Nevada Week In Person | Nevada Week In Person | Roger Gros | Episode 88 | PBS

A casino industry expert, Roger Gros, Publisher of Global Gaming Business Magazine, is our guest this week on Nevada Week In Person.

♪♪♪ Support for Nevada Week In Person is provided by Senator William H. Hernstadt.

-Welcome to Nevada Week In Person.

I’m Amber Renee Dixon joining you from G2E at the Venetian.

This Global Gaming Expo our guest has worked as a consultant for, but his primary job is as publisher of Global Gaming Business Magazine.

Roger Gros, thank you for joining Nevada Week In Person.

(Roger Gros) Thanks for having me.

I’m excited to talk to you.

-I know I mentioned that you have worked as a consultant for G2E, I believe, back in its infancy, the early 2000s.

-Right.

-What do you think when you see it now?

-Well, it’s grown so much.

I mean, when we started back, our first show was 2001, which was right after 911.

And it was a pretty sad experience in those days, but now it’s grown to be the biggest show in the industry.

And it’s just incredible.

You see everything that’s happening in the industry while you’re here.

-And when the current organizers of G2E say that the gaming industry is transforming at a record pace, what do you think they mean by that?

-Well, we’ve seen the revenues grow ever since the pandemic has wound down.

Revenues have grown at a record pace in almost every jurisdiction, including Las Vegas.

It’s continuing to be a positive effort for the industry.

People are coming back to the casinos in greater numbers and spending more money, which is exactly what the casino owners want.

-And why do you think that is?

-I think because they were so locked in their homes for so long during the pandemic that once it was over, you know– and this happened immediately.

It didn’t take it some time for it to come back.

As soon as they realized they could get out–and they went to the casinos, put the masks on, whatever it took–they went to the casinos and went back to their great pastime.

-And they haven’t left.

-No.

No, they’re still coming.

And the casinos have gotten much smarter in marketing and understanding how to do that.

So it’s really an exciting time for the industry.

-Is there any chance– well, there is, obviously, a chance, but are you getting any sense that casino operators are predicting any kind of slowdown in revenue?

-Well, obviously, that’s a concern right now with a slowing economy and the inflation that’s going on.

So I think they’re certainly concerned about that.

There’s several sessions at the conference this year talking about, What are we going to do?

But so far, we haven’t seen it.

I mean, just last month, Vegas hit another record.

So you know, crossing our fingers.

You know, if it is a slowdown, it’ll be a very mild one.

-Let’s talk about your past.

Your expertise in this area comes from not just writing about and publishing a heralded widely regarded magazine, but you actually worked in the gaming industry.

When was that, and what did you do?

-I was a dealer back in Atlantic City at the infancy of the Atlantic City casino industry.

I started in 1979 as a dealer at Caesars Atlantic City and then I moved over to the Golden Nugget when Steve Wynn owned the Golden Nugget.

And you know, that was a fantastic experience, you know, learning.

Steve Wynn used to come sit at our baccarat table when there were no players and just talk to us, and I learned so much from him.

You know, that’s how I learned about Jay Sarno, the guy who opened the Circus Circus and Caesars Palace here in Vegas.

And he was an acolyte.

Wynn was an acolyte of his that– it’s just an incredible experience working in the industry before I wrote about it.

So once I started writing about it, I had that innate knowledge of the industry.

And up until today, there’s really not many other journalists who have that kind of experience.

-Well, what did you learn from those individuals you mentioned?

-Well, you know, all the guys at Caesars early on, like Terry Lanni was one of my bosses.

Some of the pit bosses back then are now executives, top-level executives, or retired even, you know?

So, yeah, I’ve learned a lot from them.

And to be able to have worked in the industry, I think they respect me a little more as a journalist because they know that I know the nuts and bolts of how the industry runs.

-Working from the ground up.

I know you say it was a good experience, but there was a quote where you said, “To this day, I can’t even play blackjack, because of the bad memories the game brings back to me.”

-In Atlantic City in the early days, they had a regulation you could only offer a certain amount of $2 and $5 games.

