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ATLANTIC CITY, N.J., — Making it abundantly clear that William J. Yung does not and will not have any influence or control over the company, Tropicana Entertainment, LLC today petitioned the New Jersey Casino Control Commission (CCC) to regain operating authority over its casino and resort in Atlantic City. According to company CEO Scott C. Butera, Tropicana wants to run the casino because it believes that there is a better chance of reversing the property’s 48 percent decline in gross operating profits if it is integrated with a larger organization with the financial assets and human resources to invest in its future. The property has been under the control of a CCC-appointed conservator since last December. “We have assembled a strong, highly competent new management team that is experienced in the Atlantic City market,” said Butera, who himself holds a New Jersey casino key employee license. “We want to immediately deploy our managerial and financial resources to serve the gaming public and provide tax and employment benefits to the community. “The need for this action has been made more urgent by the decision of the New Jersey Supreme Court to hear Tropicana’s appeal to regain its status,” Butera said. “The conservator’s sale process for the property, which we continue to support as a way to determine the credibility of current indications of interest, could be delayed for several months, far too long for the casino to be without the benefit of well-financed, professional casino management.” The petition asks the CCC to appoint a company co-conservator of the property and give him the authority to bring the casino under Tropicana Entertainment’s corporate umbrella where it will have protections afforded under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code. Tropicana said it will then install a new management group at the property and make investments to improve the casino’s business so that it can be either sold at a fair price or realize its longer term value as a going concern within Tropicana’s current corporate structure. If the CCC grants the petition, Tropicana will move to file the appropriate applications for a gaming license and ask the Commission to convene hearings — “as soon as practicable” — to establish that the newly constituted Tropicana is qualified to hold a casino license. The petition asserts that Tropicana qualifies for a New Jersey license by virtue of the fact that the company has been “utterly and completely re-formed.” Mr. Yung is no longer involved and neither he nor the senior corporate team he had in place have any influence or control over the affairs of the company. The company anticipates that Mr. Yung’s interests will be “cancelled and extinguished” upon consummation of the Chapter 11 reorganization plan. A CCC-appointed co-conservator can provide oversight and supervision to ensure that any CCC regulatory concerns with respect to Mr. Yung’s interests are addressed. “Tropicana is a brand new company,” said independent board member and former CCC Chairman Bradford Smith. “We have a new, independent board. We have a new team of experienced professional gaming executives managing our operations. Most important, we live by a set of business and operating philosophies that are in keeping with the best practices of a modern day gaming enterprise.” As evidence of the company’s transformation, the petition notes a series of positive accomplishments on the part of the new management team. Among them are the separation from Columbia-Sussex Corporation, the establishment of headquarters in Las Vegas, arranging debtor in possession financing, and obtaining the approval of the Nevada Gaming Commission to operate the company’s five casinos in Nevada. It also cites Butera’s direct involvement in achieving a long-delayed labor agreement with the culinary union at the Tropicana Las Vegas. “The issue here obviously involves maximizing value for our constituents,” Butera said. “But New Jersey and Atlantic City have a lot at stake, too. Selling the casino at today’s depressed prices could have the unintended consequence of lowering assessed values and drastically cutting city tax revenue. Faced with such a shortfall, lawmakers may be forced to increase individual property taxes to make ends meet. “Likewise, assuming the sale is delayed until the Supreme Court rules, the business cannot be allowed to falter,” he said. “That, too, has consequences in terms of employment and overall returns to the City. “These are outcomes that we should all work to avert,” Butera concluded. About Tropicana Entertainment, LLC Tropicana Entertainment, LLC, an indirect subsidiary of Tropicana Casinos and Resorts, is one of the largest privately held gaming entertainment providers in the United States. The company operates 540,000 square feet of casino space with 15,000 slot machine positions. With more than 11,000 employees and 8,300 hotel rooms at its properties, it produces in excess of $1.2 billion annual revenue. More information is available at www.tropicanacasinos.com. None of the information contained on the company’s website shall be deemed incorporated by reference or otherwise included herein. SOURCE: Tropicana Entertainment, LLC  

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Officials with the Poarch Band of Creek Indians plan to look in Brewton and other surrounding areas for employees to staff a multi-million dollar casino and hotel near Atmore.

