Exclusive Doug Vogelei interview: Feeling welcomed at Mohegan Sun

What have been your opening impressions of your new role and how has it been getting accustomed with the Mohegan Sun team?

The whole team has been extremely welcoming and one thing going through orientation here is the buzzword of culture.

Mohegan Sun really has a culture here: it’s called the Spirit of Aquai (Mohegan President & CEO Ray Pineault has previously touched on this in Gaming America). It starts with welcoming. I was walking on the resort floor the other day and I saw a table game supervisor who stopped me and said, ‘we just want to welcome you, if there’s anything we can do or anything I can help you with,’ and that’s ingrained in the team members here. That’s from the top down and that’s what I’ve experienced here.

How did the opportunity come about? Especially as you had been working at a property in San Diego and Mohegan Sun is located in Connecticut.

They reached out to me and asked if I would be interested. My wife and I have been looking to move back to the East Coast; I’ve been on the West Coast the majority of my career. We have a lot of friends and family on the East Coast originally being from New Jersey, and it was an opportunity that felt right. We wanted to be closer to New Jersey and our friends and family, and at this stage of my career I can be very selective in the properties that I choose to work for.Mohegan Sun was on the list and is a major player in the gaming industry, so I was excited to explore the opportunity to work for them.

Has Mohegan Sun always been a property of interest to you, having been raised in the Tri-State area?

I can tell you when the interest first started. I worked for Las Vegas Sands at the Venetian Palazzo. I was with them for almost 21 years, and we had a property in Pennsylvania that I had an opportunity to visit, so I took that time to explore some of the casinos on the East Coast in the Philadelphia, New York and Connecticut area.

I had the opportunity to go to Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun. When I got back to Las Vegas and reported what I saw with some of the other casinos and some of the trends that were going on, I was extremely impressed with the product that was being put out by Mohegan Sun. I told them if you take Mohegan Sun and put it on the Las Vegas Strip, it would be extremely competitive and would probably outperform a lot of the properties that were on the Strip at that time.

We’re going back to 2015 and that’s when Mohegan Sun was first on my radar as one of the companies I admired. I followed them, their performances and the things they’ve done over time. When they reached out, I originally said no because I didn’t know the property that was asking. And then I said, ‘but if I know somebody that’s interested in a position, can I ask which property it is?’ And once they said Mohegan Sun, I said ‘Okay, tell me more.’

Does your previous experience in Las Vegas and at Sycuan Casino Resort help prepare you for the new role at Mohegan Sun?

Absolutely. At the start of my career, I went to UNLV and received a degree in hotel administration. I worked at Caesars in Las Vegas to pay my way through school, but I wanted to learn the gaming side. Indeed, at Caesars, it seemed like all the action was on the gaming side.

I was fortunate enough to be able to learn the gaming side, but to do that, I had to deal. I went from being a hotel manager at Caesars Palace to dealing for blackjack, poker and baccarat to work my way back up through the gaming industry.

The thing that prepared me the most was an opportunity at the Venetian to learn slots. I believe I was a table games director at the time and told them ‘you know I know nothing about slots, right?’ But they said the corporate slots team would come down and teach me everything there is to know. I went to UNR and took some online slot classes to understand the slot world a little bit. It’s hard to find someone that knows slots and tables in our industry, so it prepared me tremendously for this role because I believe I have a strong background in both.

Are there any specific parallels or differences in working for a Las Vegas property such as Venetian compared to a Tribal property such as Sycuan or Mohegan Sun?

They all run class III gaming, so they all have the same products, the same slot machines, the same table games, and you’re still dealing with guests, team members and products. What’s different is a property like Venetian is a corporation that has shareholders you’re responsible to, whereas Sycuan and Mohegan Sun are Tribes you’re helping to secure their sovereignty.

