If Reno is the Biggest Little City in the World, then Reno-based Eldorado Resorts has become the biggest little casino company in the world.
And it has done it in true Reno fashion, as a family affair.
The first time I met then Eldorado CEO Gary Carano, it was in his small office in Eldorado Casino in downtown Reno. The office befitted a company that owned just one casino, parts of two adjacent casinos and a Louisiana riverboat.
Behind Gary’s desk was a huge photograph of a Dallas Cowboys quarterback throwing a pass. The quarterback was Glenn Carano, Gary’s brother.
In the way of the old-school casino boss, Gary had offered every hospitality – to have me picked up at the airport, a room at Eldorado, dinner on the house. And if I went to La Strada, Eldorado’s signature fine-dining restaurant, make sure to order a glass of Ferrari-Carano wine, Gary said handing me a Ferrari-Carano Vineyards business card. The wine was the pride of Don Carano, Eldorado founder, Gary’s father and family patriarch who had begun another life as a highly regarded winemaker in Sonoma, California.
As time passed, younger Caranos joined the business. One of them, Gary’s son and today’s COO, Anthony, came in as general counsel, being a lawyer like grandfather Don.
That began to change when Eldorado went public in September 2014 with the purchase of MTR Gaming, which owned three casinos in West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio. Now, Eldorado had non-family shareholders to serve and to heed. Still, it was a family enterprise – the proof: brother Glenn, the former Cowboy, went east to help run the new possessions.
The big change came in May 2017 when Eldorado bought Isle of Capri and overnight became a large national company.
A reasonable question then was whether a small family-run company could make the transition to managing such a large network of casinos and keep happy the now diverse ownership that included institutional investors and the demands that they make.
The best place to look for an answer to that question is the stock price. Eldorado stock was a little over $4 a share when MTR was purchased. It is around $40 today. A 10-times return in under six years is a pretty clear answer. And reasonable scenarios can be drawn that the stock can double over the next couple of years.
Crafting the financing of these deals and helping lead Eldorado’s evolution has been one key non-family member, CFO and now CEO Tom Reeg, a Wall Street guy who has prospered in Truckee Meadows.
The acquisition of Caesars also presents two interesting twists in Reno history.
Big, boisterous Las Vegas to the south is the world’s gaming capital and grabs the imagination of the public, investors and industry leaders. After Las Vegas, cities like Macau, Atlantic City and even Biloxi get more attention.
Yet, just as small, insular Reno gave birth to the world’s biggest gaming supplier in IGT, the “guys up in Reno” as Las Vegans might say, will now run the world’s biggest casino company.
Eldorado’s purchase of Caesars is also something of a homecoming. What is Caesars today began as Harrah’s. Just as Harrah’s changed its name to Caesars when it bought the company, Eldorado will adopt the Caesars name to capitalize on the better-known brand. But the fact remains, Caesars traces its heritage directly to Reno’s favorite son Bill Harrah.
So, two great Reno names—Carano and Harrah—are united.
Congratulations Gary, Tom and the Carano clan. We look forward to continuing the ride.
