FireKeepers Casino names general manager
25 February 2008
LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- (PRESS RELEASE) -- Full House Resorts (AMEX: FLL) and its 50%-owned joint venture Gaming Entertainment Michigan, LLC (GEM) announced today that it has hired R. Bruce McKee to be the General Manager of FireKeepers Casino, located near Battle Creek, Michigan. Mr. McKee will join the FireKeepers team contingent upon licensing and approval by the National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC).
Mr. McKee has spent the past seven years as President of Gaming Entertainment Delaware (GED) – a joint venture between the Company and Harrington Raceway Inc. (HRI) – where he has also acted as General Manager of the venture's Harrington Raceway and Casino located in Harrington, Delaware. He recently oversaw an expansion to improve the customer experience, consisting of additional gaming devices and a gourmet restaurant, which resulted in increased earnings. Prior to joining GED, Mr. McKee worked for ten years at Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts, Inc., in a variety of positions including General Manager of Trump's Kansas City and Indiana properties, Chief Operating Officer of Trump Castle and Trump Taj Mahal casinos and Chief Financial Officer of Trump Hotels and Casino. Mr. McKee is a CPA and received his MBA from Golden Gate University in San Francisco.
"With the success he brought to Harrington Raceway and Casino in Delaware, it was an easy decision to bring Bruce on board," said Full House Chief Executive Officer Andre Hilliou. "We are confident that Bruce's extensive experience developing and managing casinos makes him the ideal person to make FireKeepers Casino a success in the Great Lakes region."
GEM received approval for its gaming management contract on December 14, 2007, from the NIGC, which was the final federal approval needed for the project. Design efforts are well underway and Clark Construction Company, an experienced construction manager, has been engaged with a guaranteed maximum price construction contract in place. FireKeepers Casino is expected to have approximately 3,200 gaming positions, a variety of dining venues and 2,500 parking spaces – inclusive of a 2,078 space enclosed parking garage – and is slated to break ground early this year. The casino will be located at Exit 104 of Interstate 94, the primary interstate highway between Chicago and Detroit. GEM will receive a management fee for seven years.