In the House
the rock , n roll
MAY 2014
the casino magazine
d l o s t! u o
Grand Villa Casino May 6 & 13 2014
With
Mike Reno the original Loverboy
& Special VIP Celebrity Guests! PRODUCED BY: ACCIDENT [Michele Duncan]
contents 3 Straight Talk by Gina Morin 6 Rock And Roll Never Forgets by Jim Lightbody 7 Hitting The High Notes by Monica Bohm 10 Operations Update by Craig Jooste 12 Product Update by Danny Chang, Julienne Joe, Michelle Yueh 13 Welcome To The New Age by Karen Hartley & Kevin Kaine 15 Rock On! by Paul Longden 19 Analytics Rockstars by Jennifer Gallaway 21 GMS Update Will Parei 23 Responsible Gambling Awareness Weeks by Nicole Lewis 25 Poker Faces by Don Chow 32 Speaking Of Safety by Chris Lyth & Andrew Fraser 33 Chances Maple Ridge 35 Spot Light by Gina Morin 37 Jack It Up 38 Stray Cats Back Cover A Hoarding of Tickets Some concerts Mike Speke (our designer) has attended. He likes loud music.
‘Crazy is good for business.’ I think rock n’ roll really is about being a bit crazy. Billy Corgan
straight talk For what it’s worth, we are all experiencing a lot of changes and sometimes it feels like it’s your 19th nervous breakdown; a constant fight for your right to just hang on to your life. We’re often caught between a rock and a hard place. Other times it’s a long and winding road. There are days when all you need is a little help and you want to shout it out loud, we’re not going to take it! It’s not being paranoid; it shouldn’t make you want to shout, maybe it’s just the need to take it easy. This crazy train we call life is busy, frantic, delirious, but occasionally it can be smooth and give you a peaceful easy feeling. A day in the life for us is all about working for a living, being a money maker, staying back in black and not being a powerslave. We don’t work 9 to 5; it’s a dog eat dog life, we’re still at it after midnight and we work hard for the money. We all have deadlines and commitments, and try to have a little pride and joy, but more than anything, all we want is a little respect. So we can’t help but ask ourselves what’s going on? It isn’t business as usual. We can’t focus on yesterday. We don’t want to be dazed and confused. Our business is at a crossroads and we need to be aggressive, be the leader of the pack, and we need to do it right now! We need to come together and have the desire, the burning ambition to be better and we need to believe it is worth it in the long run. We’re not saying let’s go crazy, but maybe it’s time to take the jump? Imagine, with a little help from my friends, we could all have the drive to shake, rattle and roll and be at the top of the world. Are you okay living life being comfortably numb or do you want to shake it up? After a hard day’s night, we all want to relax, have a little satisfaction, maybe enjoy the sound of silence and have some sweet dreams. But, before then you’ve got nothin’ to lose. We are family and we all need to take it to the limit. It’s a long way to the top, but when you get there, anything goes! Rock On!
gmorin@bclc.com
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Be the first to email Gina with the names of all the bands mentioned in Straight Talk (in linear order) and win a $50 Itunes Gift Card!
