When Borgata executives showed up on the payroll of the new Ocean Casino Resort, Atlantic City’s gaming leader cried foul. Borgata also filed a federal lawsuit last August accusing Ocean of poaching proprietary data about the casino’s big-time gamblers.
Last month, Borgata said Ocean continued to raid its executive pool and amended the complaint to reflect that, according to NJ Online Gambling.
Lawyers for Borgata allege that in the last year, Ocean’s hiring activities represented an illegal act to increase their competitiveness by targeting those with trade secrets. The hires included William Callahan, Borgata’s former vice president of relationship marketing and Kelly Burke, former executive director of marketing.
“Many of these executives have since done precisely what Ocean hired them to do: employ their intimate knowledge of Borgata’s confidential information…in an attempt to lure Borgata’s most important customers to Ocean,” the complaint said.
The case, filed in Nevada, home to MGM Resorts, Borgata’s parent, was reassigned to New Jersey.
“Ocean hired three other marketing and customer service employees who had previously reported to one of the first hires. A little while later, Ocean hired five butlers and five other marketing and customer service professionals away from Borgata,” the complaint said.
According to the lawsuit, high-level guests—known as whales—spend as much as $4 million a visit.
“In the current environment, government-mandated occupancy restrictions have combined with low visitation, low room rates, and low per capita spending to put pressure on Borgata and every other hotel casino in the Atlantic City market. Competition for high-level patrons is fierce, and Borgata’s ability to leverage hard-earned historical information about each of these most valuable customers is critical to its ability to maintain these valuable relationships.”
The suit also said executives like Callahan develop close personal relationships with patrons, from attending weddings and sporting events to offering luxury visits.
“They possessed detailed knowledge of these players’ particular wants and needs, permissions sought, accommodation preferences, schedules, gaming habits, credit requirements, comp requirements, staffing preferences, and other information about the players and their tendencies that Borgata relied upon,” the complaint said.
In its suit, Borgata alleged that the hiring practices began last May when a part-owner of Ocean met with Callahan and Burke.
“The purpose of targeting Callahan and Burke was clear: Both individuals had access to and intrinsic knowledge of Borgata’s trade secrets, and if Ocean were successful in luring Callahan and Burke to breach their employment agreements, Ocean could take advantage of Borgata’s trade secrets for its own benefit.”
Callahan and Burke left Borgata last summer.
“Neither Callahan nor Burke informed Borgata that they had accepted positions at Ocean. To the contrary, they both concealed the identity of their new employer.”
Other former Borgata staff heading to Ocean included Borgata’s director of communications, a social media manager, a public relations manager, a digital manager, and a digital specialist.
Borgata wants “the immediate return of all trade secrets and all devices and documents containing trade secrets and other information” as well as an award of damages “as the court may deem just and proper.”
