34 | The Boardwalk Journal | May 2012 Lloyd D. Levenson, Esq., CEO Cooper Levenson Follow The LighT By Felicia lo w e n s t e i n ni v e n they say knowledge is power. if that’s the case, then atlantic City has a new secret weapon. it’s the lloyd D. levenson institute of gaming, hospitality & tourism at the richard stockton College of new Jersey. nicknamed light for its creatively conceived acronym, the institute is a signature think tank at a college that already is a game changer in this market. but the story of light actually starts well before such an entity was even contemplated by its founders. Flash back to the early seventies, the era of leisure suits and disco fever. while it’s easy to imagine that pulsating vibe being part of today’s atlantic City, at the time boogie nights was far from the reality in this declining town. so far, in fact, that it was a struggle just to do business. in the early seventies, atlantic City’s poverty rate ranked among the highest in new Jersey. The city was no longer a tourist draw, and the average atlantic City tourist was poor or elderly or both. Desperate for a panacea, small contingents of visionaries began to lobby for a miracle, in the form of legalized casino gaming. meanwhile, up north, essex County welcomed its youngest-ever first assistant prosecutor, lloyd D. levenson. at age 32, levenson was supervising 85 attorneys and 102 detectives. it seemed he was destined to continue his climb up the corporate ladder either in the public sector or private one.
ut fate intervened. During a second attempt before new Jersey’s voters, the casino gaming referendum passed in 1976. Joe lordi, head of the essex County prosecutor’s office, was tapped by governor brendan bryne as the first chairman of the Casino Control Commission. with him came Joe Fusco as director of licensing. Fusco was the one who tapped levenson. “it was the right time for a move,” noted levenson, who was intrigued by a new gaming industry developing in atlantic City. “plus, i didn’t have to take another bar exam in order to do it,” he joked. WelCoMe To aTlanTiC CiTy up until then, levenson had been to atlantic City just once in his life, when he played the state championship game with his high school basketball team at boardwalk hall. The atlantic City he was about to encounter was vastly different than what he remembered. “back then, the bar was very close knit,” he explained. “if you didn’t grow up here, you were considered a foreigner. if you came in as a gaming lawyer, they were likely to run you out of town. i thought that if i came in as a prosecutor with the white hat, i would be well respected.” levenson was called “the 201 boy” at first, a reference to the area code where he used to reside. his skill was tested early when he was put on a case of a gang member receiving a stolen van. “now you have to understand, i had come from prosecuting murder trials,” said levenson. levenson plowed ahead, nailing Kenny weaver and his wife with a conviction that ultimately led to putting several other heavy hitters in jail. among the colorful characters levenson remembers from those trials were Doorbuster, a gang member who opened doors with his head, and parrothead, who sported a colorful tattoo from eyebrows to neck. “That was my welcome to atlantic County,” he said. <strong>Get</strong>tinG inTo The GaMe in a couple of years, levenson moved into private practice in the law firm that now bears his name, Cooper levenson attorneys at law. “i knew i wanted to do gaming work,” he said. “so i walked in the door, and they said there’s something called the world gaming Congress in las Vegas. now it’s called the global gaming expo. i hopped on a plane and headed out there.” Coincidentally, so did Carl zeitz, a prominent member of the Casino Control Commission. “now Carl was known as being very strict, a difficult vote to get,” said levenson. “we started talking on the plane. it was the start of a wonderful friendship.” zeitz turned out to be levenson’s entry into gaming law. “i was friendly with the counsel at Caesars,” levenson explained, “and so i asked him for work. he asked me why he should hire me since i had no gaming experience? i told him that my good friend Carl might be able to help. That gave me the shot. Then, the first case that i got, i wasn’t supposed to win. but i won it, and that started the ball rolling.” as levenson became immersed in gaming law, he realized that something was missing. The university of nevada, las Vegas (unlV) had a research institute. atlantic City had nothing. nevada had a major gaming conference. mississippi had one too. again, atlantic City—the second largest gaming jurisdiction in the world—had nothing. The topic came up in countless conversations. One in particular was with michael pollock. “it was his last day as the public information officer for the Casino Control Commission,” remembered levenson. “we talked about starting a conference based in atlantic City.” it was the start of the east Coast gaming Congress, now in its sixteenth year, and “every year