Instead of dwelling on the downturn in staff — as well as the significant decline in revenues over the past year — Foxwoods’ recently named CEO Jason Guyot said he sees opportunities for expansion ahead, particularly as the vaccine roll out continues.
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Foxwoods Resort Casino currently has about half of the employees it did a year ago.
The significant drop in workers — to about 2,400 active employees — reflects the deep toll the pandemic has had on one of the world’s largest casinos, which happens to be based in Connecticut.
But instead of dwelling on the downturn — as well as the significant decline in revenues over the past year — Foxwoods’ recently named CEO Jason Guyot said he sees opportunities for expansion ahead, particularly as the vaccine roll out continues.
In fact, over the next four to six months Foxwoods will unveil several new amenities he said will attract more people to his Ledyard-based casino.
The goal, he said, is to build a fully-integrated resort experience at Foxwoods so people don’t just spend a day there, but a few days, a week or longer.
Length of stay is a key metric he will be tracking and trying to increase in the months and years ahead, he said.
With 9 million square feet of space, Foxwoods already has plenty of offerings, he added, including the Tanger Outlets shopping center, 2,200-plus hotel rooms, 45 restaurants, two theaters, multiple spas, 36 holes of golf and a variety of other amenities.
“We are going to continue to add to that and people are going to be looking for experiences, and in the near future you aren’t going to be able to get those types of experiences anywhere but at Foxwoods,” Guyot said with confidence.
And he’s got one new business venture that could become reality soon — perhaps as early as this fall. Foxwoods’ parent, the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, recently came to terms with Gov. Ned Lamont on a deal to legalize sports betting and online gambling in Connecticut.
If approved by state lawmakers, the 10-year deal would give Foxwoods, Mohegan Sun and the Connecticut Lottery Corp. near exclusive rights to offer casino games and sports bets online.
Lamont recently said he’d like sports betting up and running by the time football season starts in September.
Foxwoods is already gearing up for the opportunity, having last year signed a partnership with sports-betting giant DraftKings, which will handle its online sports betting and iGaming operation. It also plans to open a new brick-and-mortar sportsbook/bar in a more central location within the casino.
The new revenue stream will be important for the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe, which recently missed a multimillion-dollar debt payment before its lenders agreed to extend the maturity date until next year
Prior to being named permanent CEO, Guyot had been Foxwoods’ interim chief executive since April 2020, leading the casino through the financial crisis brought on by the pandemic.
He’s the first member of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation to lead the casino and he has worked there since 2003, holding positions in human resources, marketing, gaming and hotel operations.
Guyot recently participated in a Q&A with Hartford Business Journal to discuss his new job and the future of his casino. Here’s what else he had to say.
Q: Why did you want the CEO job?
I have been here with Foxwoods for over 18 years. I grew up locally. I’m a member of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe and am very proud of that. The Tribal Council had asked me to step in as interim CEO since last April and since that time I’ve really strived to take us forward through some of the most difficult times in the history of the business.
Being here for so long I have my opinion on opportunities and am very optimistic about the future despite the pandemic. Coming out of this I am really focused on setting a new direction for Foxwoods moving into the future.
Q: What do you mean by new direction?
During the pandemic we took the opportunity to restructure the entire organization, from management and above all the way down to the frontline team.
We used analytics to inform our decision-making and now we have a much more efficient organization and our staffing levels are based on the volumes that are coming through. That’s been a huge benefit to us trying to weather this storm.
I have a vision to make Foxwoods a fully-integrated resort destination. I’m very optimistic about future development that we are currently negotiating and there will be some very exciting announcements coming in the near future that I think the majority of our guests will be excited about.
Q: What can you tell us about these new ventures?
I can’t really share a lot of details at this time but within the next several weeks and months there will be some very exciting announcements related to new amenities at the casino that really add to that fully-integrated resort experience.
My focus is on increasing visitation, revenues and profitability — that’s how I can help as we move forward. The goal is to bring the best in amenities to Foxwoods, whether we do it ourselves or partner with outside organizations.
