep them here and to forgo those opportunities as long as there are growth opportunities within the company.”

—Greg Jones

Josh Hirshberg

Chief Financial Officer, Boyd Gaming

When Josh Hirshberg joined Boyd Gaming one year ago, he was moving into a position and a discipline that has long produced leaders in the company.

After Ellis Landau held down the job of CFO for more than a decade, Paul Chakmak, now COO, took the position. Keith Smith, Boyd president, also came from the financial sector of the business. So Hirshberg said he has plenty of help. And he’s going to need it.

“I’ve been CFO at other companies,” Hirshberg said, “but we didn’t face the kinds of issues we face today. This is an entirely different environment than anyone has ever encountered. Everything you do takes on added significance.”

Almost immediately upon joining the company, Hirshberg had to deal with the freezing of the credit markets and the effect it was having on what will become Boyd Gaming’s flagship property, Echelon, which is under construction on the site of the old Stardust on the Las Vegas Strip. Now that the project has been halted for at least a year, Hirshberg said the company is considering how to best go forward. And he’s evaluating the new paradigm of gaming companies: how they are valued and how return on investment is calculated.

“That will influence what we build and how we build it,” he said. “Under one capital structure, getting a certain return is acceptable. Under another structure, it may not be. But it’s not like you can wring extra dollars out of a project. We have to figure out how to finance it or change the strategy or focus toward a different customer segment.”

One of the problems with Echelon was the difficulty Boyd’s partners had in obtaining financing for the other elements of the project—hotels and retail space. Hirshberg said the year delay will give them all a chance to regroup.

“From the partners’ perspective, we have great relationships with them,” he said. “But like us, they want to step back and take a look at what the world is going to look like a year from now or whenever the project is re-started. These were the guys we wanted to do business with. They’re still interested in the project. We just have to figure out how it’s going to work for everybody.”

Hirshberg has spent much of the last year understanding how to cut costs and create efficiencies without impacting operations or customer service. With Boyd Gaming, he said, it’s not as difficult as it might have been at other companies.

“We identified pretty early that the business in ’08 wasn’t going to be as good as it was in ’07,” he explained. “We started to see weakness and pressures in certain areas early on. And that was combined with the historical background of this company always being focused on cost and efficiencies. So we were able to be very proactive. We knew what we needed to do because this company has been doing it all along. We’ve been able to continue to manage our costs to match the level of revenues we’ve seen. But ’09 is going to be very interesting.”

—Roger Gros

Kevin Kelley

Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Station Casinos

Casino executives who have worked their way up from entry-level positions always have interesting stories. During their ascension, they gain valuable insight into all aspects of the casino operation, and have first-hand experience of what it is like to be on the front lines to add to their experience in the executive offices. It seems to make for a well-rounded leader.

That is exactly the case with Kevin Kelley, executive vice president and COO of Station Casinos. He got his start in the gaming industry in 1973 as a pool boy at the Flamingo, where, over a five-year period, he also worked as a busboy, kitchen worker and valet attendant. He fell in love with the gaming industry immediately upon moving to Las Vegas from southern California.

“Even though through my climbing the ranks I worked every crummy job you can imagine, I did it with a smile on my face. This was a means to an end and one more step in the evolutionary process to ultimately get where I wanted to be,” he said.

That evolutionary process took him from the entry-level positions at the Flamingo to marketing positions at the Las Vegas Hilton and Mirage Resorts. He worked for Station Casinos as director of development and was promoted to president of westside operations for Station before leaving in 2003 to serve as president and COO of the Hard Rock. He left that position to oversee Macau operations for Las Vegas Sands—including the opening of the Venetian in Macau—and then returned to Station Casinos in his current position in early 2008.

With a working knowledge of all operational aspects, he was happy to return to Station Casinos. The experience was necessary, he explained, because the company requires its executives to understand all details of the business. He was also happy with the corporate culture the company embodies, saying it feels like a favorite pair of blue jeans.

There were some significant changes at Station during the time he was away. The most notable was that the company went private in 2006. It might not have made anything easier, but he said going private allows him to focus more on the long-term value of the company versus quarterly performance.

