Emerald Island Casino General Manager: Make them feel at home

Could you take us through the opening of Emerald Island Casino in 2003, and especially the re-opening of the Rainbow Club during the Covid-19 pandemic?

My twin (!) brother Mike and I founded our company in 2001 and bought the building we’re sitting in now, which was a closed casino named the Pot of Gold. We then applied for a gaming license and remodeled the building in the interim of getting our license. It took about 18 months to completely refurbish the building and obtain our non-restricted gaming license here in the state of Nevada. After we got licensed on May 22, 2003, we opened on the next day, right here in downtown Henderson.

We actually closed the Rainbow Club on March 17 2020 and kept it closed until September 17, 2020. From the time we closed, we had a maximum of six months in which we could reopen. We took that time to remodel the Rainbow Club from the former owners, the Pepper Mill Corporation based out of Reno, and we added some things. We changed the slot mix, retained all the employees and then opened our doors on September 17, 2020, exactly six months to the day we were mandated by Governor Steve Sisolak at the time to close our doors. It was a challenge from the beginning, but we made it work and it’s been nothing but a great little casino which compliments the Emerald Island terrifically, being right next door to us.

As the GM of Emerald Island Casino, how does marketing to locals differ from the marketing of properties on the Las Vegas Strip?

Well, we have to be very different in terms of marketing plans because we want people in for the long haul. When you’re marketing to locals, you want them to return and, right now, we’re talking two or three times a week. Whereas on the Strip, some party will come, maybe stay for a few days, then fly or drive away and all of a sudden a new set of people come in. Here, we try to build brand loyalty in a different way. It’s organic growth. What we do is try to cater our promotions, food specials and even our slots we run looser than some of the Strip casinos from what I understand. We want people to come back because what we found is that taking people’s money fast doesn’t make you rich fast.

Are there ways in which the Henderson market would differ to that of Summerlin or Boulder City?

They’re all local areas of the valley, and with there being no gaming in Boulder City, they have to come to Henderson, which is good for us because we’re the first city on the way to the Strip. In Summerlin, we market to them like we would if you’re a Henderson resident or a local of Boulder City and North Las Vegas. Believe it or not, a good part of our business is from Summerlin and Boulder City. Of course, the lion’s share comes from the city of Henderson because it’s so convenient for our guests to come here. But like I said, we attract customers from all over the valley.

Would that equate to Emerald Island Casino not necessarily feeling the motivation to market to potential tourists?

Correct, our marketing efforts are 100% local and our clientele is 99.9% local. However, keep this in mind, a lot of our employees work or play on the Strip, and so word of mouth has been really good for us. Their customers will say, ‘boy, I’d really like to go to Hoover Dam,’ or ‘I’d like to go check something out in the suburbs,’ and they can say ‘well, you should go to my favorite casino, the Emerald Island or the Rainbow Club.’ So we get a lot of business for people that are reaching out from the Strip right now. I mean, they’re charging a lot of money for things, right? It’s become publicly known we’re in a little bit of a slump on the Strip.

Now they’re going to figure it out and everything’s going to be fine. They always do and they’ve already started to figure out because they’re coming up with better value deals and things of that nature, but a lot of people now come to town and they want to explore the suburbs. They read about things or they see things on TV, whether they’re from the East Coast or the Midwest or across the pond, if you will. They’ll come here and they just don’t want to stay on the Strip completely full-time. They want to go to Death Valley or Hoover Dam and they want to check out Red Rock, so they’re reaching out. There’s a lot of people that, for instance, want to come and have a beer at Love Lady Brewery or Mojave Brewing Company right here on Water Street, so just by osmosis we pick up business that way as well.

Having mentioned the slight drop in tourism, could this open more opportunities for locals casinos such as yourself?

Absolutely, because if people feel as if they don’t want to go to the Strip for whatever the reason may be, they’re going to stay here at local casinos. We do a really good job of making people feel like they’re at home when they come here. For all intents and purposes they are, if they’re a local patron.

Could new developments such as The Sphere and sports franchises in Las Vegas be affecting how tourists view the city, perhaps more residential vs. destination?

100%. I mean, if you just look at a Raiders game, over 50% of the fans are from the visiting team. The A’s are coming to Las Vegas, the Golden Knights have been great and were obviously born and raised here, which helped us. What’s really helped us is the Knights built a practice arena for the Silver Knights minor league hockey team 300 yards from here. That really opened the doors and got people’s attention saying ‘hey, Henderson is a cool place to go.’

We do a really good job of making people feel like they’re at home when they come here.

Because, from a certain point of view, Las Vegas may shift towards a city in which people care less about where they stay, and more the activity they are visiting for…

Exactly, and especially if you’re driving your car from, say, Los Angeles. I had a friend that came over the weekend to see The Who at the Sphere and Wizard of Oz later in the week, but just spent a few days in Vegas. And they stayed here, they spent their money in the area. They came to Henderson, they had dinner in Henderson, more people always bring more money.

On the competition side, would it be a fair assumption to say Emerald Island Casino focuses more on the Station Casinos and Boyd Gaming properties?

Stations and Boyd are competitors, yes, and they do a fantastic job. They really do. We learn a lot from them. MGM is more for the tourists, they’re local, but they obviously don’t cater to the local casinos as much as Station and Boyd are. They’re very local and they help us too because they bring people to the area. We don’t want to be exactly the same, but we want to take some of the things they do and maybe try to do them better in the confines of a smaller footprint. You can provide, or at least have a better chance of providing, superior guest service because you’re up close and personal with your customers.

For us here at Emerald Island, we carry 440 machines and right across the street the Rainbow Club has 330 machines, so you can get a lot more in touch with your customers that way, catering to them in an up close and personal manner. Like I said, Station and Boyd do a great job, but it’s probably a little harder for them to reach out and touch every customer that comes through their door.

Finally, how does Emerald Island Casino generate awareness outside of casino operations, such as fundraisers or community activities?

That’s a great question. We’ve been doing that for over 20 years here. We get very involved with the community, the Boys and Girls Club and the Henderson Chamber of Commerce for the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. I’m very proud to say that we’ve probably done more charitable work for a casino our size than anyone in the area.

Kirk Geller

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