Paragon Casino Resort: Equal footing

Having recently celebrated the launch of a new Dragon Link Den on April 11, Paragon Casino Resort VP of Hospitality Emma Ford, VP of Marketing Joan Botts and VP of Human Resources & Guest Services Kimberly Haigh spoke with Gaming America to share insight on the property’s leadership and initiatives.

What does it mean to represent a property that has been so progressive in both diversity and equality across its leadership team?

Kimberly Haigh: It is very exciting. at this property we pride ourselves on diversity and on our hiring practices to support inclusion for any hire.

Joan Botts: The other thing interesting to note is that the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana, which oversees our property, is actually a multi-racial tribe. So it’s not just Native American; they actually have many different races across all of its members.

Having spoken on the Tribe, how do you work with Tribal leaders to ensure that not only the best interests of the property remain at the forefront, but Tribal sovereignty as well?

JB: Our General Manager, Marshall R. Sampson Jr, is also a Tribal member, citizen, leader and Vice Chairman of the Tunica-Biloxi Council. He’s worked at this property for many, many years and in the grand scheme of how Tribes work with casinos, I would say the biggest advantage for Paragon is that we are very autonomous, ironically.

We don’t have Tribal councils dictating our strategies, but we also know to always place our top priority on their principles and the vision for their Tribal citizens – and then how that flows and manifests itself for our own associates, many of whom are not Tribal citizens. The Tribe’s headquarters is next door to our property as well, so we do a lot of things together. But when it comes to setting the direction for the property, that really comes from the executive team here at Paragon.

Emma, as the first African-American to be appointed a VP at Paragon, could you take me through your journey with the property and what it means to now hold an executive role?

Emma Ford: It’s an honor. I started off in the medical field actually, I was in nursing with three semesters left during my first clinical fundamentals at the time, but I started working for Paragon in 1996 and I haven’t left since. It’s the hospitality; it’s like a family here, it’s family oriented and I fell in love with the business side of it, to the point where I didn’t want to do the medical field anymore because I’m just an overall people’s person.

When I started working here, I just fell in love with the environment, the people and how everyone here just looked out for each other. It’s really an honor to be the first African-American VP; it’s exciting to see others come along right after me because it is a fair environment here and it’s been very rewarding for almost 30 years.

Of course, you mentioned the family atmosphere and that is something that’s common across Tribal properties especially, and for those who have gone the corporate route previously.

EF: I can tell you this is definitely the better place to be. Corporate is tough, it has its good points and bad points, but I think for me, this will probably be the property where I retire.

Like Joan said, the Tribe gives us an opportunity to make decisions, take care of our employees and what’s in their best interest. This means a lot because, if there’s something you want to do, you’re not waiting two months for some corporate committee to say, ‘hey, you’re good to do that or no we can’t do that.’ Being able to make decisions for our associates is huge for us and very, very rewarding.

Paragon Casino Resort recently became the largest supplier of Dragon Link slot games for casino patrons of any property in Louisiana; what went into that partnership with Aristocrat?

JB: We know Dragon Link games are one of the most popular slot games really across the country, but definitely in Louisiana, and the Dragon Link Den is the first-of-its-kind in the state. We now have the most Dragon Link games of any other casino in Louisiana, which includes over 20 properties, and we have 64 games across the casino with 46 of those inside the Dragon Link Den.

We did a soft opening recently and, already, the room is full. The guests love it, they’ve been hitting jackpots left and right. It was really a no-brainer for us to build some real estate space and dedicate assets to this game – because we know it performs. We’re excited about the Aristocrat partnership and we’re confident it’ll help continue to keep Paragon top of mind and relevant with Louisiana gamers.

What other elements of the property help it remain prominent in Louisiana, especially as the gaming industry continues to develop throughout the state?

JB: Louisiana is easily one of the more competitive environments with so many casinos. Our location is smack dab in the middle of the Louisiana. We are surrounded by casinos within 45 minutes to two hours away from us in every direction and what I am most proud of for Paragon in its 31st year of operation is we, hands down, have more resort amenities than any other gaming property in the state.

