Herbst Gaming: new name, familiar faces

No, the company hasn’t been dissolved. But with the various Herbst boys having been run off — plus the negative brand equity created by their eponymous casino firm’s financial collapse — new ownership decided it’s time for a new moniker. Exit Herbst Gaming, enter Affinity Gaming. (This portends a dim future for the mustachioed Herbst gunslinger, who bears a suspicious resemblance to former Las Vegas Review-Journal Editor Thomas Mitchell.) The name change is currently on hold while the paperwork goes through Carson City. Executive officers currently having an affinity for Herbst include a few names familiar around these parts.

Chief among them is Michael D. Rumbolz, who’s got a long history in Nevada. From 1987-89 he was Nevada Gaming Control Board chairman, at the end of the Richard Bryan administration (perhaps the last truly enlightened period of governance in Silver State history). As such, he had the unpleasant task of investigating the Nazi Party nostalgia of Imperial Palace owner Ralph Engelstad, whose fondness for Adolf Hitler sickens the stomach to this day.

After leaving office, Rumbolz’s resumé reads like a who’s (no longer) who of gaming. He did time with Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts, one of many executives to bear that scar, and later presided over then-Casino Windsor (now Caesars Windsor). After his three-year stint with Circus Circus Enterprises, he spent five years as CEO of Anchor Gaming, which was eventually gobbled up by IGT. Weighing anchor, he moved on to Casino Data Systems, which was soon devoured by Aristocrat Leisure in the consolidation craze. For the last 10 years, Rumbolz has kept his hand in the industry as a consultant.

Another on the official roster is Don Kornstein, late of the Cash Systems board and most recently chief restructuring officer for Bally Total Fitness. Since Herbst is emerging from bankruptcy, one can see where Kornstein’s skill set would come in handy. Also leaping from the frying pan to the fire is San Francisco-based money manager Thomas Benninger, seen at left. (Yes, he appears to be the son of MGM Grand mover and shaker Fred Benninger.) He’s currently listed as chairman of Carl Icahn‘s board of directors at Tropicana Entertainment, which makes you wonder if an acquisition is in the works. Companies run by Rumbolz have a habit of getting snapped up by larger fry and Icahn has an appetite for distressed assets … and they rarely come more distressed than this.

This “new broom” executive team is also cleaning house at the individual-property level. The long-suffering trio of Primm Valley casinos will get a new GM in the form of Loren Gill (below), who’s had a long history with Boyd Gaming, most recently at its Par-A-Dice riverboat in Illinois. He’s also an alumnus of Harrah’s Entertainment, “farm team” for so many rival casino companies.

While at Boyd, Gill’s path probably crossed that of former Suncoast assistant GM David Nolan, who earned his stripes working in downtown Vegas for one of the true greats, Jackie Gaughan. Former Excalibur and Luxor sales director Valerie Moon completes the threesome. Her resume includes awards from the Las Vegas Hospitality Association and the Greater Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, the latter having named her “Tourism Executive of the Year.” Boyd … Harrah’s … MGM Resorts International … the reconstituted Herbst is able to pick its talent off the top shelves in the industry.

Easton ousted. Who needs Sheena Easton when you have Matt Goss? More to the point, a deal to bring the “For Your Eyes Only” singer to The Gossy Scow Cleopatra’s Barge at Caesars Palace fell through, apparently because Caesars Entertainment found the terms (only 5% of the gate) a bit anemic. Instead of (allegedly) sacking Easton — who extracted a $35K pound of flesh — Caesars should have found whoever negotiated that lopsided revenue split and given him the chop.