If it looks good, you’ll see it. If it sounds good, you’ll hear it. If it’s marketed right, you’ll buy it. But... If it’s real... you’ll feel it. Kid Rock
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They say stay in the lines, but there’s always something better on the other side. John Mayer
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rock and roll never forgets Jim Lightbody
As we reflect on the past year, it’s clear that when we put our minds to something, we can truly make a difference. And there is one example I’d like to highlight: I recall well over a year ago, having the discussion about our Table Games Strategy and how we were going to create a path forward that would strengthen our High Limit play, develop our Regular play and create new opportunities for Low Limit play. The execution on our High Limit tactics has been outstanding. We are leveraging our service partners and by introducing more opportunities for High Limit play we are reducing our risk and increasing revenue. It has happened because of the great execution by a team including people from all over the casino business – inside BCLC and our service partners. We rocked it! And now I look forward to our development of Light and Casual players through our Low Limit tactics, now that we have regulator approval. You got to roll me and call me, the Tumblin’ Dice…… This success also gives me confidence that as we embark on the development of a new Slot Strategy that we will rock that too. The collaboration among us will be critical to the execution. We’ve proven that when all the appropriate parties are represented, we have better execution. And without execution, the strategy is useless. Because, even the Good Die Young…
forward that starts with positioning our properties for the target customers (Branding), leading to developing the product/property that will attract them (Property Management), and capping it off with communicating and treating the right (Marketing & Loyalty). As you can tell, it is all done with a keen focus on the customer, but we must be aware of the critical role our service partners play in delivering this experience. We are also keenly aware that our current model works very well and is admired by many in the industry in Canada. Our model has been very successful getting us to where we are in BC, with one of the most profitable markets in Canada. But we have to ask ourselves – in these different times, do we need a different approach? It’s More Than a Feeling… I would like to add that I feel extremely confident with the people and leadership in our casino business. I would also like to thank you for supporting Monica in her role. I can tell you, with experience, it’s not easy being an “interim” leader. But it can work if the team supports you as if you ARE the leader. I appreciate you’ll join me in supporting Monica 100%. Even if she does prefer Rock & Roll over Country…
And speaking of strategy, I’d like to update you on the work that is being done around our Casino Optimization initiative. Over the past year, a group of us from around the company have been working on the challenge to grow our business now that it has matured. The challenge to achieve our 80/20 Vision. The team, which includes experts from inside and outside BCLC, has identified a way
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hitting the high notes Monica Bohm
He’s a little bit country, she’s a little bit rock and roll.
excitement.
Well our favorite country fan is up on the big stage and I’m excited to take on this new gig as your Interim VP, in support of Jim and to support you. I am looking forward to working with you in the coming year. We have a vision, our strategies and some big programs already in our line up for delivery like GMS (the final frontier), PlayNow in Facilities and the new Edgewater.
Our casino business priority programs will be Slot and Table game management optimization; GMS Roll out, EBS and Table Rewards implementation, the pilot of PlayNow in Facilities’ sportsbetting and implementation of the new Edgewater and Chances Salmon Arm. The Casino Optimization initiative will help evolve our business further in the long term. In our enterprise services groups of Business Intelligence and CRM, we will work to establish an enterprise approach to delivering services and benefits to the business units we support. We hope to be able to identify some early wins in operational efficiencies this year.
We hit some really high notes this past year - overall net win grew by 3.3% with table revenues growing an incredible 15%. Congratulations and thank you for all your efforts. Our teams installed more than 1000 games and 2000 conversion kits, added new high limit rooms, new table game progressives and opened up our new beautiful Maple Ridge site without a hitch. On the GMS project, we converted 13 sites and over 7,100 slot games to the new system as well as executing testing for the new GMS Elite Bonus Suite (EBS) of marketing tools. The greatest hits list is too long to cover off everything so please consider yourself thoroughly applauded! Reflecting on this past year, I am not just proud of the results but the way in which they were delivered – we’re addressing new challenges together (GMS), collaborating to realize new opportunities (Hard Rock opening) and listening to our customers (Leveraging better player data and Voice of the Customer program). Let’s continue to Walk this Way. This year we’ve had to streamline budgets so we will need to remain laser-focused on the efforts that drive the business, help us realize our vision and create entertainment destinations where adults want to go for
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The management team will need your help defining how best to deliver our key programs and the initiatives. We are here to create and deliver outstanding entertainment experiences for our players. A team with a common purpose and well defined path can do great things. From a girl who loves her rock and roll….. remember what the artist PINK, one of my personal favorites, says: “You can’t move mountains by whispering at them.”
