Blood on the Boardwalk: Marrandino out

You can practically hear the wind whistling through the corridors of power as top execs continue to jump — or are flung — from the sinking Caesars Entertainment ship. First, CFO Jonathan Halkyard up and quits, in favor of the lower-stress environment of Nevada Energy. Now a major power vacuum is created by the ouster of Don Marrandino, viceroy of Caesars’ growing East Coast portfolio.

Sure, Marrandino might have quit. Maybe. But the news went out late Friday night, accompanied by the phrase “move on to pursue other interests” … a favored corporate euphemism for ‘canned.’ The task of delivering Marrandino’s eulogy was delegated to operational chief Tom Jenkin.  (At least Marrandino got a nicer send0ff than Halkyard did.) And so Caesars loses one of the few top-tier execs to display the “vision thing,” a quality sorely lacking in CEO Gary Loveman, a bean counter and hopelessly inept strategist. In deference to its best-performing Atlantic City property, Caesars gave autonomy to Harrah’s Marina General Manager John Smith, while regrouping its other three Boardwalk properties under Kevin Ortzman‘s stewardship.

One news account strongly implies that the Don’s downfall was caused by a Marrandino indiscretion — and regulatory violation — involving credit extended to a visiting celebrity, leaving Harrah’s considerably out of pocket when Mr. X lost big and couldn’t cover his bets. Since Caesars is trying to get into Maryland, Massachusetts and Florida, it’s entirely plausible that Marrandino is a human sacrifice made to appease the regulatory gods.

Since there’s no mention of a non-compete clause (another indicator that points to a firing rather than a resignation), Marrandino is free to return to the Strip, where one or three troubled properties could use his expertise. Despite some recent decapitations at MGM Resorts International, Marrandino might be rather too ‘flash’ for CEO Jim Murren‘s low-key management style, although he could certainly use someone to sex up CityCenter‘s image … but Bobby Baldwin is more heavily soldered into place than ever, having just taken charge of Aria. Perhaps since Marrandino’s problems with the New Jersey Casino Control Commission are now a thing of the (recent) past, he ought to hang around the beach awhile. Revel is hanging by a thread and how much longer can CEO Kevin DeSanctis avoid responsibility? Marrandino seems like just the person you’d hire to give that property a shot at survival.