All of a sudden there’s a spate of turnover in the gaming industry. The ongoing verbal meltdown of Paula Deen was going to have to force
Caesars Entertainment to take some form of action, particularly if it wants to preserve its reputation as a champion of progressive social views. After it was reported that Caesars was only severing its business relationship with Deen at Horseshoe Southern Indiana, a clarification came from Executive Vice President of Communications and Government Affairs Jan Jones Blackhurst. To wit: Caesars’ contracts with all four Deen-run restaurants (at Horseshoe SI, Harrah’s Cherokee, Harrah’s Tunica and Harrah’s Joliet) would be allowed to expire. Caesars joins a long line of companies to whom Deen has become radioactive. The question is, as offensive as racist attitudes may be, where was this outrage earlier? Where was it when it was revealed when that Deen was still pushing sugar and fat, even well after being diagnosed with diabetes? I hoped at the time that Caesars would rethink its relationship with “the Buttuh Queen” then, but it seemed to perturb the company not one bit. So I find today’s abandonment of the sinking Deen ship more an act of cold business calculus than an inspiring stand for equality.
Speaking of progressiveness, Caesars is losing the services of Vice President of Public Policy & Corporate Social Responsibility Marybel 
Batjer, who is leaving the employ of Gary Loveman for that of California Gov. Jerry Brown (D). She will be the Golden State’s next secretary of governmental operations. She could find herself presiding over a lot of downsizing, a sight with which she’d be familiar from her Caesars years. Her tenure in a toga, however, has been an aberration in a career dominated by public service, her eight years at Caesars being a lengthy “time out” from various governmental posts.
Yesterday’s announcement by Las Vegas Sands that CFO Kenneth Kay was out didn’t faze Wall Street. The stock is trending upward today and, late yesterday, Deutsche Bank‘s Carlo Santarelli released a report in which he opined that Kay wasn’t taking the fall of either Sands’ rupture with PricewaterhouseCoopers or its Foreign Corrupt Practices Act infringements (which could be minor indeed). The Las Vegas Review-Journal‘s Howard Stutz, however, has been reading the fine print in Kay’s contract and suggests that Kay’s departure was involuntary.
While Genting Group swung at and missed casino legalization in Florida last year, it’s trying to give South Floridians a taste of what it hopes to bring to Miami. For $11 million upfront and $7 million annually, Genting will run twice-daily cruises to Bimini. There, passengers can disembark and play at Genting’s mini-casino (10,000 square feet), Resorts World Bimini. This may not impress legislators but Genting clearly hopes that exposure to table games and sports betting will create public pressure that currently doesn’t exist.
The diabetes scandal was going on as Harrah’s Joliet converting their buffet and the news of the lawsuit hit right when it opened. I think they thought thye could ride it out. The Paula Deen buffet in Joliet was not popular. I don’t know how it was received in the southern casinos but I think they are probably relieved to be rid of it up here.
We ate at the Paula Deen Buffet at Harrah’s Tunica last week. The food was the best we have ever had at any buffet anywhere, including the best of Las Vegas. Don’t understand all the piling o, when Paula Deen apologized for her inappropriate words, uttered a long time ago. I accept her apology and will be looking for another great meal at one of her restaurants or buffets again soon. There is hardly anyone who lived in the South in the 1950s who hasn’t used the N-word at some time. Most of us learned how hateful this sounded early on and corrected our vocabulary. Most Caucasians that is. It is still used and used quite often today in parts of the black culture. My wife and I had to educate our parents in the 1960s to stop their use of the insulting word. Thank goodness, things have changed in the South since then.
Had a comp to the Paula Deen buffet at Horseshoe SI a couple of years ago and didn’t even bother to go. I tend to respect the opinions of the folks who’ve had a career before the Food Network, so haven’t bothered with Paula’s showing. Good luck to her if she can make something positive out of this mess.