Pink is what I do. Alecia is who I am. The world has taken Pink and turned it into this thing, a brand - a snarl. Pink (Alecia Moore)
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The past is a great place and I don’t want to erase it or to regret it, but I don’t want to be its prisoner either. Mick Jagger
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operations update By Craig ‘Crazy Train’ Jooste As I sit here and reflect upon the past few months as The New Guy, I am excited for what this year will bring. I am keenly aware that change has been the only constant in Operations, and I thank you all for your commitment through these changes. I have met some of you in the field and plan on meeting you all throughout the year to further understand all of our opportunities and challenges. It is critical that everyone in the Casino Division spend time infield and walk the floors with Technicians, Sr. Techs, MBOs and RMs to understand how decisions that are made truly impact everyone onsite. I believe we need to inspect what we expect. So as part of this update I wanted to let all of our Techs, SR Techs, MBOs and RMs know that I am extremely impressed with the professionalism, enthusiasm and commitment that I see from all of you. It inspires me to champion all your opportunities and challenges that you encounter in our sites and being our front line. Our focus and direction needs to be crystal clear. We are here to drive business, enhance our customer’s experience, and support our Service Providers. We are ultimately here to support the growth, profitability and the positive work environment of the BCLC brand. Our team must provide and define Operational Excellence. I believe that excellence lives through what we deliver, how we act, who we are what we do.
refreshes and conversions? As an MBO, what’s success? Is it finding the sweet spot scheduling your team to support a site and support a work life balance or is it revenue per site? Perhaps it is performing against a site P&L? Everyone on the team needs to be clear on whether you are winning and achieving success. My goal will be to continuously add clarity throughout the year. Service level agreements: How do we define success and hold ourselves accountable to Operation Excellence? We define goals and parameters around those specific goals, develop KPI’s and deliver on our promises. We will clearly define our parameters and commitments of machine uptime/downtime, preventative maintenance schedules and Technician scheduling commitments to ensure our team is onsite to support our product and Service Providers. We will work WITH our Technicians and our entire team to define these parameters. We will then share these commitments with our SPs and hold ourselves to these standards. A culture of accountability:
Our Focus:
I believe that publicizing goals to your peers and team members weekly, monthly, quarterly and annually drive accountability. When you tie your name and a date to accomplishing a task or project it builds that culture of accountability. It’s infectious! These goals will ultimately include other departments and resources, but your commitment to accountability will spill over to other teams. This will be delivered through our TOP 3 Program*defines monthly goals and success
To build on the culture that has been created we need to have clarity. Clarity on what success is for the business, for each of our roles and how we interact with all the various departments within the company.
As I close out this update I want to remind you all, and it was evident as I changed careers after a decade in one business: NEVER STOP ASKING: WHY? It’s amazing how we can improve process and look through fresh lenses when we ask that simple question.
Now at this point you might be thinking, Can this guy stop trying to deliver the inspirational speech from Any Given Sunday :-) *
My goal is to help bring that clarity to all of the Operational roles. As a Tech, you need to be clear on what success is. We need to win. Is that ‘win’ product uptime, that interaction with a customer, PM’s, or is it the timeliness of
*if you haven’t seen that speech, watch it on YouTube, it’s quite good, especially if you’re a Football junkie, as I am.
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James Bond has a license to kill, rockstars have a license to be outrageous. Rock is about grabbing people’s attention. Gene Simmons
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product update By Danny ‘Catman’ Chang, Julienne ‘Starchild’ Joe & Michelle ‘Demon’ Yueh
One of the feature lease products to support the new Hard Rock brand is the game KISS. Featuring the music made famous by one of the world’s most recognized and successful rock bands, the WMS KISS slot at Hard Rock Casino offers players unique features for multi-array games. Players can be awarded one, two or three bonus video reel sets on any spin, each enhanced with WILD symbols added to the reels or the low-credit symbols removed. When three or more bonus symbols appear on the reels, players will be awarded a Backstage Pass. Players then choose one of three passes that may award the Rock n’ Records free spin bonus, Band Prize Top Box Bonus or the KISS Alive! Bonus with its exciting new interpretation on picking bonuses set to a soundtrack that’s “Hotter than Hell”. KISS slots are sure to transform casino slot floors into party mode round-the-clock with “Rock and Roll All Nite” and “Party Every Day.” With game elements that feature the band member personas of the “Starchild,” “Demon,” “Spaceman” and “Catman,” players will keep coming back for exciting bonus rounds and music from the band that’s been awarded 28 gold albums, the most of any American rock band.
