With Eastern Division President Carlos Tolosa calling it a day, Harrah's Entertainment is dispatching Atlantic City native Don Marrandino to try and turn things around out there. (No word on whether the Alizma triplets will accompany him eastward.)

Marrandino's portfolio will encompass far more than Harrah's quartet of A.C. properties but his entrepreneurial flair is something that the Boardwalk and Marina districts could sorely use. Gross profits were down 20% in 2Q09, with only Boyd Gaming's Borgata (+8%) bucking the trend.

S&G wishes Marrandino luck in his new assignment. He'll certainly be missed back here. One doesn't know what to expect from successor Rick Mazer, currently Harrah's top man in Indiana. Following an exponential expansion of Horseshoe Hammond, it's become The Casino That Ate Everybody's Lunch. However, the re-branded Horseshoe Indiana, at the southern end of the state, has been losing market share. Maybe taking the Caesars name off the place wasn't such a good idea, after all? Harrah's bought a brand (Horseshoe) with great equity but has mostly bumbled thereafter.

Did you know that the Greek Isles is a gold mine just waiting to tapped? So says a flack for the new owners, who enthuses, "Although the current environment in Las Vegas is challenging, the property’s exceptional location, as evidenced by its proximity to the proposed Convention Center expansion and recent hotel/casino developments on the north end of the Strip, should provide the new owners with significant upside potential through a redevelopment or repositioning of the hotel as the market recovers."

Yup, between stalled, bankrupt Fontainebleau and a proposed Convention Center addition (unlikely under current austerity budgets), the Greek Isles is a can't-miss investment. Where else can you see so many parking lots and garages from the comfort of your hotel room?

But seriously, folks ... how did anyone ever get a $120 million appraisal (or an $83 million purchase price) on a hotel-cum-slot route that's losing over $1 million a year? If the Greek Isles were a dog, somebody would have put it down by now.

That half-assed wrap on the would-be-classy Mandarin Oriental has also drawn the attention of Steve Friess. And it turns out that The Rio isn't the only Harrah's property in Vegas badly needing a paint job, either. The Paris-Las Vegas balloon has seen better days, too. This sort of chintziness was only to be expected once Texas Pacific Group and Apollo Management got their claws into Harrah's, but nobody wanted to hear about it back in the day when the words "private equity" sent analysts and regulators into a delirious swoon.