Sent this by accident to wrong address on 6/11:
In a message dated 6/4/2007 1:00:11 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time,
vpFREE_Laughlin@yahoogroups.com writes:
<<<1. New ownership of the CB and EW
Posted by: "hamstockman" ab6pq@aol.com hamstockman
I just returned yesterday from Laughlin, and watched some of the
action as the new owners took over. First of all my trip went fine:
no women were molested, I did not need any bail money, and I brought
some Laughlin money home.
I talked to a lot of the employees, and none of them had to reapply
for their jobs. In fact they had been told nothing. >>>
You need to ask more people. Employees of some depts had to reapply for
their jobs. CB housekeeping & EW bartenders, for example. Other depts weren't so
affected but they're worried they will lose their jobs or their benefits.
Here's a summary of changes so far:
CB & EW head count down by 400
EW changes as of Mon morning:
Poker room will be closed by end of month.
Good-equity twice-weekly BJ tournament gone.
All machines on main floor have been shut down most likely to be replaced by
TITOs. Machines in sports bar & O Aces bar are shut down. Only machines left
to play are in the area next to sports book & a few next to Kokopelli.
Employees are concerned about unilateral changes to their benefits such as
loss of vacation time. Since no firm guidelines are out yet & with new
management just coming on board, employees are justifiably cautious so don't expect
to get much in the way of discretionary comps. Gold card/silver card are
still being used but they're to be replaced with a card swipe system.
Surprisingly, a few employees are upbeat about the changes & not worried
about their jobs. Reduction in head count to continue with recognition of
seniority & skillset.
CB changes as of Mon morning:
70 pit people let go. Many tables removed with vacant area slated for
occupation by machines.
No wholesale shut downs yet but CB will be going through changeover soon.
Poker room will have all new tables & chairs & card-swipe player tracking
system.
$ 10/7 DB SF 80 (2) both gone.
Observations:
Restaurants at both places will be upgraded which, for EW, probably means
McDonalds & Pizza Hut go. Machines that have been closed down will not be back
up until Thu the 14th.
Connecting the dots, believe this is the beginning of an arms race for
control of middle river. So will stay optimistic that battle for market share will
bring in not only interesting new machines but many playable machines as
well. Noted that Aquarius has a bank of new slant-tops near the pit that
includes one game that I've seen only in Reno, Multi-Strike Super Times Pay, but no
games that I'd want to play. The others in the bank are Multi-Strike & Super
Times Pay. Willing to bet that EW/CB will have the latest too. Probably will
be a lot of new penny machines. Slot club changes noted by Hamstockman seem
to be fair. Of note is the 0.5% in CB & free play.
************************************** See what's free at http://www.aol.com.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
···
Date: Sun Jun 3, 2007 2:19 pm ((PDT))