it’s been more and more successful,” according to levenson. atlantic City was starting to make its mark as the place where leaders in the gaming industry could share ideas and articulate visions. but there still wasn’t anything like the unlV international gaming institute, the non-profit academic and research facility out in las Vegas. leT There Be liGhT enter the richard stockton College of new Jersey and stockton president herman J. saatkamp, Jr. “ever since president saatkamp came to stockton, i began to see the college in a different light,” acknowledged levenson. “i saw his forcefulness in trying to make stockton more than just a local college. That got me thinking.” From left: Israel Posner, President and CEO of the American Gaming Association, Frank J. Fahrenkopf Jr., Dr. Herman Saatkamp, sculptor Brian P. Hanlon and Lloyd D. Levenson levenson approached Dr. saatkamp with the idea of a gaming institute. he also discussed the institute with Dr. harvey Kesselman, current stockton provost and executive Vice president, Dr. israel posner, a stockton professor and administrator since 1973, and other high-ranking officials at the school. The rest was history. “analysis and strategic planning by our school of business has shown the region would benefit from impartial research as well as training programs, surveys and other services critical to the gaming and hospitality industries,” noted Dr. saatkamp in the official press release that announced the establishment of the lloyd D. levenson institute of gaming, hospitality and tourism in april 2010. he indicated that levenson’s assistance made the institute a reality. “his efforts and generosity promote one of the region’s most important economic drivers and benefits our entire community and state.” The new institute combines the expertise and resources of two previously well-established stockton centers into one comprehensive umbrella: (1) sigma, which offers a gaming management curriculum, workshops and customized training programs, and (2) the new Jersey Center for hospitality and tourism research, which conducts research and hosts guest lectures. “simply put, our mission is to provide research and analysis, and education in a way that supports the gaming, hospitality and tourism industries in new Jersey,” noted Dr. israel (izzy) posner, executive Director of the lloyd D. levenson institute of gaming, hospitality and tourism (light). “That’s not to say that our reach won’t extend beyond atlantic City, but primarily we are a new Jersey resource.” STarTlinG STaTiSTiCS anD More in just a few short years, light has made its mark on the industry. “it used to be that unlV was quoted whenever there was an industry story, even one that ran locally,” noted levenson. “now they call izzy. he’s probably been quoted at least a hundred times.” Often, reporters reach out to the institute to comment on data they’ve released. That was the case with the 2012 Casino gaming preferences survey done by light. released in February, the survey was based on conversations with 3,043 adults in 16 markets within a 400-mile radius of atlantic City. among its findings were that slots are played more often than any other game when visiting a casino, and more than twice as many men play poker as women do. armed with this type of information, casinos can plan accordingly to accommodate visitors. “it’s not just about gaming, however,” said Dr. posner. “we focus on everything from gaming to dining, spas, golf clubs, travel. every year we do a tourism promotion survey where we research approximately 3,000 adults in 16 different markets between boston and Virginia and west to Ohio. we’re interested in finding out their preferences and behaviors relative to travel and tourism, and particularly their connection to atlantic City. we look at the general recreational tourist compared to the casino tourist.” The 2012 tourism promotion survey revealed that atlantic County tourists spent $10.6 billion in 2010, twice as much as in Cape may County. The primary purpose of visits to atlantic City was for gaming, with a close second was simply to vacation. pennsylvania narrowly edged out new Jersey as the most popular response to where their last casino trip was, according to the survey. “had it been conducted at the end of the summer, we likely would have had a different distribution of responses,” noted the researchers. interestingly enough, nearly half of respondents had never visited atlantic City, and another fourth of the people surveyed had not been here since 2003. “Our next focus is to survey the people who are not coming to atlantic City,” said levenson. “we want to understand why, and also find out how we can adapt our marketing programs to attract them.” most of the time, the research is publicly available via the light newsletter and online on the college website. results also are made available to statewide hospitality and tourism professionals, and 36 | The Boardwalk Journal | May 2012 May 2012 | The Boardwalk Journal | 37
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