Florida - Construction of the project is quickly taking shape, changing the once rural setting Atmore was established upon to that of a tourist destination off Exit 57 on Interstate 65.

At 17 stories, Wind Creek Casino & Hotel, whose cost will top $230 million when construction is completed, is just over 90 days away from beginning operations of its 50,000-square-foot gaming floor.

Tim Martin, president and CEO of Creek Indian Enterprises, said he is not too concerned about hitting the January 2009 target date, in fact, construction has gone smoothly and construction costs are under the estimated $250 million originally set. He is, however, uneasy about hiring the required amount of employees to run the highly complex facility.

“One of my biggest fears right now is, do we have an adequate labor force to be able to fill all of the positions that are coming?” he said.

The casino and hotel calls for 172 positions, creating 800 new jobs once the facility is fully operational, according to Martin.

“Right now we have been paying a lot of attention to the upper-level recruitment of people like the director of hotel operations, facilities engineer, those types of positions,” Martin said.

Atmore Mayor Howard Shell said the opportunities for employment offered by the casino and hotel to residents of Atmore and neighboring towns is “a very good thing at a time when the economy is having its struggles.”

Shell added that the new jobs should help boost Atmore’s local economy.

“I believe anytime you provide an opportunity for people to have employment and provide jobs for people that are looking for them is a very good thing,” Shell said. “I think having that many jobs will bring people into the area, which will initiate property sales, homes sales and a lot of other benefits that normally come with jobs,” he said.

The casino will offer jobs ranging from supervisors to game attendants and the hotel will offer various job opportunities including front office, housekeeping, valet, bellhops and room services.

Besides the casino and hotel, there will be numerous other job opportunities inside the facility, which will include a steakhouse, café, buffet, coffee shop, entertainment stage and several lounges.

Those entities will require numerous chefs, short-order cooks, butchers, food preparers, bartenders, host and hostesses, waiters and waitresses and cashiers.

In addition, the four-diamond facility, which will be operational 24 hours a day and will offer three shifts, will require around-the-clock security, maintenance and IT support to ensure the backbone of each operation continues without any down time.

To fill each position, Martin knows he will have to recruit prospects from other cities and has a game plan in store.

“We’re working everyday to advertise that we are going to be holding job fairs,” Martin said. “We know that we have to go out to the local areas, Monroeville, Brewton, Jay, wherever, to fill the jobs.”

In addition, the project site, which encompasses 35-acres, has created nearly 350 construction jobs, according to Creek Indian Enterprises Construction Project Controls Manager James R. Angus, P.E.

Last year, Escambia County worked out an agreement with Poarch for funds Poarch will pay to the county for costs incurrred for law enforcement and other services.

Poarch will pay the county $300,000 over three years, but the county and Poarch officials will review the agreement a year after the hotel and casino go into operation.

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ATLANTIC CITY - Kevin DeSanctis stood in the middle of a vast, hectic construction site and began talking about things as though they already existed.”We’re actually standing in the middle of the poker room,” he said, gesturing to an empty space on the lower floors of a hotel tower that eventually will rise to a breathtaking 700 feet. “Over there is the theater. And that’s the casino.”

The 5,000-seat theater will be a venue for big-name performers and their adoring fans, but right now it’s a steel skeleton occupied only by construction workers in hard hats. The casino is a long way from getting its slot machines and blackjack tables. Currently, it is a plot of sandy land.

It takes a lot of imagination to believe DeSanctis and his company, Revel Entertainment Group, will be able to complete their project in what has become the country’s worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. Adding to the challenges of such an immense undertaking was the loss of three key Revel executives in a summer plane crash.

But rising to new heights every day is Revel’s $2 billion megaresort - a mini-city anchored by a casino, twin hotel towers that will be the tallest buildings in town and a mall-like 500,000 square feet of upscale retail shops, restaurants and entertainment attractions. Also planned is Atlantic City’s first Las Vegas-style wedding chapel.

