Detroit MGM casino president is a gaming industry gamer
Monday, March 6, 2000 | 11:18 a.m.
DETROIT -- MGM Grand Detroit Casino's blackjack dealers have come a long way.
When the casino opened in July, they dealt at such a snail's pace that management didn't even bother tracking how many hands each dealer doled out hourly. By September, though, their pace had quickened to an average of 200 hands an hour, and now they're in the neighborhood of 320.
Close, but no cigar yet. The industry benchmark, after all, is 350.
To narrow the gap, MGM is mulling investing in a certain type of card shuffler; problem is, the device is detested by some fervent blackjack players.
So what's a casino to do to balance greater employee productivity with customer satisfaction?
At MGM Grand Detroit these days, those sorts of decisions are falling to Scott Snow, the new president of Detroit's first casino. He replaces Lyn Baxter, who announced his departure in November.
It's the fifth time in his 10-year casino career that he has been dispatched to a property on the heels of its opening. Before Detroit, the troubleshooter was treasurer at MGM Grand Inc.'s New York-New York casino, joining that establishment three weeks after its opening.
In baseball terms, does that make the Utah native sort of an early relief pitcher?
"I'm more like, 'OK, they died at the gate, so come on in and let's get it going,' " mused Snow, more of a pragmatic, numbers-oriented straight-shooter than the bigger-picture Baxter.
His agenda includes continuing to oversee the training of workers and to improve guest services, as well as attracting customers from the suburbs and beyond.
MGM Grand Detroit is pulling in more than $1 million a day in business.
Four of MGM Grand Detroit's 12 original executives have already left and with apparently no other jobs lined up. High turnover at new casinos isn't unusual, Snow said.
"It's a 24-hour-a-day, seven-days-a-week business. It's not atypical for me to get five phone calls a week between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. A phenomenal amount of time goes into opening a property. You've got a couple hundred people for two to six months before opening and for months afterward working seven days a week, 14, 16, 18 hours a day, with maybe one day off a month. At some point, everyone says, 'What am I doing here?'
"The answer is one of two: 'I don't know, so I'm leaving.' Or, 'I still have a reason to be here and want to be here so I continue.' "
archive
- Most Read
- Discussed
- Most E-mailed
- ‘Stripper-mobile’ with live dancers raises safety, decency concerns
- Manny Pacquiao, Miguel Cotto arrive at MGM Grand
- Report: State’s economy worse off than any other
- Encore, M Resort added to Forbes Travel list
- Rebels survive scare from Division-II Washburn
- Las Vegas sees first monthly visitor increase since May 2008
- Study cites challenges of Nevada’s financial problems
- Dispute over casino baccarat systems prompts lawsuit
- Tourism companies embrace social media strategies
- Fans float replacement for UNLV football coach
Blogs
Now and Then
Antoine Walker doesn't know when to hold or fold 'em
TUF Heavyweights
Episode 9: Funky chickens
Shark Bytes
Players on championship team always worked hard (8 Comments)
Sports: Upon Further Review
Fight snapshot: Predictions for Pacquiao-Cotto (1 Comment)
The Kats Report
A lesson in information dissemination, with a little Twitter and a lot of Agassi
Now and Then
Ichabods were tougher than they sound (4 Comments)
Politics: Ralston's Flash
I shudder to think what the “amazing door prize from the governor” might be (8 Comments)
Calendar »
- 12 Thu
- 13 Fri
- 14 Sat
- 15 Sun
- 16 Mon
-
Las Vegas Wranglers vs. Utah Grizzlies
Orleans Hotel-Casino
-
Lily Tomlin at the Hollywood Theatre
Hollywood Theatre at MGM Grand
-
Leonard Cohen at The Colosseum
The Colosseum | 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.
-
Football specials at Diablo's
Diablos Cantina
The Sun
Locally owned and independent for more than 50 years.
Technorati










