In something of a shocker, Scott Butera, CEO of Tropicana Entertainment is leaving the firm to join a rival — but undisclosed — casino company. It’s an amicable parting, judging by the fact that Butera is staying to smooth over the transition. Maybe the realization that Carl Icahn wasn’t going to open Fontainebleau (now Uncle Carl’s Carpet Barn) anytime soon and possibly dimmed the job’s luster for Butera. More to the point, Butera’s not an operator (as he demonstrated at the Tropicana Las Vegas), he’s a reorganizer (as he proved at Trump Entertainment Resorts).
So let the guessing game begin. In order to fit Butera’s portfolio of expertise, it has to be a casino company that’s in serious financial straits. We can rule out Station Casinos because it’s already gone through Chapter 11 and Deutsche Bank has its own man, Marc Falcone, as CFO. Likewise, Riviera Holdings just installed an entirely new management team. Scratch that possibility. Shufflemaster just named an interim CEO but Wall Street is starting to voice impatience with the interminable search to replace the late Timothy Parrott. Ttop-management shuffles just ended at Herbst Gaming and Butera’s old Trump stomping grounds.
Over in Macao you’ll find a high-ranking vacancy at Galaxy Entertainment but it’s at COO. Close, no cigar. Morgans Hotel Group has totally screwed the pooch at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, so it might be time for yet another management shakeup there. CityCenter needs to restructure $1.8 billion in debt. Would it be prudent for Bobby Baldwin to update his resume? By the way, if MGM Resorts International CEO Jim Murren stays on his ‘recovery is just around the corner’ meme long enough, he’ll eventually be right.
MGM business partner Foxwoods Resort Casino is in a world of hurt and what’s left of the Colony Capital casino portfolio, another prospective patient in Butera’s ICU, is hanging by a thread. An even more logical candidate is Don Barden‘s Majestic Star Casino company, which went bust a year ago. In Barden’s home town of Detroit, laggard Greektown Casino has gone through three management teams in 11 months and is emerging from bankruptcy. So, as you see, there’s no shortage of ailing casinos in need of Dr. Butera’s Rx.
Who am I missing here? Help me out, folks. The winning conjecture gets you a free copy of Eating Las Vegas (Al Mancini‘s goatee not included).
David, I’m anxious to see if Edna selects a piano/organ player.
Thanks for the video, that is funny. How about Sam Nazarian, the owner of the Sahara? I don’t think they are doing to well.
I see that he is on his way to Foxwoods. As you mentioned, Scott is not an operator but a reorganizer. Foxwoods seems to need that now.
It looks like Nazarian is determined to run the Sahara into the ground. In Business’ Las Vegas recent interview with Sahara operator Larry D. Woolf didn’t betray any realization that the place is going down the tubes.
Guru, Foxwoods makes an incredible amount of sense. It doesn’t compete with any Icahn-owned casinos and if it doesn’t find a way to make good on its debts to Wall Street, it could be a very, very long time before the Street makes significant loans to tribal casinos again, leaving the latter at the mercy of predatory lenders.