You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
<strong>Delaware</strong> <strong>North</strong> Companies<br />
Gaming & Entertainment<br />
1939<br />
<strong>Delaware</strong> <strong>North</strong> Companies Gaming &<br />
Entertainment enjoyed a year of growth in 2009<br />
as its popular regional gaming and entertainment<br />
destinations outperformed many gaming venues<br />
in the hard-hit international gaming industry.<br />
<strong>Delaware</strong> <strong>North</strong>’s gaming properties were well<br />
positioned for success, thanks to several years of<br />
major renovations and expansions. These included<br />
the new $30 million Daytona Beach Kennel Club<br />
& Poker Room, which opened in mid-2008, and<br />
Wheeling Island Hotel•Casino•Racetrack, which<br />
two years ago added table games to become a full<br />
casino resort destination.<br />
Southland Park Gaming & Racing continued to<br />
grow its Arkansas and Memphis-area audience for<br />
gaming, adding a new steakhouse and simulcast<br />
center, the finishing touches on its two-yearold,<br />
$40 million expansion. Southland Park also<br />
bolstered its offerings of electronic poker and<br />
blackjack, while adding 300 new gaming machines<br />
with popular themes.<br />
<strong>Delaware</strong> <strong>North</strong>’s video lottery terminal (VLT)<br />
operations in New York state posted revenue gains<br />
in 2009 as well, further solidifying themselves as<br />
regional gaming and entertainment destinations.<br />
Finger Lakes Gaming & Racetrack completed<br />
the first phase of a multiyear renovation and<br />
expansion project, and Hamburg Casino at the<br />
Fairgrounds broke ground late in the year on a<br />
new gaming and hospitality building.<br />
Similarly, Wheeling Island and Daytona<br />
Beach gained recognition as popular, top-flight<br />
regional casino and poker venues, respectively.<br />
Wheeling Island did so in the midst of<br />
increased competition in nearby Pennsylvania,<br />
differentiating itself with entertainment and<br />
outstanding restaurants to complement its hotel,<br />
gaming and racing offerings.<br />
The <strong>Delaware</strong> <strong>North</strong> Companies Gaming<br />
Hospitality Group added a major contract in<br />
2009 with the $300 million Choctaw Casino<br />
Resort, which opened in February 2010 in<br />
Durant, Okla. <strong>Delaware</strong> <strong>North</strong> is operating a<br />
wide variety of restaurants as the casino’s food<br />
and beverage partner.<br />
Wheeling’s Moon a poker star<br />
They’ve only been playing poker at Wheeling<br />
Island since December 2007, yet already one of its<br />
patrons has made it to the top of the poker world.<br />
Darvin Moon, who qualified at a Wheeling Island<br />
tournament, finished second and picked up a cool<br />
$5.2 million at the 2009 World Series of Poker<br />
in Las Vegas. Moon wore a Wheeling Island shirt<br />
during the tournament “out of respect,” he said,<br />
turning down lucrative endorsement deals with<br />
poker websites.<br />
Moon, who owns and operates a small logging<br />
company in Maryland, began playing poker<br />
only a few years ago and honed his skills at<br />
Wheeling Island.<br />
23