Roger Wagner has forty-five years of quality experience in the gaming and hotel management industry. His most recent role was as President and Chief Operating Officer of Binion Enterprises, LLC, responsible for identifying, evaluating and executing all aspects of casino gaming operations opportunities for the Jack Binion Family. From late 2004 to present, Wagner has been a partner with House Advantage, LLC, a gaming-consulting group that was founded upon the same philosophies that served as The Binion Family’s operating principals. They use those philosophies to assist gaming companies in improving market share and bottom line profits. Wagner served as President of Horseshoe Gaming Holding Corp. from January 2001 until its sale in July 2004. Prior to that, he served as its Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer since November 1998. As President, he was responsible for the day-to-day management of Horseshoe Gaming, one of the largest privately held gaming companies in the United States. Before joining Horseshoe, Wagner served as President of the Development Company for Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts and prior to that, he was President at the Trump Castle Casino Resort in Atlantic City for over five years. In addition, before joining the Trump Organization, he held the position of President at the Claridge Casino Hotel in Atlantic City for six years. Wagner began his career in the casino industry in Las Vegas in 1966, and has extensive management experience in the industry. He has worked at the Dunes and the Sands in Las Vegas, as well as the MGM Grand Hotel in Reno, where he was instrumental in the opening of that property. Wagner also served as Vice President and General Manager of the Edgewater Hotel and Casino in Laughlin, Nevada. Photograph of author in holiday cash giveaway courtesy of Bill Borrelli Studios of South Jersey
No Work and All Play
Audacious Chronicles of a Casino Boss
by Roger Wagner
No Work and All Play
Audacious Chronicles of a Casino Boss
by Roger Wagner
Published Nov 09, 2011
445 Pages
Genre: Non-Classifiable
Book Details
The contents of the book describe the many examples of the types of characters and crazy daily episodes that an average person who selects a career in casino hotel management will witness and are part of during a lifetime in such a career. The book is really not about me, but it is a lifetime chronicle of my career where every work day is fun and there is almost never any drudgery. The three most interesting characters in the book are none other than a tycoon named Donald Trump, a Casino Icon named Jack Binion and a baseball legend named Mickey Mantle. The book also describes many other very interesting real-life persons in my career from Mob-connected people to other well known casino operators of their day. Most of these characters are not famous celebrities but their stories are sometimes even more humorous than those of Trump or Mantle. The stories about these people are real and actually happened, although the actual dates may be incorrect in some cases and some of the intricate details may be embellished to improve the stories. None of the tales degrade any of the characters in my book, but I do tell humorous stories about all of them that demonstrate they all have to put their pants on one leg at a time like the rest of us. It is not a text book, but it can serve as a good primer for a person considering making gaming hospitality their career objective. The seven different sections of the book are written to show how a person entering a casino hospitality position might evolve from the lowest level in a casino organization to a very high level of management, and that it generally takes many years to accomplish. It also describes the different relationships that one develops in any type of business and I use real people to illustrate how they each fit into the different types of relationships.