And there were so many people in Atlantic City that there were people lined up behind every game.

And the pit bosses were old Vegas-types.

They would say, “Just dummy up and deal.”

You couldn’t talk to the players, you couldn’t enjoy yourself, and it was– it was pretty brutal.

But then I became a baccarat dealer.

I took a course to learn baccarat, and that was a completely different experience because you got to know the bosses, you got to know the players.

They wanted you to be friendly to the players, and that changed my whole attitude toward the industry at that point.

And at that time in baccarat– well, within gaming, there was a certain– or a lack of regulation in reporting a certain amount of bet, correct?

-Absolutely.

At some point during my career as a dealer, they instituted a rule that if a player bought in for $10,000, you had to report that to the IRS.

But for many years before that, the people would come in and play $10,000 a hand on baccarat; and throw the cash down on the table.

You’d be counting it out, and the hand was over.

And you had to start over and counting the next hand.

It was a very exciting time, because you saw all that cash go across the table, and nobody was reporting it.

-So a lot more action, I would imagine.

-Very much so.

You had to be a great dealer to really handle that kind of action because, you know, these were very high-level players.

They were important players to the industry, and you had to make sure that they were happy, you know?

And if they weren’t happy, you got in trouble.

-Those were the players that Steve Wynn was hanging around, I imagine?

-Yeah, no question.

-When you received the Lifetime Achievement Award in Communications from the American Gaming Association, you wrote an article about, you were able to get promoted from dealing blackjack to baccarat, but you weren’t able to get a promotion into a management position.

-Correct.

-Why was that?

-I had kind of a big mouth.

I told them what they were doing wrong, even though I was just a dealer.

I sensed that the players didn’t like what was happening, and– -What kind of things?

-Just the way they were being treated, you know?

Some of them were good players, but they weren’t good enough to be treated like royalty, like some of them are, the top-level players.

We had one guy who was a mobster that would come in, and there was a casino host that, that took him, you know, escorted him around the casino.

And he was kind of a pig, you know– -Yeah.

– –when it comes to that.

I didn’t like to deal to him, because he was so nasty.

But the casinos treated him like a, like he was gold, because he had a lot of money.

So, you know, I kind of voiced my opinion about that and other things.

And that kept me from being promoted.

And I thank God at that point that I didn’t get promoted, because I would have been stuck in the cycle of a much higher salary.

And as a dealer I didn’t make that much, so I was able to leave the industry when I did without taking a huge financial hit.

-And you already had your hands in journalism at that point.

How so?

-When I was working for Caesars, I saw this little, kind of, pamphlet thing that would go through the dealers’ lounges called “Casino Journal.”

And it was written for the employees.

And I had a little education in journalism, so I contacted the owner and said, I want to write for you.

He jumped at the chance because he was looking for people who knew what they were doing.

So I started writing for him, and that was how I was able to leave the industry.

As that magazine grew, it went from an employee publication into a trade magazine.

That’s when when I was able to quit the job and work strictly for him.

Although, I still took a pretty big financial hit to do that.

And having two children in those days, it was a little difficult; but it really was satisfying to actually work for myself in those days.

-And at what point did you end up in Las Vegas?

-Well, after I split from that company, I was working for G2E when it first started, and we started a magazine here in Nevada.

I figured, well, I had to be in Nevada to really understand what’s going on, so I moved my family here.

We were gonna stay here a couple of years, but my family fell in love with the area.

And here I am 20 years later.

-What is it that your family loves about Las Vegas?

-Well, actually, we moved to Boulder City.

So we were ready to move back East, and my friend Bob Faiss, who is a legendary gaming attorney, said, Come to Boulder City.

You’re the type of people we want.

And we went there.

He showed us around, him and his wife Linda, and we just fell in love with Boulder City.

You know, a small town, and the kids got a great education there.

So I was excited about moving there and, you know, staying there.

I still have to go to Atlantic City during the summer because it’s too hot in Vegas.

Sorry.