 The 20-acre site, overlooking the Boardwalk between New Jersey and Metropolitan avenues, is crawling with activity. Hovering overhead are 11 massive construction cranes that lift everything from steel beams to large slabs of concrete. Cement trucks, tractor-trailers and earth-moving equipment add to the congestion. Complementing the machinery is an army of about 800 to 1,000 construction workers. The project ensures employment for members of southern New Jersey’s labor unions. Later on, the work force will grow closer to 5,000.

“This is great for the city. It’s a huge job. All of the local unions have been fantastic,” said Patrick Delaney, senior project manager for Tishman Construction, the company building the casino for Revel.

Besides its employment benefits, Revel’s project offers the most hope for a down-on-its-luck casino town. This will be Atlantic City’s only new casino for at least the next few years. It is supposed to be the type of must-see attraction that will draw throngs of customers eager to spend money in the casino, the restaurants and the retail shops.

Hurt by the sluggish economy and competition from Pennsylvania’s slot parlors, the Atlantic City market has suffered a 6.3 percent decline in gaming revenue this year. A 15.1 percent revenue decline in September was the biggest monthly drop ever in the city’s 30-year history of casino gambling.

A year ago, the Revel project was supposed to be one of three or four gigantic new casino hotels that would redefine the city’s skyline. Revel got started on Nov. 20, 2007, and remains the only new casino to break ground. The others have been stopped cold by a global credit crunch that has dried up financing for construction.

Revel also is vulnerable to the credit crisis. The company still must venture into the shaky lending markets for funding to complete its project. In the meantime, construction is being financed by Revel’s partner, Morgan Stanley, the venerable Wall Street investment bank that owns the casino site.

“We’re not immune to the credit issue,” DeSanctis said. “We’re not out of the woods. We’re just like everybody else.”

Morgan Stanley bought the land in 2006 for $70 million and has poured about $300 million into construction so far. But even a financial colossus such as Morgan Stanley doesn’t want to pick up the project’s estimated $2 billion cost, so a search is under way for investment partners.

“We are in discussions with various partners to provide debt or equity backing for the casino,” Morgan Stanley spokeswoman Jennifer Sala said.

Although the project doesn’t appear to be in jeopardy, DeSanctis said Revel will have to decide soon whether to build both hotel towers or just one. Financing shortages could force it to hold off completing the second tower. Revel has been saying all along that the casino may open with only one 1,900-room tower, with its twin to follow when there is enough market demand.

“I’d love to get it built at the same time as the first tower,” said DeSanctis, Revel’s chairman and chief executive officer. “But we haven’t made that decision yet. We will hold off as long as we can. Part of this is about keeping things moving.”

Despite questions about financing, the project is progressing at rapid speed. Completion originally was expected in 2011, then was revised to Sept. 1, 2010. Now it has been pushed up again, to July 2010, DeSanctis said.

Perhaps most remarkable was Revel’s ability to recover from the deaths of three executives who perished in a July 31 plane crash while en route to a business meeting to discuss the casino with a Minnesota-based glass manufacturer. The tragedy cost Revel, a small company, 40 percent of its development team.

“They were talented, and they were fun to work with. They were good people,” DeSanctis said of the late Revel executives Tony Craig, Chris Daul and Lawrence “Chip” Merrigan.

Also killed in the crash were Karen Sandland, a project manager for Tishman Construction, and Marc Rosenberg and Alan Barnett, executives with APG International, a New Jersey glass supplier for Revel.

“That was a really tough time,” DeSanctis recalled. “It’s the human loss that counts the most. The project is just the project. These are just buildings. But as difficult as it may be, now we have to focus on our work and get them done.”

pressofatlanticcity.com

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CATOOSA, Okla. (AP) - The Cherokee Nation is looking for employees at its casinos - but only Indians need apply.

The tribe will host a job fair next month at the Cherokee Casino Resort looking to fill about 1,000 casino jobs.

A tribal enrollment card or certified degree of Indian blood card will be needed to apply.

The race-specific job fair does not violate the federal Civil Rights Act because tribes are exempt from the hiring provisions of the law.

Any jobs that are not filled will be opened to non-Indian applicants.

Information from: The Oklahoman,

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