Page 11 - Mississippi/Louisiana Gaming News - Spring, 2024

Moving Ahead
Table Games Director
Golden Nugget recently hired Kevin Lentz as director of table games. Lentz has more than 30 years of experience in the casino industry. He has worked in Reno and Las Vegas, Nevada, but has spent the majority of his career working on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Lentz is looking forward
to bringing innovation and a renewed focus on customer service to the experienced Golden Nugget table game team.
SPRING 2025
MISSISSIPPI GAMING NEWS 11
Hard Rock promotes one, welcomes two directors
BILOXI — Hard Rock Biloxi promoted Shaun Catchot to executive director of non-gaming operations and welcomed two new directors, Bernardine Labat and Eddie Ray.
In his new role, Catchot will provide overall leadership, guidance, and direction to hotel, food and beverage, and facilities management teams.
His goals are to ensure a seamless, high-quality experience for guests across non-gaming areas; maximize revenue generation from non-gaming areas
while ensuring cost-effective operations; optimize operational efficiency across all non-gaming departments; and strengthen the hotel casino’s non-gaming offerings as key attractions to complement the casino’s brand.
Labat has been named director of player services. Her top priorities will be delivering exceptional customer service and safeguarding company assets, as well as creating a unified team to ensure guests receive a high level of service.
Labat began her gaming career in 1992 at Casino Magic in Bay St. Louis where she started as an EVS attendant. Labat advanced to assistant cage/credit manager in 2005, and later joined Silver Slipper Casino Hotel in the same position in 2006.
In 2022, Labat became cage manager at American Place Casino in Waukegan, Illinois. She recently returned to
Mississippi for her job at Hard Rock. Also new is Eddie Ray, director of security and loss prevention. Ray is
responsible for monitoring activities on property to ensure that all applicable laws,
Shaun Catchot
rules, regulations, policies, procedures
and controls of
the company, OSHA, and the Mississippi Gaming Commission are followed.
Ray spent the
past 11 years at
IP Casino Resort
Spa in Biloxi, where he most recently
was a security, transportation and safety manager. He is retired from the Gulfport Police Department and also served in the Army and Mississippi National Guard, Navy Reserves, and United States Navy.
Bernardine Labat
Eddie Ray
Scarlet Pearl
hires Under
the Oak chef
D’IBERVILLE — Scarlet Pearl Casino Resort has appointed Scott Kaiser as chef for Under the Oak Cafe, overseeing operations at both the cafe and Ami Pizza kitchens. With a career spanning more than 40 years in the casino and hospitality industry,
Kaiser brings
a wealth
of culinary
expertise to
his new role.
Kaiser’s
journey began
in 1980 at the
Hilton Casino
in Atlantic
City, New
Jersey, where he served as sous chef until 1988. He then moved on to become the restaurant chef at Portofino’s at the Castle Casino,
also in Atlantic City, until 1991. His tenure at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut commenced in 1991 as executive sous chef, eventually rising to executive chef in 1999.
In 2006, Kaiser joined Twin River Casino in Lincoln, Rhode Island, as executive chef, playing a pivotal role
in the opening of a $750 million expansion and leading a team of 150 culinary professionals. His career took him to the Gulf Coast in 2014, where he served as food and beverage director at Hard Rock in Biloxi before becoming the corporate director of culinary operations at Bally’s Twin River Corporation in Rhode Island in 2019.
Scott Kaiser
Cassandra Wilson
VICKSBURG — Cassandra Wilson has been promoted to player services manager at Ameristar Casino Hotel in Vicksburg. Upon her promotion, Wilson was noted for bringing a wealth of knowledge and operational experience to the player services department.
“Throughout her tenure, Cassandra has
exemplified growth and development; learning her functional roles each step of the way and continuing to advance her career within the company,” said Zack Bergman, vice president of finance at Ameristar Vicksburg.
In her casino career, Wilson has held various roles, from slot attendant to casino manager.
Ameristar promotes Wilson to manager