Much has been said about MGM Mirage’s backpack toting CEO. Jim Murren brought CityCenter to life and possibly saved the MGM Mirage Casino empire. He may seem a little less formal than your typical casino executive, but he has nothing on “Rockin’ Don.” Harrah’s Entertainment has a guy out in Atlantic City, that breaks the mold of casino heads. Don Marrandino is the new eastern regional president of Harrah’s Entertainment and that puts him in charge of all four of Harrah’s casino properties in Atlantic City. Every good casino boss needs to be aware of how lure customers in and get them to spend, but every once in a while one must wonder how one’s voice sounds on the new Donny Osmond single.

Marrandino has the resume you would expect from a casino president. He has traveled from Atlantic City to Las Vegas to Reno and back to Las Vegas. He has worked for brands like Bally’s Station, Hard Rock, and Wynn. Eventually he was running five Strip casinos from Caesars Palace. That’s pretty good.

Here’s the impressive part. He’s partied with former Van Halen front man, Sammy Hagar, opened a bar with country singer, Toby Keith, calls Night Ranger singer, Jack Blades, his “little big brother,” and help revive the careers of Donny and Marie Osmond when he booked them to an extended run at the Flamingo Casino. Donny Osmond described Marrandino as “Mr. Too Cool for the Room.”
This sounds like fun, by Rockin’ Don has a serious job. He has to find a way to revive Harrah’s Entertainment’s Resorts and Casino in Atlantic City. He believes he knows how, put the “entertainment” back in Harrah’s Entertainment. “Entertainment can help lead the way out of this,” he said. He’s already booked rapper Snoop Dogg into the House of Blues, and is trying a cooking show with chef Emeril Lagasse.

He also is not shy about stating how he thinks Atlantic City can revive its image. He considers the boardwalk to be a top asset and it is not what it should be. “People walking on the Boardwalk need to feel safe and see it clean.” He is also for buying up the houses that are run down in the tourist area. In any case, Rockin’ Don is going to make his mark in Atlantic City and Harrah’s Entertainment….and a Donny Osmond song.

Fortunately, lawmakers in Harrisburg did seem to come to an agreement of sorts. Assuming that is passes a vote in the legislature and is signed by Pennsylvania Governor, Ed Rendell, 1,000 state employees jobs may be saved. The table games bill is not even close to saving the drained economy of Pennsylvania, but it is step forward in generating much needed revenue. There are more interested parties then are casino licenses to hand out. The debate stems between whether new licenses should be created for the interested parties or if competition would be the best way to settle the matter. It would seem on the surface that more casinos would mean more revenue, but the majority party and many of the existing casinos claim that an over saturation of gambling would drive down the value of the properties.

A provision on the bill was reached and both sides came out saving face depending on how you look at it. The provision states that for the time being the remaining casino licenses would have to be pursued by the interested parties. However, another casino license would be created in 2017. This seems to have both sides of the aisle in Pennsylvania quieted for now.

The resolution of the table games casino bill for now has kept what could have been a nasty lawsuit against the state by existing casino groups who would have felt cheated by the creation of a new license. Of course both sides are claiming that progress was made due to agreements and concessions made on their point. House Gaming Oversight Committee Chairman Dante Santoni went as far as to say, I think the attempt on our side was to get the process moving,” but he agreed “We have to get this bill passed by the time we get back into session so employees don’t get laid off.” (I’ll let you do the homework if you want to know who he represents.)

In any case it seemed the system worked. Lawmakers from two side of an idea finally came together and found a compromise that would help a needy state budget, and save jobs in the process. Credit must also be given to their governor who had to make the unpopular threat of laying of hard working citizens. Oh yeah, and we can all go to a casino in Pennsylvania and play black jack!

There has been a heated congressional battle going on in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Even though it has not been highly publicized or made CNN or the evening news, it has all the makings of good old bickering and politicking. At the heart of the matter is a gambling license, a state revenue fall out, and the jobs of a thousand state employees. On the surface it looks as simple as ‘pass this bill or people loose jobs.’ However, in reality, state politicians are looking out for their districts even though it may be at the expense of their state.

Last October, Pennsylvania lawmakers passed a bill that would expand slot machine casinos to host table games such as, poker, blackjack, and others. Casinos classified as “resort” casinos would gain the right to house an extra 100 slot machines. All of this was done in the hopes that these expansions would help generate much needed revenue for the cash strapped state to the tune of $250 million. Unfortunately the bill became bogged down in debate. Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, finally had to lay down an ultimatum that if the bill was not passed by January 8 he would be forced to lay off 1,000 state employees. He was serious and stated, “I wouldn’t be asking our (cabinet) secretaries to go through the exercise of preparing for layoffs if I had confidence that we’re going to get this done.”

