| Although
the hotel-casinos never have been able to show a
profit on their entertainment, the other areas of
hotel operation do show profits, because prices
have been raised substantially in the restaurants,
and the hotel rooms show an amazing average occupancy
of over 90 percent the year round.
As these operations were streamlined, as more and
more giant corporations bought into Nevada hotels
and ran them, the casino's role in the whole system
was put into perspective. The casino was an important
money maker, but it wasn't the only aspect of the
business that made money, and as its influence lessened,
so did the role of the casino manager.
At one time, the moguls who ran the hotel-casinos
left everything in the casino operation to the casino
manager. He was the single most important employee,
and his word on the casino floor was law. No one
crossed a casino manager and stayed in the operation.
Today the general manager or president of the hotel
is a more important figure, and in many cases, the
casino manager is subservient to the credit operation
and its accountants. It is still his responsibility
to run the casino, but now he does it in conjunction
with others.
The casino manager still sets the tone of the casino
whether the employees are friendly or hostile to
customers, whether there is a noisy atmosphere or
the general ambience is subdued. He can't influence
everything in the casino, because some of the huge
hotel-casinos in both Las Vegas and Reno are run
by corporation executives whose idea of success
is the bottom line of profits. These people take
the attitude that every customer is a potential
robber of the casino bankroll. The atmosphere in
these. places can be deadening, not only for the
many losers, but for those who play intelligently.
Casino managers come in two basic molds. Still lingering
, around are the generation that started in the
illegal casinos and clubs of the Midwest and New
Jersey, tough men who drifted or were called West
when Vegas came alive. These are old fashioned,
hard men who didn't care to change with the times
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