Gaming Insider by Phil Hevener |
Longtime Imperial Palace GM Ed Crispell finally saw his job
swept away after some 28 years by the avalanche of fast-moving economic events
as Harrah’s continues cutting costs.
Crispell was not available for comment but sources familiar
with what happened, said the IP has been put under the supervision of Don
Marrandino, who now presumably also oversees the former Barbary Coast.
Crispell was one of the genuinely nice guys in the business
who also demonstrated exceptional survival skills, working for a number of years
for the late IP founder and developer Ralph Engelstad. It was Crispell who sold
Engelstad on the idea that made the IP a national leader and winner of awards
for its willingness to hire the disabled.
Crispell and other IP employees had little reason to suspect
they would be around this long when Harrah’s paid $370 million in August 2005
for the 17.5 acres on which the hotel sits between Harrah’s and the Flamingo.
The expectation then – and Harrah’s executives, did
nothing to discourage this thinking – was that the IP would quickly be razed
and the land put to whatever use Harrah’s had in mind as it planned a
connected family of resorts.
But the life of the IP continued to be extended as Harrah’s
also bought the Barbary and Crispell was suddenly running two casinos as it
became apparent that the big development was not going to occur as quickly as
first believed.
Side show doesn’t end at the AC Trop
The value of all things associated with the Atlantic City
Tropicana – not counting attorney fees – has declined, thanks in large
part to the damage inflicted by the raging economic crisis on borrowing power.
The Baltimore-based Cordish Company has offered $700 million
in cash and notes. Its all-cash offer is $575 million. That’s a big come-down
from estimates earlier this year of a billion-dollar selling price.
Business is down, the numbers are down. The ripple effect is
everywhere. I wonder how far this will go.
Which brings us to the events of mid-June when New Jersey
Attorney General Anne Milgram charged three former Tropicana marketing
executives with second degree counts of theft. The three included John Conklin
who was working as v-p of relationship marketing at the Borgata at the time of
the announcement from Milgram’s office.
Remember the details?
Conklin and two others, including Justin Litterelle, most
recently a marketing executive at the Bellagio, had allegedly left the Tropicana
with lists containing the names of more than 20,000 rated customers and their
gambling histories. Their thinking three years ago was that the lists would help
them get other jobs elsewhere as they prepared to bail out at the Tropicana as
the sale to Yung’s company was developing.
Milgram said with what seemed to be a straight face back in
June that the list taken by the three was valued at more than $100 million. Such
proprietary information, Milgram tsk-tsked, represents “one of the most
valuable assets” of any company.
But look at what’s happened in three years. That
hundred-million-dollar list … I wonder what its real value is in today’s
economic climate: “A lot less than it was,” laughed a casino executive
who could afford a light-hearted attitude based on the fact he has nothing to do
with the case.
Maybe the case against the three will be bargained down to a
misdemeanor as all the Tropicana-related numbers continue to shrink.
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The crisis of confidence that has stalled consumer spending
and put a big chill on the willingness of financial institutions to loan money
are not the only issues getting lots of attention.
November ballot issues may have a lot to do with the likely
shape of deals still to come or not come.
Voters in Missouri will determine whether the state’s $500
loss limit is erased. It represents an arbitrary ceiling that has limited both
capital spending and the ability of gamblers to risk as much as many of them
would like.
Penn National has an eye on slot machine initiatives in both
Maryland and Ohio. Slots in these states could impact a couple of Penn’s most
significant markets if voters give their approval. Penn also hopes voters in
Jefferson County, W. Va., will approve putting table games at Penn’s Charles
Town racino.
The eventual opening of stand-alone slot parlors in
Pennsylvania will impact Atlantic City, as will the possibility of a total
smoking ban in Atlantic City. Smoking on casino floors is already limited and
the September figures that saw Atlantic City casino revenues dip more than 15
percent. But the City Council there is a week or two away from the second
reading of an ordinance that would delay the implementation of a total smoking
ban in casinos
There is more at stake than an ability to get financing.