BCLC supported the re-branding of Boulevard Casino with a new set of value chips featuring the Hard Rock brand. Two sets of $5 Rock and Roll commemorative chips were developed for Hard Rock Casino’s Grand Opening and New Year 2014. The Grand Opening commemorative chips feature Hedley, a Canadian rock group originating in Abbotsford, BC that formed in 2003. The New Year 2014 commemorative chips feature Our Lady Peace, a Canadian alternative rock group that formed in Toronto, ON in 1992.
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welcome to the new age By Karen Hartley & Kevin Kaine
BCLC has recently taken a step forward (well, three steps actually) with innovative technology to improve our gaming signage transmissions and displays.
ceiling and walls that also change and pulse. All who have seen this property can agree that the effect is amazing. HDMI-to-CAT5E
Programmable Lighting Controllers Our sign vendors have been able to provide centrally programmable lighting systems that allow for vibrant colors to wave, flash, and transition throughout all new gaming signage. High quality LED light systems are integrated into the signage fabrication, along with special resin materials that glow when lit from behind. The property no longer has to make a specific choice of color for lights on a sign as all colors and combinations are available. The color and lighting patterns are managed by the site through a vendor-installed centrally programmable lighting controller, and can be changed to effect the whole site, a specific room or area, or individual signs. This can be used to enhance the site’s ambience for seasonal changes or specific holidays, along with promotional and marketing events. Four of our latest properties; Hard Rock Casino, Chances Chilliwack, Chances Maple Ridge, and Chances Castlegar, have all had these lighting systems installed with new sign packages. Hard Rock Casino has the added bonus of taking advantage of the programming to compliment the building lighting within the
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Sometimes the biggest improvements can be made with the simplest of changes. This is definitely the case with our move to using HDMI-to-CAT5E digital transmitters and receivers for all gaming signage display transmissions. This technology allows for movie quality video and sound to be displayed and heard from the signs. This technology was first used in the gaming signage at the Hard Rock Casino, which was an absolutely perfect property, as it provides the ability to display music videos and snippets of rock concerts as part of the marketing strategy. All this and it’s about 30% less expensive than the VGA-toCAT5E equipment currently being used. LED Monitors LED monitors were purchased for all gaming signage at Hard Rock Casino. These provide a much sharper picture than the current LCD monitors. The LED’s are crisper, brighter, last longer and cost virtually the same. As an added bonus, they are much lighter in weight, so they can be easily handled by one person. It’s a win, win, …..win, win, win situation. We’ll take it.
I’m driven. I am. I’m driven for some reason. But I don’t know where I’m going. Courtney Love
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rock on!
hard rock casino opening Paul Longden Hard Rock Casino Vancouver. The whole process of transforming Boulevard Casino in Coquitlam to a newer, more vibrant entertainment destination started way back in September 2012. At this time no one knew what the final product would be and how much of a transformation would be undertaken. There were challenges for Boulevard Casino; the main one being the Port Mann Highway project. Trying to drive on and off United Boulevard was as fun as taking your grandma to a metal concert. Revenue was receding faster than David Lee Roth’s hairline. The actual renovations started in January 2013. The original side, the northwest section of the building, was to be developed in two phases with completion by the end of August 2013. Finally, a third phase, which was the refreshing of the 2005 extension, would take place from September 2013 all the way up to launch. When phase one was completed and opened, it was a teaser of what was to come. The rich colours of the décor, the start of the art lighting package and the upgraded audio and video, were all a vast improvement of what preceded this new image. The facility had become tired and not even a reunion tour was going to give it the needed lift. The new ambiance was exciting and gripping. At this time no one knew it was going to be the Hard Rock Casino Vancouver, but if the rest of Boulevard was going to look anything like the newly opened area then we were truly going to have a site worthy of a gold record. When the announcement of the Hard Rock brand went public, July 3, 2013, it was as exciting as attending your first concert. Everyone rocked the air guitar that week and the new company salute became the fist pump. Was it my imagination or did our jeans look a little more scruffy and everyone started wearing band tees under their uniforms? Phases two and three proved to be the punk rock of the project. It was
