Press of Atlantic City from Atlantic City, New Jersey • 22

iuntiau llrrcc September 11 1983 Atlantic City NJ 'H iv CASINOS MBM1 MMI1 1 Casino Slot Attendant Saves A Bankroll ATLANTIC CITY or Rob ert Honeywell honesty is more than the best policy the only policy Honeywell a slot machine at tendant at Resorts International Casino Hotel found an over stuffed manila envelope on the floor of the casino the other day A thin layer of glue was all that prevented Honeywell from dis covering the contents of the package But respecting the privacy of the seal Honeywell decided to question two women who were playing slot machines next to the spot where he discovered the envelope The players came up for air just long enough to say never seen it before Casmotes By DAVID SPATZ Left with no other recourse Honeywell a four year veteran of the gaming wars opened the envelope to see if it contained any identification The casino employee find the name but he did find a lot of pictures inside pictures of Ulysses Grant and Benjamin ranklin The photo graphs added up to a cool $20500 in $50 and $100 bills never crossed my mind to keep the the Tuckerton resident said He turned the en velope over to the secur ity department and 30 minutes later a very agitated customer reported the loss to the guards After describing the package in enough detail to convince the casino employees it was his missing bankroll the gambler was happily reunited with his money less a $50 bill that was Honeywell's reward for his hon esty (Gee do you think the guy could spare it?) Broadway has its angels rich folks who put up money to finance a show And the US Olympic Committee appears to have found an angel of its own the Atlantic City casino industry Bally's Park Place is the second casino hotel to announce plans for a special event de signed to raise money for the 1984 Olympic games be bringing together the biggest names ever in the history of the spok esperson Karen Hirschberg said of the fund raiser planned for March 30 in the casino hotel's ballroom Among the world class ath letes expected to attend the event are: marathon runner rank Shorter sprinter Bob Hayes decathalon champion Rafer Johnson pole vaulter Bob Seagren swimmer Mark Spitz two time decathalon champ Bob Mathias and sprinter Wilma Ru dolph In addition to the roster of legendary Olympians some ath letes who will compete in the 1984 games in Los Angeles are expected to attend the event which is being staged in conjunc tion with the annual Greatest Sports Legends special event according to Hirschberg Cf In the land of the best and the biggest the Golden Nugget casi no hotel takes top honors in the tour bus sweepstakes GN chairman Steve Wynn can now boast that he operates a fleet of so many casino bound private coaches that the opera tion is the fourth largest bus firm in the United States sur passed only by such industry gi ants as Greyhound Trailways and the Short Line And speaking of buses and gimmicks the Claridge Hotel And Casino has introduced a new 10 will get you 12 come on Tour bus visitors to the casino now receive a bonus coupon that enti tles them to $12 in one dollar slot machine tokens in exchange for a $10 bill Casino Scene Profile If Boundaries 'I didn't know women didn't work' Bonnie leming soys Casino Beat Executives Must Stop Crying All The Way to the Bank Admittedly the cost of regula tion here is higher than in other places But sq too is the volume money here? And why are sb many other companies trying to get a piece of the action here? If the laws and regulations are so costly and it's so difficult to make a decent return on an in vestment why arc so many ex isting casino' operators falling over themselves to invest more But now casino revenues 'and profits are up handsomely inter est rates are down and the econ omy is on the mend While there are still changes that can be made most of the casino opera tors are crying all the way to the bank six months of the year compared to the Same period in 1982 The principal reason the sale of the Dunes Hotel fell apart was verified this week in the six month report to the Securi ties 'and Exchange Commission In the period ending June 30 the hotel lost $211 million $164 million of that amount in the second quarter Casino revenue decreased about $185 million in the first By STEPHANIE ZATWASKA Sunday Press (Daniel Heneghan a staff writer reports on the casino industry for the Press and Sunday Press) LAS VEGAS Jeff Silver former president of the Land mark Hotel made a number of personnel changes as he took charge of the troubled Riviera Hotel on Labor Day weekend" The director of hotel opera tions Steve Pelzer was termi nated and replaced by hotel man ager Vince Mathews Mike Ar nold director of safety replaced security chief Harold Olson and will assume both functions