The impact of the bottom line goes directly to the Tribe and its infrastructure. What I’ve experienced so far – I’ve been at two Tribal casinos – is how much they give back to the communities. It’s unbelievable. It’s one of the reasons why I wanted to make sure I stayed on the Tribal side of gaming. I’m enjoying it thoroughly. I find it rewarding, to say the least, to see that the fruits of our efforts go to a greater cause. Not that the corporate casinos don’t, they give a lot as well, but it just feels a little bit more personal with Tribal gaming.

Do you work with Tribal regulators in Connecticut to ensure sovereignty remains at the forefront in sectors such as sports betting and casino games?

The gaming industry is highly regulated and so, in Nevada, you have the Nevada Gaming Control Board and, in California, each Tribe has their own gaming commission, which is regulated by the NIGC. It’s the same thing here in Connecticut with Mohegan Sun; they have their own gaming commission and it’s highly regulated, so there are no concerns in that regard.

What are the specific features of Mohegan Sun that help set the property apart from other facilities such as Foxwoods or in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania?

You first have to think about the history of gaming, starting in Las Vegas before making its way to Atlantic City and then eventually Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun. The gaming industry has expanded and become more crowded in recent years. Everything Mohegan Sun has done in regard to the decor has a meaning that is tied to the Tribe.When you walk through, it’s a seamless transition and it was done very, very well. The aesthetics of the property is an attraction and, even when it comes to non-gaming aspects, we have restaurants such as Beauty & Essex, Michael Jordan Steakhouse, Tuscany.

We have a 10,000-seat arena that just hosted Pitbull on New Year’s Eve, so there are many ways to attract people to the property. Mohegan also owns the Connecticut Sun WNBA franchise, which is an easy way to attract sports fans to the property. They’re constantly doing a lot of things to drive foot traffic to the property and that’s what’s setting us apart, making sure we’re creating these non-gaming experiences, which leads to eventual gaming experiences once guests are here.

Are there ways you can assist the property to stand out on the gaming side of the business despite only joining in January?

What differentiates any property is the team members, and that’s one thing that became apparent to me before taking the job: we focus on our team members here at Mohegan Sun. It is priority number one, making sure the team members are taken care of, which ensures they are in the best position to take care of our guests. Guestservice will set you apart. Everyone has table games; everybody has slots.

Foxwoods is right down the road, they have a lot of amenities there as well, but at the end of the day, it’s that guest service and that experience a person feels when they go to your property. Is that service seamless from check-in to valet to housekeeping to the experience they have in the restaurants, and are we consistently providing the best experience to guests? I believe guest service is the number one.

With over 30 years in gaming, how have expectations from guests continued to expand over time?

It’s a challenge sometimes, especially at properties that have been in business for a while and where you have team members who have been there for a long period of time. It’s just getting back to basics, giving clear expectations and holding people accountable in regards to making sure we’re providing the best guest service, because there can be some complacency at times.

It’s not intentional. Let’s face it, if you walk through a casino and a dealer is watching TV and not paying attention to you as you walk by, how do you feel? And when you want to sit down and play, you feel like you interrupted them. Those are the things we need to make sure we do not encounter.

Being in the industry for so long, you have to be honest with your team members on the impact it causes, and I think if you’re genuine with your team members, they’ll buy in and be on board.

What are you looking forward to most about this new opportunity with Mohegan Sun and what should guests expect for the remainder of 2025?

I’m excited to be here. It’s a property I wanted to work for and I’m just extremely excited to join this culture. It aligns with my values and, while it’s still very new, everybody has been extremely welcoming from our GM Jeff Hamilton to the Executive Committee.

Everybody’s just been wonderful and I’m looking forward to being able to contribute and continue the legacy Mohegan Sun has built in Connecticut.

We’re going to continue to have the latest and greatest slot products. We have a fresh floor; we pride ourselves on having the latest slot products our guests want and making sure we’re providing the absolute best guest service, and continuing to be one of the most respected properties in the world.

Kirk Geller

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