Mohegan Sun President and General Manager Ray Pineault has been promoted as Mohegan Gaming & Entertainment’s (MGE) chief operating officer. He will replace Michael Silberling, who left the job in July.
His promotion is pending regulatory approval.
Pineault started Mohegan Sun seven months ago, assuming the title regional president in charge of Mohegan Sun in Connecticut, Mohegan Sun Pocono in Pennsylvania and Paragon Casino Resort in Louisiana. Now he will oversee all MGE properties in the U.K. and Canada, as well as the Inspire project now in development in Incheon, South Korea. He will also oversee MGE’s regional presidents.
Mohegan President and CEO Mario Kontomerkos praised Pineault, saying, “From the beginning, it has been our mission to build the best executive team in the industry, and I believe we are on our way to achieving that status with a veteran like Ray at the helm.”
Mohegan Tribal Chairman James Gessner Jr. added, “On behalf of the tribal council, we are so proud of tribal member Ray Pineault for his promotion to chief operating officer for MGE. We are thrilled to have him take on this critical role in such an extremely important time.”
Pineault, who is also a tribal member, has been in the gaming business with the tribe for nearly two decades. Before serving as president and general manager of Mohegan Sun, he was senior staff attorney in the early 2000s, managing legal issues pertaining to commercial transactions.
In a related development, Mohegan Sun’s gaming revenues for the first 50 days after reopening from the pandemic lockdown were 20.5 percent higher than the same period in 2019.
In a filing with the SEC, the company reported that the casino’s table games and slots generated $106.5 million for the same period, compared to $88.4 million last year.
Net revenues for all sectors of the resort—$125 million—were down 10.9 percent, owing to the fact that when the Sun reopened, it was a partial reopening with many restaurants and other amenities opening partially, if at all.
Kontomerkos stated: “The first 50 days of post-opening operations of Mohegan Sun have demonstrated not only strong consumer spending relative to last year, but also reflect a new and significantly resized cost structure that has permanently elevated the property’s cash flow generating profile going forward.”
Some non-gaming amenities could begin reviving. Some shows are being scheduled for the fall, including Brad Paisley on December 3 and Chris Young on December 11.
Some nationally-televised events will be held at the resort in August and September as part of a recent deal with Viacom, which owns Showtime Boxing and Bellator MMA.
