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by Robert Heller (Author)
Description:
This true narrative is like a Cinderella story in reverse, as record casino earnings disturbingly morphed into intense hubris feeding the self-delusions of company Directors.
People may deny they patronize casinos. Like politics, it's personal. Retirement accounts are similar, since casino stocks dominate many IRA securities these days. This book takes place in casinos, but the focus is about regulation, or the lack of it, in most states.
Before William Fisk Harrah defined the appropriate amount of transparency for a publicly-owned casino company, no casino was yet on a national stock exchange. Mob influence was still prevalent. A generation later, a new risk arose, as none of the states with casinos outside of Nevada understood the importance of having appropriate regulations - the real subject of this book.
This account begins in the early dot com era. Cajun gamblers overran security officers as soon as the entry barriers to this floating barge came down. Control over the massive crowds was impossible to achieve until one full day later. Expectations for a second casino, ten months later, were high given the earlier success. Instead, the structure for this new casino barge was dull and lifeless. The company President and his General Manager didn't understand the deficiencies. Their inability to understand the implications provided an important "tell" when applied to future operations.
A search for new developments to recover from excessive waste became more and more schizophrenic with each successive failure, potentially hiding under every unturned stone on every path traveled. Impatient, they entered into a partnership in Greece with only forty-nine percent control. They doubled-down on that mistake by ignoring strict social taboos in that culture before even dealing the first card, creating powerful political enemies in the process. Alleged losses in excess of seventy million dollars was not the only consequence. Stock share values plummeted - shattering glass slipper gains of the first year. Convictions for felony tax evasion of the first company President and his General Counsel became known only after their departure. Truly desperate, gaining a riverboat casino license in Louisiana became the primary goal.
Almost forgotten, a privatization in Argentina received approval from the Mississippi Gaming Commission on the same day as Greece. Struggling to survive due to severe cash shortages, they not only survived but changed the image of casinos in that part of the world. That subsidiary company represented the very definition of image-identity in marketing. Readers will find this book captivating, informative, educational, occasionally humorous and a truly fast read.
Read about William Fisk Harrah Howard Hughes, Jimmy Hoffa, Mo Dalitz and ABSCAM; about the depth of power of the Nevada Gaming Control Board; about costly marketing initiatives and poor leadership; about Argentina governmental structure, history and politics as well as economics of the time and challenges for doing business in Argentina.
The author was the original Casino Manager in Mississippi, holding thousands of stock options he was not able to redeem, and later the subsidiary company President and General Manager in Argentina. He knew all the principal characters and personally experienced each success and failure across the globe. After more than a quarter of a century, he was the best person to uncover the history of this company, and the only one who could do so in depth. At a minimum, former investors might learn just what happened to their investments.