The other obvious and significant change is that the troubled national economy is having some dramatic effects on Las Vegas. One of the most difficult decisions he had to make was announced in early December when the company decided to suspend matching contributions to employees’ 401(k) plans. It ultimately came down to a decision between suspending the contributions or eliminating jobs, and it is a decision he said the company will reverse as soon as its financial situation improves and the economy stabilizes.

In the meantime, he is focusing on an aggressive marketing strategy to improve the company’s market share.

“Your guests are everything and you do what is right for them, whether it is good times or bad times,” he said. “It is a lot easier to keep your customers happy now than to try and win them back when times are good. It becomes a very expensive proposition then.”

While he joked that aspirin is the key to coping with the current economic situation, Kelley sees a number of signs of hope in Las Vegas—perhaps a silver lining to the depressed local economy. Housing prices are lower, and the cost of entry into the city is not as prohibitive as it was during the peak in 2005 or 2006.

“I think with the major projects like CityCenter and Fontainebleau and Encore coming online and creating more jobs, people are going to be able to assimilate into the Valley even faster and more affordably,” he said. “That is a good thing for Station Casinos.”

—Greg Jones

Derek Stevens

Co-owner, Golden Gate Casino

Downtown Las Vegas is enjoying something of a resurgence these days. While overall revenue for the entire Fremont Street gaming area may be down like it is in every other market in Nevada, there are some individual properties where owners are enjoying the benefits of capital reinvestment.

The Golden Gate Casino and Hotel is one of those properties, in large part because of a deal struck in 2006 and finalized in March of 2008 in which casino owner Mark Brandenburg took on Derek Stevens as a co-owner of the property.

The deal provided necessary funding to undertake a property-wide renovation project that brought the property up to modern standards, while maintaining its charm and character.

“The challenge was making sure we didn’t lose the vintage appeal,” Stevens said. “You can still tell it is the oldest hotel in Las Vegas.”

The other challenge was maintaining revenue numbers during the renovation process, something Stevens said was completed successfully. Overall, the property increased its revenue despite a number of months when a significant portion of the hotel inventory was offline.

“We were able to run the revenues up, but the majority of the hotel was down from May through November,” Stevens said. “We’ll have all the rooms open next year so we won’t have to worry about that.”

In addition to completing renovation projects, Stevens is excited about how the operators in Downtown Las Vegas are coming together through the Fremont Street Experience to market the area. The new Viva Vision shows on the canopy and the sense of everyone working together is very exciting.

“There is a lot more working together than competing,” he said. “I think the overall goal of getting people Downtown overrides the more day-to-day competitive issues that come up.”

Stevens has an additional way to driving traffic to the property and, as a result, Downtown Las Vegas. He has been able to coordinate some cross-promotional campaigns with the Golden Gate and the Las Vegas 51s, which is held by the Stevens Family Trust.

Last year, one of the most popular promotions involved giving away free shrimp cocktails—a legendary item at the Golden Gate—to ticket holders for any game in which the 51s scored 10 or more runs. This year, with the team being affiliated with the Toronto Blue Jays of the American League, instead of the Los Angeles Dodgers of the National League, the designated hitter rule will be in effect for all home games. As a result, Stevens expects to be giving away more shrimp cocktails.

Other promotions scheduled for the baseball team in 2009 include a $1 menu Monday—$1 for things like hot dogs, peanuts, popcorn and sodas—and the ever popular $1 beer nights on Thursdays. One more note for the new year: those brutal summer Sunday afternoon games are done. All Sunday games after June will now be played at night.

With the Golden Gate now firing on all cylinders and the Las Vegas 51s starting a new contract with a new team (plus the cross-promotions), Stevens is pretty confident moving into 2009, despite the economic conditions.

“Overall, the economy going into 2009 is far different from going into 2008,” Stevens said. “I think there is a higher degree of uncertainty, but as far as operations of the hotel, I feel a lot better going into ’09 than I did going into ’08 because we have a lot of our projects completed.”

—Greg Jones

Cynthia Kaiser-Murphy

President, New York-New York Hotel & Casino

During her time as vice president of human resources for MGM Mirage, Cynthia Kaiser-Murphy applied her years of experience acquired both during her education at University of Nevada-Las Vegas and at her first job with the Las Vegas Hilton.

