Tamares Group's raggle-taggle bunch of downtown Vegas casinos is onto its third management company in four years. Its first stalking horse, Barrick Gaming, made a lot of grandiose noises but turned out to be a big bag of hot air. Navegante Group then tried to make a go of it, but ultimately chafed at the tightness of Tamares' purse strings.
Yesterday, some chance correspondence with Tamares' local PR reps gave me the opportunity to find out who'd succeeded Navegante as Tamares "beard," because whoever it was had done an impressive job of staying under the radar. The name that came back was BRH Gaming, formed 13 months ago by former Stratosphere executive Bobby Ray Harris. If the mailing address looks familiar, it's because it's … the Union Plaza, Tamares' downtown flagship. So we hardly even have one degree of separation between Tamares and BRH. Given that and the timing of the company's formation, it's reasonable to surmise that BRH was formed for the express purpose of doing Tamares' bidding once Navegante was out.
The offices of BRH Gaming.
A search of local newspapers turned up exactly one mention of Harris, from mid-2003 when he was senior vice president of operations at the Stratosphere. The Strat was a well-run property in those days (one hears not-so-good things about Goldman Sachs' current stewardship) and perhaps Harris can achieve the turnaround that eluded his predecessors.
But, given the procession of management companies trooping in and out of the Union Plaza, Vegas Club, the Western, etc., it's more than time that the Nevada Gaming Control Board abandoned its gentlemanly fiction that Tamares is just a "passive landlord" and make it apply for a gaming license. It's pretty obvious who's calling the shots on Main Street and I'd lay money it's not Bobby Ray Harris.
Lol you are so right. I realize this post is old but even then why would a company worth so much money be playing dead and broke. Maybe its because in 2015 they announced they are doing an artist in residency program in Las Vegas. See Tamares very large art collection and foundation for that one. This was after they are buying up lots of land for its subsidiary Tamares Real Estate. Wikipedia says they currently own forty percent of downtown property but hey the actions back then kept the property values down. Smart move on their part. Coming soon to a neighborhood near you one art business living utopia done right at least.