I’ll be staying at the Downtown Grand this weekend and it looks like I won’t be the only novitiate. Ownership has installed a new management team, too, casting a wide net. CFO Marie Ramsey comes over from the 
Tropicana Las Vegas, and is an alumnus of Station Casinos and MGM Resorts International. Casino financial analyst Jeffrey Rabinowitz held the same position at wildly successful Maryland Live! Also new to his role at the Grand is veteran director of table games Ken Mumby, latterly veep of casino operations at Planet Hollywood. Lastly, the Grand has looked to someone with locals expertise to be the new director of marketing and picked Anthony Bender, late of the Riviera and American Casino & Entertainment‘s properties.
Given not only the size and timing of the shakeup but the positions affected one can only conclude that the Downtown Grand is not doing at all well and drastic measures were in order. There was always a high level of interest in the property (even when it was closed) when it was the Lady Luck. Losing that brand equity may have done more harm than one could have imagined.
* No prizes for guessing who is the richest man in Nevada (though well behind Bill Gates for national preeminence). Also on the map is North 
Dakota motel baron Gary Tharaldson, who made some local history by purchasing the Westward Ho, demolishing it and feinting at building a casino resort on it. Then-Harrah’s Entertainment rose to the bait, paid Tharaldson a king’s ransom for the acreage, then traded it to Boyd Gaming for the Barbary Coast. It was the flip of the decade and Tharaldson took Gary Loveman to the cleaners.
* The New York State Gaming Commission has released the proposals for the Southern Tier-Finger Lakes casino concession. The expansion of Tioga Downs (already in progress) is the most impressive-looking of the bunch. But … even compared to the better Las Vegas locals casinos these candidates look pretty humdrum and penny-ante.
* With all due respect to Dover Downs CEO Edward J. Sutor, I have to take issue with some of his recent comments. The state of Delaware is now going to undertake the responsibility of paying vendor fees for slot machines.
“It’s the furthest thing from a bailout. That has negative connotations that go back to when the recession started, when the government bailed out GM or bailed out Wall Street,” huffed Sutor. “When the public hears that word ‘bailout,’ they think it’s money coming out of their pockets.”
Well, it is coming out of their pockets (indirectly) and if it weren’t for Delaware taxpayers, Sutor would have to eat those vendor fees himself. He should count his blessings.