The debate began when the last available “resort” casino license came up for grabs, and, quite predictably, more than one party wanted it. That’s when the party lines were drawn. From the left, Democratic leaders wanted to create a third license. The Republican and majority party thought the remaining license should be contested over and create competition true to the capitalist idea. Both sides thought their idea was fair. Both sides thought the other was using this bill to bolster local support. Governor Rendell is tired of waiting and doesn’t believe, “…we are ever going to have a table games bill,” if he does not step in and put his foot down.

Almost the entire notion of gambling at Miami International Airport was grounded, however, when the Florida rejected the application for a parimutuel license. The official word from the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation spokesperson, Jenn Meale, stated, “All requirements must be met in order to be issued a permit, and in this case, three requirements were not met.” Without the parimutuel license the airport will not be able to apply for a slot license. Airport officials were hoping to bring in as much as $17 million a year from passengers waiting at the airport.

For starters, state officials could not qualify Miami International Airport as a “person.” It is a technicality and a shaky one at that, but gambling is not an activity governments in the United States take lightly. Lightly or not Marc Dunbar, a gaming lobbyist who was hired by the county, found that idea to be silly. He sited a memo from the Florida Attorney General’s office that found governments would “likely” qualify for licenses like the one MIA was applying for.

Qualifying as a person was not the only obstacle MIA could not clear. State officials wanted the gambling operation to be set up and active within one year. This was a deadline the airport could not commit to. The favorite reason was, even though officials claimed they could host racing activity in remote locations, they could not prove they could host the required racing onsite if they need became apparent. (Imagine: “This is your captain speaking, if you look out the right side of the aircraft you’ll see Peanut Butter has a 2 length lead over Barbershop Pony entering the stretch.”)

Dunbar thinks the state’s ruling has a hidden agenda or outside influences. “Something other than parimutuel law and past agency practices appear to have motivated this decision,” he said. He strongly felt there was an inconsistency and a “level of arbitrariness” is the ruling over gambling at MIA. Still most in Miami-Dade County felt the idea was a long shot and easily gave in. So, for now, Miamians who want to buy a plane ticket so they can gamble will have to buy a ticket and make it all the way to Nevada.

Bonuses and special offers can shape a companies business.  Think about it.  When was the last time you walked into your local grocery store and didn’t see a sale item or a buy one get one free offer?   Hotel and resorts offer special room rates if you come at a certain time of year or stay for a certain time.   Car dealers are always having some kind of special promotion.  Even movie theatre offer benefits to frequent viewers like free popcorn or admission tickets.  Casinos, as most know, are the exact same way.  It is what separates one brand from another.  There are prize give-a-ways, progressive jackpot games, tournaments, shows, and accommodations should the casino include a resort.  Online casinos do the same with seasonal promotions, and game releases.

Sponsorship is common occurrence in almost any enterprise today. Sporting events, teams, television shows, galas and parties, and theatrical events are all made possible by sponsorships from major corporations. Usually these deals are between parities who are somewhat related, (although this is not always the case). For example, a car racing team usually has a deal with a motor oil or a tire company. This is mutually beneficial deal. The sponsored receives supplies and money needed and the sponsor gets their name and endorsements in return. The online casino industry has been getting into the act as of late. In Europe several of the major soccer leagues, teams, and tournaments are sponsored by online casino companies. Online casinos are also sponsoring individual players.

The online casino, UB.com (formally UltimateBet.com), has penned the latest sponsorship deal. They have formed a partnership with professional poker player and gambler, Eric “Basebaldy” Baldwin. Baldwin has exploded onto the poker scene of the last year, and has earned over $1.5 million. Baldwin, who hails from Illinois, has played in 17 final tables winning four including the highly publicized World Series of Poker. He has also added a bright new feather to his cap, Card Player Magazine’s Player of the Year for 2009.

It is not hard to see why the online casino wanted to have his name attached to their product. “Eric Baldwin isn’t just a new UB pro, he is UB,” said consultant for UB.com, Annie Duke. The team at UB.com are particularly impressed with Baldwin’s love for the game. They have noticed that he plays to win and has gained respect amongst his peers at the tables. Duke continued, “We really couldn’t be more ecstatic to have the Player of the Year on our team!”

Eric Baldwin will be featured on the online casino site under the screen name ‘eric_baldwin’. He has stated that he is eager to be a part of the direction UB.com is taken. Players on the site can use the UltimateBuddy feature to learn where Baldwin is competing.