Whether it’s the resort side with the spa, the hotel, convention and meeting services, supervised childcare, arcade, movie theatre. I can also assure you that no other casino, probably in the world, has a live alligator habitat, which is featured in our Bayou-themed atrium. We actually do a show with those alligators once a month, but they’re out there every day for people to see.

We have a lot of unique elements about our property and we were the first land-based casino in the state, so a lot of things for us to hang our hat on for sure.

Coming off Women’s History Month, how have each of you seen female leadership become more recognizable throughout the gaming industry?

KH: Speaking from experience, I’ve been in the casino business for 25 years and it’s been a great thing to see women who are not only CEOs, but VPs of Finance and Systems and different things that are typically male-dominated roles.

I think we’ve come such a long way in this. I worked from the bottom to where I am now and it was tough. It was tough because men didn’t necessarily respect women in the early days. But it’s great to see how far things have progressed, to sit here with these women and be in the roles we’re in now; it just makes my heart very proud.

JB: My first gaming job was in 1995 in Tunica, Mississippi. I’ve worked for many different companies, many different gaming markets and I know I’ve seen, firsthand, a definite evolution with the number of females taking senior management positions. I think that’s great to still be in an industry where we have witnessed that kind of change over time.

It’s almost cliché, I think, to talk about Women’s History Month and how far women have come. All the different achievements and accomplishments in every industry, not just gaming. It’s very prevalent even outside of Paragon in this market, and then even for Emma who’s been here the whole time, I’m sure you’ve seen that too.

EF: To Joan’s point, back in 1996, you didn’t see many VPs that were women. You probably didn’t have managers that were women either. Maybe one VP from 20 years ago that was in the hospitality field or on the gaming side, so we have come a long way.

Kimberly, what sort of responsibility do you feel in helping mentor the next generation of female leadership that could be coming through the gaming industry?

KH: I think succession, probably not just for women but in general, is tough. It’s very tough. When these ladies and I first started, I wouldn’t say we were the silent generation, but we were more of ‘your boss said do this, and we did it.’ In trying to help other females or other employees succeed, you have to learn to adjust to the generational thing, what’s important to them and ensuring our associates have training that’s available to them in pretty much whatever field they’re interested in.

Our property is unique in that the executives here are very accessible. So, if any of our associates want to talk to them and say, ‘hey, how do I, how do I succeed here? what do I do?’ they’re very happy to share their knowledge and their experience with them. That’s why we’re fortunate here that we have those executives and a Tribe that does an excellent job as far as the resources they offer their members.

What would you all say is the most critical element to leading a casino resort?

JB: It’s super important to be really aware of the competitive landscape. Being able to leverage all your own property’s strengths and figuring out the best way to create a culture and an environment for your associates, so that they can create an experience for the guests that obviously keeps them coming back.

That’s probably every casino, hotel, restaurant, hospitality venue in the world, but having that knowledge and understanding about everything around you, especially from a marketing standpoint. Also having a real good understanding of your competitors, and then figuring out the best way to profitably and strategically leverage those things for your own casino.

EF: For me, what’s critical in the hospitality department is making sure my associates and the guests feel like they are important and creating that environment for them. They used to say ‘if mama’s not happy, nobody’s happy.’ If your associate is not happy or dislikes what they are doing, then marketing could do all these things to bring customers here, but they won’t have a good experience. It’s maintaining and making sure my staff is happy, enjoying what they do, meeting the people of course and putting a real focus on guest service.

KH: This is my favorite part and to piggyback on what Joan and Emma said, engaging with our associates and maintaining an understanding of our competition is huge for us. We’re in a state that is so highly competitive, everybody has slot machines, we’re all brick-and-mortar, we all have the same sort of things. Now, we obviously have better amenities, but at the same time we’re all feeling that competitive nature as well.

Joan feels it from the gaming side, Emma from the hotel side, we feel it from the hiring side. We need to make sure we do what we’re known for, which is to provide that Southern hospitality because I think that’s a real thing. It’s a real, living breathing thing, and unless you’ve been here and been immersed in it, you just don’t get it.

What is that little extra we can do to make sure our guests leave here wanting to come back because they can go anywhere for the machines and the table games, but they come here for the experience that our associates provide to them. We try to keep the associates happy and engaged, we keep it fun and that is probably the best part of my job. That’s the easy part.

Kirk Geller

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