Her top-down knowledge of gaming is an asset in her new position as president of New York-New York, a role she took on early last year. Her first year as president has been an interesting one—the resort recently finished a major renovation, which was master-planned before Kaiser-Murphy joined the New York-New York team.

“The construction has been going on all year, and that’s been very challenging for the employees and the guests because it’s a rather boutique-sized property. So when you have jackhammering going on, you can hear it everywhere.”

One of Kaiser-Murphy’s many responsibilities during the construction was to keep employee morale high.

“The most important thing that you can do is constantly reinforce the relationship that employees have with their manager and communicate with them as much as possible, and be honest about what’s going on. The construction was very, very disruptive; it was very, very difficult.”

With an emphasis on communication, the team at New York-New York has emerged from the renovation more unified than ever, prepared to present the classic property as a brand new resort.

While many resorts are giving themselves makeovers in order to de-theme, Kaiser-Murphy said the transformation is intended to modernize the New York-New York while keeping with the original spirit behind the resort.

“We have no interest in getting away from our theme,” she said. “We wanted to update it, make it a bit more contemporary, more appealing.”

Kaiser-Murphy intends to market the renovation as a new reason to visit her resort, along with iconic attractions like the roller coaster and Cirque du Soleil’s Zumanity show.

“That’ll be our management team’s pursuit for next year, is to really maximize those opportunities. Tell everybody we have a new casino, which is a big deal.”

—Caitlin McGarry

Rory Reid

Clark County Commission Chairman

Election season ended mere months ago, leaving politicians to regroup and focus their attentions on the myriad of problems facing the United States. But some are already looking ahead to 2010, an election year during which many governors and congressional members will face reelection.

Clark County Commission Chairman Rory Reid is aiming to solve the present crises in Southern Nevada while also looking to the future—a future that could include a run for governor.

Reid, the son of longtime Nevada Senator Harry Reid, makes no qualms about his intentions.

“I don’t think that there’s any great secret anymore about what I’m looking at doing. I think we just got done with an election and people are tired of campaigns at this point, so I’m not going to make any formal announcement, but I’m certainly interested in being governor… Stay tuned.”

Reid has been testing the waters to find out what people want to see in a governor, but he also remains focused on the hardships Nevadans are facing. The state has one of the highest foreclosure rates in the country, as well as a faltering gaming industry and projected budget shortfalls for the next few years. Reid and his fellow commissioners are looking at ways to address the economic issues plaguing the valley.

“We’re doing what every Nevada family is doing—we’re looking at our budget,” he said. “We’re deciding what’s necessary and what’s not quite as important, and we’re trying to get through it. I think in the short-term we have a lot to do just to continue to provide the services that people expect from their government. I think the budget’s going to our focus in the short-term.”

As a Las Vegas native, Reid is well-versed in Las Vegas politics, and has seen firsthand the changes the city has experienced. Before the economic crisis, his biggest concern as a commissioner was how to effectively deal with the county’s growth. Now there are bigger problems.

“When you grow as quickly as this community has, there’s all kinds of impacts on your transportation system, your healthcare delivery system, the quality of your air, the water—it had to do with everything,” he said. “This economy has changed and what we’re trying to do now has nothing to do with growth, it has to do with the opposite. We have an economic downturn that’s significant, unprecedented and we’re trying to deal with it. That is omnipresent at the moment.”

—Caitlin McGarry

Scott Butera

President, Tropicana Entertainment

One of the big stories of 2007 was the yanking of the New Jersey casino license for Tropicana Entertainment, the casino division of Columbia Sussex. The state Casino Control Commission found that Chairman Bill Yung disregarded several regulations and failed to maintain a “first-class resort” as stipulated in the Casino Control Act. The Atlantic City Tropicana was put up for sale (yet to be consummated one year later), and the company scrambled to survive as Indiana also forced a yet-to-be-consummated sale of the company’s Evansville property. The board brought in turnaround artist Scott Butera, who helped the Trump Organization emerge from bankruptcy in 2005. Butera immediately went to work purging the company of the offenders, and the Yung family was ousted.