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aggressive, loud, and in your face. All the food and beverage were shut down in various stages and one establishment had to be renovated two times before launch. This did lead to the food being twice as good as before! We quickly learned that we would be doing over 100 conversions and getting 107 machines and, cymbal crashing please; the implementation of GMS being bumped up by three months to early December. Just what we needed! The implementation would coincide with the process of installing the new state of the art sign package. With that in mind, if there is one area where Casino Operations field staff thrives, it is in the form of a challenge. We cranked the tunes, spiked our hair and became the Rock Stars of the project. Tireless hours, lots of grit and sweat, as well as endless communication with GCC, Hard Rock, various contractors and the relevant departments within BCLC resulted in the successful completion of the entire project. Hard Rock Casino Vancouver launched on December 20, 2013 to a sellout crowd. Hedley rocked the stage and showed why they are one of Canada’s favourite rockers. Contortionists, trapeze artists, musicians, and other assorted artists provided awesome entertainment all over the gaming floor. The official ribbon cutting ceremony was at 5pm along with Biff Naked smashing an electric guitar on the stage. Fireworks lit up the sky against the snowy background. The winter weather did not keep anybody down. Boulevard was a good place to work, but the new facility and all the changes make Hard Rock Casino Vancouver a rock solid place to work.
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analytics
rockstars! spotted in vegas! J-Rock Gallaway The extremely eccentric but reclusive rock duo of Todd Rende and Ray Wang were spotted at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas last fall. It was their first public appearance since the infamous incident with the monkey and the golf cart, but as this photo indicates, no visible scars remain. Turns out the lads had been invited by IBM to present the ‘Playbook’ at the ‘Information On Demand 2013’Conference in Las Vegas last fall. The annual conference was attended by over 10,000 people! In a session entitled, “Creating Confidence in DecisionsMaking: Driving a $1B Slot Machine Industry with IBM Cognos Report Studio” Ray and Todd explained to the large audience how they developed the Playbook and how it has been used by BCLC’s Product Specialists to answer the who, what, when and where of slot game changes. Todd and Ray started by explaining to the audience that the Playbook came to be because as BCLC neared the end of the build out phase for slot machines, the company had to start making more datadriven decisions about slot optimization and making the most out of existing assets. Prior to this point, such decisions were made using an Excel-based process in which raw data was dumped into spreadsheets where all of the aggregating, calculating and summarizing occurred manually. As the number of machines in the network grew, decision-making needed to be more strategic focused, with less reliance on gut-instinct and more on data. As a result, more and more spreadsheets were created. The amount of data and number of spreadsheets being used soon became overwhelming as well as timeconsuming to produce and run. Furthermore, using an Excel-based solution with no business rules meant that users could experience inconsistent information depending on the date ranges used. It soon became clear that a new solution was needed and the idea of the Playbook was born. Prior to build out, the team responsible for creating the new tool came up with the following goal: To develop a user-friendly environment that assists the business with summarizing data using predefined business rules. What defined a user-friendly
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environment? The tool needed to be easy to use, easy to understand and easy to access while providing consistent information, accurate calculation and high visual assistance based on predefined business rules. The predefined business rules needed to address such questions as: • How do we define good performance versus bad? • What Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are tied to the overall health of the business? • How do we group products for reporting purposes? • How do we quantify the relationship of supply and demand to best meet demand? Based on these requirements and rules, the Playbook was created and for the first time, the Product Specialists had a tool which considered metrics such as coin in, net win and slot utilization to provide a performance score which indicated whether or not a product is performing well. Armed with this information, specialists could make better recommendations on the best mix of denominations, game themes and vendors for BCLC. More importantly, they could do so from a provincial perspective, as opposed to just a single site. At that point in the presentation Ray Wang jumped off stage and crowd-surfed in the audience to thunderous applause. He was not available for comment after this rare display of enthusiasm, leaving fans to speculate on his state of mind. In all seriousness, one audience member, the Director, Financial Planning & Analysis at Patagonia, stated, “By far the best session I’ve attended in terms of presentation format and relevant material covered… time spent on solution versus the problem was fantastic, as was the depth of and demos of the solution”. Way to represent, Ray and Todd!
