What used to be the Horizon riverboat in Vicksburg is back in business as Grand Station (no relation to Station Casinos, in case you were wondering). While nearby riverboats owned by Neil Bluhm and Ameristar Casinos rode out the high waters, despite lower business, Grand Station used the time to complete what was surely a much-needed revamp. A former Columbia Sussex property — and thus probably way behind the times — Grand Station represents one of Scott Butera‘s bigger blunders when he was Tropicana Entertainment CEO. He cost creditors over $30 million by blocking a 2008 sale, leaving a recession-struck TropEnt to later unload it for chump change. S&G wishes Grand Station well in its new incarnation, as it looks like good times are indeed ahead.
Another former ColSux property seeing better days is Evansville‘s Casino Aztar. State-appointed trustee Robert Dingman (a former Harrah’s Entertainment executive) turned the riverboat’s performance around and now its captaincy is in the hands of General Manager Ward Shaw. Part of the reason Casino Aztar fell from favor with its host city was the lack of reinvestment in the vessel — not even in the carpet, which was literally held together with duct tape, while indoor temperatures routinely hovered at a prickly 82 degrees.
That’s going to change. Shaw’s $7 million plan is to install a heated walkway (pictured) and a new HVAC system that will cycle the air four times as often. Amazingly, despite all these problems, Casino Aztar is Tropicana Entertainment’s best-performing asset according to Shaw. The latter also articulates the moral of the ColSux interregnum — and what ought to be the motto of the entire casino industry — “You cannot save money by cutting the customer experience.”
Elsewhere in the TropEnt empire, the company still has to improve the fortunes of what used to be its primary asset, the Tropicana Atlantic City. That’s the mandate of new CEO Anthony Rodio, a high-ranking Penn National Gaming exec (inexplicably passed over for the top job at TropEnt) brought aboard to be the Trop’s savior. His master plan is still evolving but he’s starting by stealing an idea or two from Dennis Gomes over at Resorts Atlantic City. (Hint: sexy dealers.) Perhaps one of his Trop priorities ought to be assessing the strength of his dealer force. The Trop just got clocked for $5 million, close on the heels of losing $6 million to another high roller.
To his credit, Rodio welcomes the risk and volatility that come with high-stakes play. We’ve seen casino owners and execs who really sweat it. Lucky for him, Rodio is backed by an owner (Carl Icahn) who understands the roller-coaster nature of the gaming business. He’s also trying — hopefully not too late — to bring the integrated megaresort concept to the Trop. A big component of that is creating greater synergy between the Trop’s popular shopping mall, The Quarter (a $285 million investment that cash-strapped ColSux CEO William J. Yung III tried to offload for $70 million) and the casino floor itself, instead of having them continue as dueling attractions. Pushing the Trop back to the front of the pack in Atlantic City is a daunting task but there are property executives on the Boardwalk who face challenges far bigger.
