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Spine thickness?? - Delaware North

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<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

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