Gaming industry argues it reaching out to minorities, women

Wednesday, July 19, 2000 | 10:17 a.m.

The action comes on the heels of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's call for a task force to investigate ways to increase black participation in the casino industry.

"I really don't see where minorities are benefiting from the industry," said James Crowell, president of the Biloxi branch of the NAACP.

The task force proposal came after MGM Mirage rejected a request by the Nevada NAACP to invest $100 million over five years into a predominantly black Las Vegas community. MGM Mirage is the parent company of the Beau Rivage hotel-casino in Biloxi.

Black leaders in Nevada have accused the casino industry of not hiring blacks or allowing them to serve in management or corporate positions.

"The face of the gaming industry is so white," said Las Vegas Review-Journal columnist Barbara Robinson, who is black. "We don't want to be employees; we want to be employers. We need to talk about how to get the casinos to do business with our businesses. The boards of casinos must integrate."

Frank Fahrenkopf, president of the American Gaming Association, said Tuesday that research on minority hiring has thus far shown that most casino jobs in Mississippi, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan and New Jersey are held by women, blacks and other minorities.

Sixty-five percent of MGM Mirage's 3,000 Detroit casino workers are minorities, Fahrenkopf said, and 27 percent of Harrah's New Orleans workers are minorities, including 60 percent of the supervisory workers.

About 36 percent of the more than 14,000 casino workers on the Mississippi Coast in 1996 were minorities, according to a survey by Arthur Andersen Co.

Andrew Bourland, executive director of the Mississippi Gaming Association, said that percentage has probably grown with the opening in 1998 of Beau Rivage, which recruited blacks and other minorities. Bourland previous worked for the Beau Rivage.

Blacks represent about 22 percent of the work force statewide.

In Tunica County, about 58 percent of the workers are minorities, according to AGA figures that the association contends were obtained by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Grand Casinos "adopted" the rural Delta towns of Marks and Jonestown in recruiting 650 minority workers for its Grand Tunica casino, providing transportation and child care for the employees.

"I think the gaming industry has worked extremely hard at ensuring that all races" are represented in its work force, Bourland said. "My feeling is the gaming industry looks at every management position with an open eye to all races. I can think of no industry that works as hard at creating avenues of advancement than the casino industry."

Crowell doesn't doubt that the casino industry has hired a large percentage of blacks.

"I would think that they would have hired quite a few minorities," he said.

He said he doesn't think the AGA survey will show a significant number of blacks in supervisory positions.

Beverly Martin, executive director of the Gulf Coast Gaming Association, said Mississippi residents will not land key management positions until the state Legislature makes it legal for universities to teach casino-related courses.

She said the association is asking the state Department of Economic and Community Development for an updated directory of businesses owned by women and minorities to find out how many are vendors to the casino industry.