Q: How big of an opportunity will sports betting be for your casino?
We think it’s going to be a great opportunity. It grabs a lot of the allure for people interested in betting on sports, although the iGaming piece is probably most impactful in totality.
Both are definitely going to increase revenue and traffic to the casino.
We know we partnered with the best sports-betting partner in the industry with DraftKings. They will handle the online sports betting since they already have the technology to do that. They would handle the mobile online gaming as well so it’s really a one-stop shop for our guests.
We are also going to be doing some very creative things here at our DraftKings at Foxwoods location. It’s going to be one of the best, if not the best sportsbooks in the industry.
Q: What will that sportsbook facility look like?
We have a race book located in the Rainmaker Casino area. We are going to relocate that to a more central location that is more accessible so we can really create a new kind of experience for the sportsbook.
It will probably be a sportsbook/sports bar, which we think would do very well here.
Q: What casino games will be offered online?
It’s pretty much going to be like a traditional casino and maybe some new games. This will include all of your traditional games like black jack, roulette, slots, craps, novelty games, you name it.
Q: Have you projected how much new revenue that iGaming and sports betting will bring to Foxwoods?
Some of our projections, in totality, would be around 15% of what we are driving right now to brick and mortar. I don’t want to get into specific numbers since they are all projections. We think it’s impactful.
Q: As more people gamble online is there a danger that fewer people will go to your brick-and-mortar casino?
I disagree with that idea. From what we’ve seen with other casinos it creates incremental growth, which is great for the state, Foxwoods and Mashantucket Pequot Tribe.
Just because you can go to the Disney website does that mean you aren’t going to go to the park? Absolutely not. People are looking for experiences and that’s what we provide here.
Q: As part of the sports-betting deal, the two tribes had to give up the planned East Windsor casino. Why?
We have a great relationship with East Windsor. We have been committed to that project but it was important to the state of Connecticut that we walk away from it through negotiations.
It was something that we thought would be successful and be a benefit to the state and East Windsor. It’s unfortunate and maybe there is potential down the line that can come to fruition.
Q: Competition in the Northeast gaming market has been increasing for years with new casinos in Massachusetts and other states. Do you see competition continuing to stiffen?
Unfortunately there probably will be more competition. We’ll see what New York state does in terms of allowing table games in New York City and if they open up more licenses within the city. That will have an impact on the Northeast.
There are a lot of players now. When we opened in 1992 we were the only casino outside of Atlantic City and Las Vegas. Now we have over 45 different casinos within 200 to 250 miles. I think it will continue to be a challenge as states look for ways to gain tax revenue.
Q: Where is Foxwoods in terms of its reopening? What are the next reopening milestones?
We are still at a limited capacity but I say that in relative terms because we are 9 million square feet, and 25% capacity can still be up over 75,000 people here and we haven’t come close to reaching that.
We are probably about 80% open on property. The Fox Tower hotel is now open on weekends. Tanger mall has been open. We just brought back live entertainment. We are continuing to ramp back up. We just brought back poker. We’ve reopened the Rainmaker Casino on weekends.
Year-over-year visitation numbers are still down. As we move forward and get through the spring you are going to see a lot of the property reopen.
Q: What’s your outlook on the convention and events business?
I don’t think we are going to see a full ramp up of conventions until some time in 2022, if we are lucky, late 2021.
We are still getting some calls and demand for some smaller events. We are still able to hold conventions. We have some strict protocols.
We have about 175,000 square feet of convention space here. It’s a big piece of business for us so we’d like to get that ramped up sooner than later.
Q: Have you had any challenges as you bring employees back to work?
Yes, it’s been very challenging. With the stimulus going out and changes to unemployment, it has been very difficult to get some of the team back. But that being said there are a lot of people who are struggling and hurting out there and this stimulus can help them.
We hope within the next few months as we ramp up operations, more people are interested in coming back. We will see.