Silver brought his former slot manager at the Landmark Ar thur Williams to replace Rich ard Wynn Casino Manager Norm Buzz who was let go by former president of the Riviera Isidore Becker has not yet been replaced ormer Executive Secretary Barbara Hayes has been named to replace PD Leavitt as enter tainment director and the posi tion of director of branch offices formerly held by Carl Glasser has been eliminated by Silver in a cost cutting move Recently the Riviera became the first major Strip casino to file for Chapter 11 of the US Bankruptcy Code to look for bargains worked in this job there are some things that I just buy because I know what the mark up is on leming A lot of her learning she adds has come from watching other purchasing agents listening to bosses and generally getting involved with the industry love being exposed to different parts of the industry and knowing I can be there to she said you have to be involved If I can sit in on a meeting just to find out what's going on be there It really gap How can one believe an industry complaint about costly overregulation whenthe same company is looking to invest hundreds of millions ofadditional dollars in another fa cility or expansion of its existing facility? Resorts and Golden Nugget are building second casinos and Caesars which is expanding wants a second casino too The Sands is expanding and Bally recently announced a refinanc ing plan which will put it in a position to expand next vear In Casinos arc doing a lot better now than they have tor several years or example they are winning more and more each month igures for the fall months will doubtless be below those of July and August but they will be higher than the same months in previous vears And management is getting more and more sophisticated and in gener al is bringing a higher percent age of those revenues down to the bottom line (Elliot Krone is a columnist for the Las Vegas Sun His column ap pears each week in the Sun day Press) Paul Lowden who has moved from a minor stockholder in a hotel to the owner of two major hotels on the Strip in a few years is now casting his eye on the Atlantic City market Currently owner of both the Hacienda and Sahara Hotels Lowden has sent two of his top executives to New Jersey to in vestigate several properties in Atlantic City Having recently gone public Lowden said he feels that a gaming company we have an obligation to look at all opportu Lowden is married to the for mer Miss New Jersey Sue Par kinson The Nevada Gaming Control Board has sent notices to all casinos to notify state agents before making any payouts in excess of $100000 was some confusion over the last big jackpot ($17 said Patricia Becker board member are still ex amining the machine at in the payoff to Gus Econo poulous of the $17 Econopoulous dropped out of sight for several days shortly fafter winning the giant payoff Becker said the new policy will allow a gaming agent to make a cursory review of the before the payout is made Another deadline has passed for Ed Torres to pay $100000 to the Teamsters Central States Pension und if he doesn't want them to foreclose on his Aladdin Hotel i The total owed to the fund is $342 million with about $2 mil lion in delinquent interest Meanwhile talks are continu ing between the managers of the fund the Victor Palmieri Co of Los Angeles Torres and singer Wayne Newton to whom Torres owes $8 million instance there was the (Claridge) golf tournament We had to go out looking for she said The gifts the purchasing director was" seeking however just any little trinkets Rather they were items made of crystal Italian marble tiffany watches no problem if you've been in the business long enough and paid leming said have to know who to call we had contacts at the Strand Gallery and International Market ing Concepts and how to get a hold of them at the last she said One thing the job has taught leming Best Buying With ew addition to that you have Har rah's Boardwalk and the Hilton projects under construction and renewed interest in the Pent house and Dunes projects Show boat just announced plans to build and there are several other of money handled by casinos as ompdnits acuxeiy luumng iw innd hnrn ATLANTIC CITY Across town at Mari no denying that the musical re na the Smothers Brothers are vue is one of paired with singer Jim Stafford the most entertaining production shows ever to pound the boards of a showroom stage here But for the most part the tribute to composer ats Waller has been reserved as a treat for weekday audiences at the Clar idge casino hotel Next weekend the Claridge departs from its usual headliner policy to present the fast paced 70 minute program as a star at traction And the talented cast of five singers is going up against formidable competition too Resorts