Industry News
Hard Rock Digital Selects WITHIN as Digital Media Agency of Record to Power Online Marketing
WITHIN, the world’s first Performance Branding firm, announced that Hard Rock Digital has selected WITHIN as its digital media agency of record (AOR).
“We’re excited to introduce Hard Rock Sportsbook to fans in multiple states across the country, and digital strategy will be key to our success and growth. Having the right partner is crucial in these incredibly competitive markets and we value the expertise and strategic vision of the WITHIN team,” said John Koller, Hard Rock Digital’s Chief Marketing Officer and Managing Director, Marketing.
WITHIN will create an integrated, data-driven approach to drive the digital strategy of the Hard Rock Sportsbook app, Hard Rock Digital’s new mobile sports betting platform. WITHIN will design an omni-channel media program, using iterative assets and real-time data, to promote the app and drive awareness and downloads. WITHIN will collaborate with Hard Rock Digital to ensure that its marketing and business objectives are aligned with campaigns across all media channels.
“We look forward to working with Hard Rock Digital to build a media strategy that will maximize reach and lifetime value while providing a fresh, new way to engage devoted consumers who already love the brick-and-mortar Hard Rock experience,” said WITHIN CEO Joe Yakuel.
Industry News
Golden Entertainment Announces Leadership Changes
Golden Entertainment Inc. announced that effective March 20, 2024, Blake Sartini II, Golden’s Executive Vice President of Operations, became the Company’s Chief Operating Officer.
“Blake has worked in every capacity throughout our organization since he started at Golden almost 17 years ago. His unique knowledge of our Company’s culture, commitment to operational excellence, and strong leadership skills make him the ideal individual to be given responsibility for all our Nevada casino resorts, locals properties, tavern operations and related corporate functions,” Blake Sartini, Chairman and CEO of Golden, said.
Blake Sartini II initially joined Golden in June 2007, working with Golden’s tavern operations and building what is now the largest branded tavern portfolio in Nevada with 69 locations. Currently, as Executive Vice President of Operations, in addition to oversight of Golden’s taverns, he has direct responsibility for the Company’s five local casinos in Las Vegas and Pahrump.
Steve Arcana, Golden’s current Chief Operating Officer, became the Company’s Chief Development Officer also effective March 20, 2024. In this newly created role, Mr. Arcana will be responsible for all new tavern development, finding new third-party food and beverage concepts for the Company’s casino resorts, and exploring opportunities to unlock value in the Company’s excess real estate in Las Vegas, Laughlin and Pahrump. Mr. Arcana initially joined Golden in 2003 and has overseen the Company’s operations as it has grown from a privately held, 900-slot machine route operation to a publicly traded gaming company with casinos in Las Vegas, Laughlin and Pahrump in addition to its significant tavern portfolio.
“Steve has been with Golden for over 20 years and has been an integral part of growing our business and guiding us through many challenges. Steve has established a strong operating team and has been a consistent leader throughout his decades at Golden. His long history and extensive experience in the industry will continue to benefit the Company in his new role focused on creating value from new tavern development and unused assets in our casino portfolio,” Mr. Sartini said.
“These management changes will allow Golden to focus on maximizing performance in our core operations while exploring opportunities to drive future improvement by bringing potential new concepts to our existing portfolio. I am confident the changes to Blake and Steve’s roles with the Company will position us well to create additional shareholder value,” Mr. Sartini added.
Industry News
MGM Resorts International Announces Proposed Senior Notes Offering
MGM Resorts International announced that it proposes to offer $750,000,000 in aggregate principal amount of senior notes due 2032.
The Company intends to use the net proceeds from the offering of the notes to repay existing indebtedness, including its outstanding 6.750% senior notes due 2025. Pending such use, the Company may invest the net proceeds in short-term interest-bearing accounts, securities, or similar investments.
The notes being offered will be general unsecured senior obligations of the Company, guaranteed by substantially all of the Company’s wholly-owned domestic subsidiaries that guarantee the Company’s other senior indebtedness, and equal in right of payment with all existing or future senior unsecured indebtedness of the Company and each guarantor.
Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., BofA Securities, Inc., Barclays Capital Inc., BNP Paribas Securities Corp., Citigroup Global Markets Inc., Citizens JMP Securities, LLC, Fifth Third Securities, Inc., J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, Scotia Capital (USA) Inc., SMBC Nikko Securities America, Inc., and Truist Securities, Inc. will act as joint book-running managers and Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, PNC Capital Markets LLC, U.S. Bancorp Investments, Inc., and Wells Fargo Securities, LLC will act as co-managers for the proposed offering.
Industry News
Penn Entertainment Names Anuj Dhanda to Board of Directors
PENN Entertainment announced that its Board of Directors has appointed Anuj Dhanda to the Board, subject to customary regulatory approvals. Mr. Dhanda’s appointment expands the size of the Board to ten members, nine of whom satisfy the standards for director independence under the current Listing Rules of the NASDAQ Stock Market.
Mr. Dhanda serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Technology and Transformation Officer for Albertsons, a Fortune 100 Idaho-based chain of grocery stores with locations across the US. He joined Albertsons in 2015 in the midst of the company’s $9 billion acquisition of the Safeway grocery store chain. He was responsible for successfully merging the two companies’ technology platforms together. In his current role, he partners with business leaders to leverage technology to create a competitive advantage for the company. He is responsible for IT architecture, application platforms, supply chain modernization, data analytics, infrastructure and information security. He has also been the driver behind the company’s move to the cloud, making Albertsons one of the few enterprise businesses to have completely migrated their data centers to the Cloud. Mr. Dhanda is also focused on the acceleration of the business through the use of AI.
Prior to joining Albertsons, Mr. Dhanda was Sr. Vice President of Digital Commerce and CIO at Giant Eagle, a leading retailer in the Midwest, where he was accountable for managing all aspects of technology apps, architecture, infrastructure and more. Additionally, Mr. Dhanda held CIO roles at PNC Financial Services for nearly 15 years.
Mr. Dhanda has been active in numerous professional and philanthropic causes including the CIO Council for Greylock; President’s Council for Oracle; former Chairman of the Board at the Mattress Factory Museum; board member at Carnegie Museum of Art; and board member of United Way of Allegheny County. He has also served on the Board of BlueLinx (NYSE BXC) since May 2023. Mr. Dhanda has been recognized by CIO100 and was an honoree of the CIO Hall of Fame in 2019. He received both his MBA and Ph.D. in Finance from Rutgers University.
Marla Kaplowitz, Chair of PENN’s Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee of the Board of Directors, said: “We are delighted to welcome Anuj to the Board. He is a well-respected technology leader in the consumer space and is known for building powerful and collaborative teams. His deep understanding of the rapidly evolving technology landscape, including topics such as AI and cybersecurity, will be a tremendous resource for us as we continue to evolve our business around an omnichannel retail and interactive gaming, sports betting and entertainment experience for our industry leading database of customers.”
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