Now that it appears the Atlantic City sale will be completed in early 2009—Tropicana will probably not regain control of the property—the company will concentrate on its Las Vegas flagship. Butera is confident that the Tropicana will survive and even thrive. He’s brought in gaming veteran Bobby Yee to run the property, while Butera concentrates on the overall health of the company.

Butera said that the turnaround on the Strip starts with the employees.

“Our employees are our greatest asset,” he said. “They’re the front line with our customers, and I really view employees and customers as almost one and the same. Clearly your employees need to be energized and enthusiastic and respected in order for your operations to work correctly.”

Settling a complicated contract with the Culinary Union was Butera’s first order of business.

“I think we both came in very open-minded,” he said. “They worked with us in helping us on some things we wanted to accomplish so we could enhance our operations. It was a very, very productive experience. And I can tell you it’s been very successful. The effect on the labor force has been tremendous. We’ve seen a force that went from being somewhat unmotivated and depressed to being incredibly enthusiastic and proactive, so we’re very pleased.”

Butera has plans to re-invigorate the entire property, an icon on the Las Vegas Strip. While the company at one time had big plans to convert the 34 acres into a CityCenter-like development, his plans are more modest now.

“We’re making investments in this property with a five- to seven-year horizon,” he explains. “We’re going to take a look at what happens in Las Vegas. Obviously there’s a lot of new product that’s coming online. I think much of what’s being developed is going to be spectacular, but it’s very much at the luxury segment. I think there’s an opportunity at the value segment. We’re going to be investing to create a great, value-oriented experience on the Strip for people who want something that’s affordable; that reminds them a little bit of what the ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s used to look like; that caters more to gaming but still has great rooms and food and beverage. We’re really excited about it. We think the Tropicana has a great home over the next four to five years, because we can go out and get a customer that really has been displaced by this market.”

Tropicana also owns four other Nevada properties: two in Laughlin and two in Lake Tahoe. Butera thinks the company can leverage this network with customers.

“If we have customers from Las Vegas that want to go to Laughlin or Tahoe, or vice versa, we want to start doing that, and moving our customers around all of our properties, so I think they’ll get the benefit of that. We feel really good about the Laughlin and the Tahoe markets.”

—Patrick Roberts

Max Baer, Jr

Developer, Beverly Hillbillies Casino

For more than two decades, Max Baer Jr. has been looking to get into the gaming industry. The actor who played Jethro Bodine on the Beverly Hillbillies looked at sites throughout Nevada where he would build his casino, but each time he took a step forward, it seemed he was taking two steps back.

Since sublicensing the rights to the show from CBS in 1991, he has looked at sites in Lake Tahoe, Reno, South Carson City, Las Vegas, Stateline and Sparks without any luck. Finally, in 2007 he made his most significant steps forward in Douglas County, where he was able to get the necessary zoning permits and variances to make Jethro’s Beverly Hillbillies Mansion and Casino a reality.

Again, it was not without some struggle. While the majority of the community seems to like the idea of a new destination casino, they were not impressed with some design aspects Baer was proposing. Specifically, they said the 200-foot mock oil derrick shooting 30-foot flames that Baer proposed would be an eyesore in scenic Northern Nevada.

So Baer had to go back to the drawing board a number of times to redesign what was supposed to be an integral part of the project. First, he decided to drop the shooting flames but he still couldn’t get a variance. Then he took 50 feet off the height of the tower, but the proposal was denied again. He spent a year drafting ideas before the Douglas County Planning Commission finally approved a 90-foot tower on Baer’s 71st birthday.

With that approval, Baer now has everything he needs to move ahead with the $150 million project, which will feature a five-story, 240-room hotel and a 40,000-square-foot casino in its first phase.

For Baer, the son of the one-time heavyweight boxing champion of the world, the adversity was nothing more than a minor setback. He never thought of abandoning his dream.

“There is nothing wrong in getting knocked down,” he said. “But, there’s something drastically wrong if you don’t have the balls to get back up.”

Obviously, Baer has the fortitude to keep pushing forward despite multiple obstacles along the way. Now that he can start putting together plans for construction, Baer is in the position to bring some much needed jobs, increased revenue and more tourists near Douglas County and Northern Nevada.

His orig

By Casino Connection Staff

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