-Can’t escape that.

-Yeah.

-All right, more than 20 years you’ve worked as publisher of Global Gaming Business Magazine, heralded as the industry’s leading gaming trade publication.

This allows you an editorial voice with which you’ve spoken out against smoking in casinos.

Why so passionate about that topic?

-Well, as a former dealer, I can remember smoke being blown in my face.

You know, when somebody would lose a hand, they would get upset and they’d blow smoke, you know, toward me.

And I never smoked in my life, so I was very upset about that.

But the casinos never did anything about it.

And to this day in Vegas, they’ve never done anything about it except for a couple of smoking/non-smoking areas, which is, you know, silly because smoke, it goes all over the place.

You know, in New Jersey, you know, they’re trying to ban smoking in casinos.

They’re very close to doing that.

I’m excited about that being happening.

And it doesn’t look like there’s a lot of movement in Vegas for that happening, and I really would like to see it.

-For the health of– -Exactly.

– –the employees?

-And the customers.

I mean, I went into a casino–I won’t mention it–one of the local casinos a few weeks ago, and I could barely breathe in there.

The smoke was was so thick, and the smell was terrible.

And I just think– you know, the casinos always say how much they care about their employees, how much they care about their customers, and this is very hypocritical for them to continue to allow smoking.

And now we’ve got a lot of reports showing that if you ban smoking in a casino, it wouldn’t really impact your revenues as much as they’re afraid.

-Because that’s their argument is that if they ban smoking, they’re not going to get the same amount of customers.

Their revenue is gonna drop.

-Right.

But if everybody does it at the same time, they have no choice.

They– if you want to gamble, you’re going to have to go to a casino.

And there might be a small short-term financial hit, but it’s very short.

And they’d be back to normal very quickly.

And there’s research studies that have shown that the casinos that have done this have only taken a small hit.

Some of them don’t take any hit.

There’s a casino in Pennsylvania that’s non-smoking that earns more than any other casino in the state where they allow smoking.

So I think it’s a good business move.

And certainly it removes a hypocrisy from, “We really care about our employees.”

-Smoking is also bad for your teeth, and I understand that you are a recent dental advocate.

Why is that?

-I am because three years ago I was with my dental hygienist.

She found– she found an infection in one of my teeth, and she said, You have to get that removed because it will kill you.

And I said– I said, What?

Teeth are going to kill me?

That’s crazy.

But then earlier this year, I went to the doctors in Vegas.

They couldn’t find what’s wrong with me.

They– my friends at the Lou Ruvo Center found a space for me at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, so we flew there.

In one day, they found my heart was infected with this disease that came from my teeth, and it settled in my back.

I couldn’t walk.

Two days later, they did open heart surgery on me.

They replaced three valves that were damaged by this infection.

And so I’m a religious advocate for dentists now.

Go every three months, because if– -Every three months?

I thought it was six.

-My dentist says every three months.

-Okay.

-I go every three months to get my teeth cleaned and get it considered and, you know, I’m really an advocate of making sure your teeth are safe, because it can really affect your health overall.

-Last thing: We have about a minute.

The biggest issue in gaming right now, what do you think it is?

-There’s online gaming, which is growing incredibly fast.

It’s not really in Vegas right now, not in Nevada, because the casinos are afraid that it’s going to keep people home rather than go to their casinos.

And there was some evidence early on that it did impact that, but recently we’ve seen some impact on the casinos that have– on the states that have allowed online gaming.

And we really have to look at that a little more closely.

But I think eventually in Nevada, we’re going to see it.

And the companies, the local casino companies that are are opposing it, have some points.

And we really need to do some studies on how it’s going to impact them, because it also adds revenue to them.

So, you know, we’ll have to see, you know, make that balance.

-Roger Gros, Publisher of Global Gaming Business Magazine, thank you for joining Nevada Week In Person.

-Great to see you.

I’m glad we could fill people in on what’s going on in the industry.

-Me too.

And for more interviews like this, go to vegaspbs.org/nevadaweek.