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Casino Workers Reapplying For Jobs

LAS VEGAS, Nevada – Nov. 9, 2000 --Station Casinos Inc. passed the first regulatory hurdle in its takeover of the Fiesta hotel-casino Wednesday, after the Nevada Gaming Control Board voted to approve Station's $185 million buyout of the popular North Las Vegas locals property.

The deal must still be approved by the Nevada Gaming Commission later this month. If that approval is given, Station hopes to close on its purchase of the Fiesta from the Maloof family in January.

But a big uncertainty remains for the 1,100 employees of the Fiesta, who will be laid off when Station closes on its purchase. Station plans to hire 1,016 people to run the property -- and 412 Station employees have applied for transfers to the Fiesta, said Scott Nielson, Station executive vice president and general counsel. Fiesta employees are applying to keep their jobs at a hiring center at the property, opened Monday.

It is the same situation faced by workers at the Santa Fe hotel-casino, recently taken over by Station. After that buyout, the 900 Santa Fe workers at the property were forced to reapply for their jobs -- a move Station said was necessary because the property was being completely rebranded. That isn't occurring with the Fiesta, which will remain essentially unchanged after the Station takeover.

But Nielson hinted a good portion of workers from the Fiesta will be retained.

"We want to hire the very best to run this property, and we're not rebranding," Nielson said. "They have people familiar with the brand already. We still want to hire the very best, but I think that a lot of people that are now working there have a real good shot of still working there (after the Station takeover)."

Still, Nielson defended Station's decision to make all workers re-apply for their jobs -- and its decision to consider filling hundreds of jobs there with Station employees.

"Our own employees see transfer opportunities as a benefit ... so they can improve the shift they have and their job," Nielson said. "We take that very seriously. We want to give our own people every opportunity to move up."

Nielson said it was unlikely much renovations would be needed at the property, since the Maloof family completed a massive renovation and expansion of the Fiesta in 1999. As a result, the Fiesta isn't likely to close down temporarily when Station assumes control, as happened at the Santa Fe.

As in the Santa Fe buyout, control board officials again examined the question of whether Station would be assuming too much market share by buying the Fiesta, which would be its sixth major property in the Las Vegas area.

But since board members said Nevada gaming regulations didn't define the "locals market," they relied instead on Station's overall market share in Nevada and Clark County. The Fiesta will give Station 7 percent of the Nevada market, and 8 percent of Clark County.

"Clearly, under 10 percent market share shouldn't prevent anybody (gaming customers) from availing themselves of market opportunities," said Steve DuCharme, chairman of the gaming control board. "We did not feel this was anti-competitive."

Though he cautioned that a final determination has yet to be made, he believed the same would prove true for Station's $70 million buyout of the Reserve in Henderson.

"The acquisition of the Reserve would probably be similar (in market share increase to the Fiesta buyout)," DuCharme said.

Station may ultimately own or have partnership interests in nine big properties in the Las Vegas market, including hotel-casinos proposed or under construction in Green Valley and North Las Vegas.

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