Following a recent management shake-up and amending several credit agreements, casino operator Full House Resorts has named Lewis Fanger as its new chief financial officer. The company, based in Las Vegas, owns one casino in each of Fallon, Nevada, Mississippi, and Indiana, while managing a resort in Lake Tahoe.
Since naming Dan Lee as CEO last December, the company as made several moves to restore their balance sheet. The new agreement will allow Full House to move forward with hotel construction at the Silver Slipper Casino in Bay Saint Louis, Mississippi. Macquarie Securities gaming analyst Chad Beynon told investors, “Going forward, we view Full House as a show-me story, re-energized by new management and the Silver Slipper hotel opening.”
After a two-month proxy fight which culminated in Lee taking over, he followed up by naming Fanger as CFO, the same position he held at Pinnacle Entertainment when Lee was the regional gaming company’s CEO. The previous two years saw Fanger with Wynn Resorts Ltd., where he oversaw investor relations.
Lee announced the amended credit agreement at the end of January, allowing the company to reconfigure the Silver Slipper hotel construction. While the hotel will reduce its room count from 142 to 129, nine high-end luxury suites will be added. Beynon said Full House has seen some rough times over the past three years, as they have to deal with cancellations of projects in Kentucky and Mississippi, in addition to increased competition at its Rising Star Casino in Indiana.
The company elected a new board member Bradley Tirpak as its non-executive chairman and re-elected UNLV hotel and hospitality professor Carl Braunlich as vice chairman. Full House Resorts shares have gone between 87 cents and $2.64 over the past year. On Friday, they gained 7 cents, to close at $1.40 on Nasdaq.