International has booked sultry Joey Heatherton and rising young comic Garry Shandling for a three day en gagement in the Superstar The atre beginning riday The casi no also present the floor show Heatwave in its Carousel Caba ret' Three casinos were still in the red through the first half of this year but many if not all of those losses could be wiped out by third quarter profits Just as the strict laws and regulations the entire cause for the losses of previous years the changes the on ly reason why the picture has improved There1 are still a number of changes that can be made But time for the casinos to stop pinning their arguments to the aspect of the financial impact Push for changes now because they make sense not just be cause they save dollars House Cleaning Time At The Riviera Hotel for a riday through Sunday run Caesars Boardwalk Regency turns The our Tops loose on the stage of the Cabaret Theater starting riday while Playboy turns back the clock to feature Al Alberts and his original our Aces with comedian Pete Bar butti Country singer Dottie West re turns to the Tropicana next weekend while the Sands Copa Room is taking an entertainment breather in order to stage the Dwight Braxton Johnny Davis heavyweight boxing match on Saturday Singer Julie Miller and comic Lenny Rush anchor the Board walk ollies revue at the Golden Nugget while Park Place presents the long running revue Outrageous! DJS By Taw the Casino Control Commission must be concerned with the financial 'viability of casinos When all of the casinos combined lost $187 million in 1980 the regulators had to be more concerned with the indus try's financial viability They re sponded by making a number of well as the potential for profits changes which have saved casi nos millions in expenses I ATLANTIC CITY Imagine being able to go on a buying spree the kind without any budget limitations or hold backs Bonnie leming of Ventnor has that opportunity every day leming 28 is the purchasing expert for the Claridge Hotel And Casino Daily she orders items by the truckload for the facility leming however doesn't order just a few things at a time A casino needs supplies the order by the millions to get the best price But the truckload shipments arc staggered throughout the she explained Prior to her appointment at the Clar idge leming served as the assistant di rector of purchasing at the Tropicana and assistant gift shop manager at Marina The Bernardsville native said her pur chasing career actually began as far back as she can remember going to a store and picking out exactly what she needed on a budget 5 came from a family where both my father and my mother worked so I know women leming said had my own money and I knew how much I could spend what my best buys were for my leming graduated from Stockton State College with a bachelor's degree in marketing and computer science Before that she attended Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove Pa However being an executive isn't al ways what it might seem to be The promotion get her a very fancy office leming mind because she ft doing what she enjoys and knows best buying rom paper coin cups for the casino slot machines to napkins paper towels swizzle sticks and an calcula tor leming is the person to see Toilet paper vacuum cleaners soda liquor brooms and brushes the requisi tion forms all fall onto desk leming works out of the Kramer Beverage Co warehouse on North Virginia Avenue She starts her day before 9 am oversees a staff of 13 and puts away at least an hour to make it through the cross town traffic to meet buyers in the Claridge kitchen Then back to the warehouse to check shipments being brought in to the loading dock and to go over order forms before signing them Her desk is piled high With papers waiting for approval have to look at the bottom line that's saving money You have to look atyhat you are buying and say am I getting the best she explained Then there are the emergencies Ji Hi It comes down to a credibility short Atlantic City is be coming a good bet again £By DANIEL HENEGHAN' CITY about time that casinos changed their tune While the protests are hardly as' vigorous as they used to be sdme casino operators still speak often of the burden of state regu lation and how much it costs to run a casino here The message clear that they feel unneces sary regulation is costing them so much that it's hardly worth operating a casino here or a long time that tactic wqrked When most of the city's casinos were in the red and when there were obvious flaws in the laws and regulations using a financial argument was success ful A bad economy with high interest rates was also a big contributor to the losses but complaining about them wasn going to help TT'J I i I I JHMHHHmI 1 i Jn I x'' A rO BHI Vegas Wire By ELLIOT KRANE 1 i.