{"id":109687,"date":"2019-07-20T00:31:06","date_gmt":"2019-07-20T07:31:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=109687"},"modified":"2019-07-20T11:36:49","modified_gmt":"2019-07-20T18:36:49","slug":"foxwoods-ceo-john-james-faces-regional-gaming-competition-declining-slot-revenue-at-new-post","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/foxwoods-ceo-john-james-faces-regional-gaming-competition-declining-slot-revenue-at-new-post\/","title":{"rendered":"Foxwoods Incoming CEO John James Faces Regional Gaming Competition, Declining Slot Revenue at New Post"},"content":{"rendered":"

Foxwoods Resort Casino new President and CEO John J. James has multiple challenges ahead, including an increasingly competitive Northeast gambling market and declining slot revenue at the Connecticut tribal venue when he takes over next month.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Foxwoods Resort Casino will be getting a new CEO, John J. James. He faces multiple challenges. (Image: Business Insider)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

James has a tough job,\u201d <\/span><\/strong>the Rev. Richard McGowan, a finance professor at Boston College who closely follows gambling trends in New England, told <\/span>Casino.org<\/em><\/span>.<\/span> \u201cFoxwoods was already experiencing a downward trend and that was before the opening of MGM \u2026 Springfield and now Encore \u2026 Boston Harbor.\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

June was the 12th straight month the Mashantucket Pequot tribal venue and competing Connecticut Mohegan Sun tribal casino won fewer dollars on their slot machines than in the prior year. Last month, Foxwoods reported slot revenue<\/a> win of $35.3 million, a year-over-year decline of nearly 12 percent.<\/p>\n

Also, nearby Rhode Island is already offering in-person athletic wagering and soon will let bettors place online sports wagers. New York State is also offering more gaming options.<\/p>\n

James has the task of reversing that [downward] trend,\u201d <\/strong>McGowan said. \u201cClearly, Encore Boston Harbor is the premier site in the Northeast United States. It is certainly not Foxwoods.<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cHow James persuades residents of Massachusetts — which at one point were nearly one-third of Foxwoods\u2019 customers — to come to Foxwoods instead of Encore will be an incredibly high hurdle,\u201d McGowan said. \u201cClearly, every New England state except for Vermont is fighting for casino\/gambling revenue.\u201d<\/p>\n

When it comes to sports betting, Foxwoods will face such issues as if it can offer online bets or will Connecticut reserve that for its lottery, McGowan said. Also, satellite casinos planned for or proposed for elsewhere in the state have yet to begin construction.<\/p>\n

Many Years in Tribal Gaming Management<\/h2>\n

James is a casino administrator with over 25 years\u2019 experience, most recently as the chief operating officer at Morongo Casino Resort & Spa in Cabazon, Calif. He has held the post for over five years.<\/p>\n

Earlier, he was CEO at Gila River Gaming Enterprises, where he led the tribe’s three casinos and under his watch got record earnings in Arizona. He was also a top executive at Seminole Gaming and Pechanga Resort and Casino, and previously was a vice president and general manager at Station Casinos venues in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n

\u201cFoxwoods is the premier destination in the Northeast and a pioneer in the tribal gaming community, and I\u2019m thrilled to be joining their stellar team,\u201d James said in a statement released to the media.<\/p>\n

When reviewing his background, McGowan said James \u201ccertainly seems qualified and he has experience in dealing with an intense competitive market such as California versus Nevada.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

James Needs to Address Changing Tastes<\/h2>\n

Fred V. Carstensen, director of the Connecticut Center for Economic Analysis at the University of Connecticut, where he also teaches economics and finance, told Casino.org<\/em> that the \u201cbottom line is \u2026 [to] expect Foxwoods [to] \u2026 continue to see some loss of gaming activity.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe degree of loss will depend on whether management can figure out ways to mitigate the impacts of increased competition and changing tastes\/interest in gaming,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\n

Carstensen says he suspects \u201cyounger folks have much less interest in traditional gaming\u201d so Foxwoods will have to find other ways to attract them to the venue. Also, the Northeast \u201cis becoming saturated with casinos — so much so that the new MGM casino in Springfield is apparently doing less well than management had projected,\u201d he\u00a0added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Additionally, a planned satellite venue being co-developed by the Mohegans and Mashantucket Pequots in East Windsor — some dozen miles from the MGM Springfield \u201cwould be unlikely to capture much of the flow to MGM — and might \u2026 actually help MGM,\u201d Carstensen said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst folks go to the convenience casino, but quickly realize that the MGM [venue] \u2026 is only 10 or 12 minutes further and offers far more, so they continue on,\u201d Carstensen added. \u201cIsn’t that what happened with the casino Massachusetts opened near the Rhode Island border to intercept folks headed south to the much bigger Rhode Island casino?\u201d<\/p>\n

Another possible challenge is that Bridgeport, Conn.<\/a>, about an hour\u2019s drive from New York City, is interested in opening a casino. One option is for the two tribes to open a satellite location or MGM opening a commercial venue there.<\/p>\n

Carstensen said another challenge is that Foxwoods is \u201cnot very convenient.\u201d The venue \u201chas to double down on ways to make it sufficiently competitive to draw people there in competition with other locations that — in terms of travel time — are more accessible,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The property features retail outlets, concerts, a museum, and other non-gambling offerings. So, James may try to capitalize on these other attractions.<\/p>\n

But Carstensen points out that gaming is \u201csingle-purpose travel.\u201d \u00a0He explains \u201cfolks who want to gamble want to gamble.\u00a0 Period.\u00a0 They typically aren’t very interested in shopping, museums, or concerts.\u201d<\/p>\n

James follows tribal Chairman Rodney Butler, who has been interim CEO, and took over soon after Felix D. Rappaport died in June 2018.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Foxwoods Resort Casino new President and CEO John J. James has multiple challenges ahead, including an increasingly competitive Northeast gambling market and declining slot revenue at the Connecticut tribal venue when he takes over next month. James has a tough job,\u201d the Rev. Richard McGowan, a finance professor at Boston College who closely follows gambling […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":109693,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[33810,18456],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFoxwoods New CEO Faces More Competition, Lower Slot Revenue<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Foxwoods Resort Casino incoming President and CEO John J. 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