There are so many artists who get to my age that get comfortable and just stick in a groove, and I really don’t want to do that. Paul Weller
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gms update Will Parei
I grew up in Winnipeg. OK, enough sympathy. Yes, yes, it’s a great place to be from and yes the winters are cold. As a teenager there was nothing quite like cruising down Portage Avenue on a warm summer’s night. We’d be driving in a muscle car, looking for someone to race. Generally, it didn’t take long and you’d be sitting at a light, engine running and up would slide your next victim. We always knew the instant the light was about to turn green because we pre-timed it by watching the opposing light turn yellow. The instant the opposing light tuned red, ours would turn green and off we went, leaving the opposition in a cloud of smoke and dust. In later years, one of the things I first noticed when I moved to BC was that the traffic lights here are not instantaneously synchronized. There’s a lag between when one set of lights turns red and the opposing set turns green. For a short period of time, all four lights are red. I suppose this was done as a safety measure and as it turns out, I’ve adapted my driving style to match. Now, when I go back to visit Winnipeg, driving there seems odd as my brain has become accustomed to the BC lag. This is my new normal. This is how our brains work. We routinely become accustomed to things being a certain way. Unless we consciously think about them, we never really notice these things. They just ‘are’. Oddly enough, the time we most notice the way things are is when they change. Change is the catalyst that makes us sit up and take notice. Our customers (both players and Service Provider staff) are no different. They have a certain expectation about how their gaming experience is going to be. Putting a player card into a PTM should just work, shouldn’t it? It did on the old system. “I used to put my card in the old system and it gave me my points. Why is this new system not working exactly the same way? It doesn’t work properly.”
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If we examine what’s really happening, our customers are not necessarily complaining about how the new system works, what they’re complaining about is the system’s lack of consistent behavior. If the new system worked the same way every time, there would be much less recognition about how different it is. Players would work through the transition from old to new much more easily. This is where you come into the story. Our collective job is to build a consistent experience for our customers. Notice I didn’t say ‘system’, I said ‘experience’. We know the system will have periods of inconsistent behavior. This is the nature of installing new, complex systems. There are going to be times of system downtime. There’s no getting away from it. However, when things do go wrong there are two things we need; 1) accurate objective information and 2) when the system is behaving poorly; we need a consistent customer response. I believe we’re doing a good job with both of these things. We’re getting good feedback at the GMS site meetings; both the MBO meeting as well as the Technical meeting. These are the key meetings that provide information allowing us to move forward on fixing the issues being experienced at site. Having accurate information goes a long way to getting to a solution quickly. We appreciate the effort that goes into these meetings. As for the consistent customer response when issues are occurring, I trust that everyone on site knows what to do in these situations. If you feel this isn’t the case, then come forward with your concerns. Consistency starts with us. We can provide an outstanding customer experience by being consistently engaged ourselves. All day, every day. Oh and by the way, a ’67 Camaro will consistently beat a ’73 Mustang fastback. Guaranteed.
I like the idea of defying the convention of what it is to be in your 40s, or 50s, or 60s. Anthony Keidis (pictured with bassist & partner in crime, Flea)
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responsible gambling awareness weeks
2014 Nicole Lewis
In what is becoming a tradition here at BCLC over the last three years, we began 2014 by re-enforcing our messaging around Responsible Gambling, a topic consistently at the forefront of our thinking and planning. Responsible Gambling Awareness Week (RGAW) is a community-based partnership aimed at promoting responsible gambling practices and raising awareness about the resources available to address problem gambling. It began as a pilot in Vernon in 2012 and has been growing since. From January to March, we were proud to partner with the Gaming Policy and Enforcement Branch’s BC Responsible and Problem Gambling program, local community groups and our service providers to host a series of Responsible Gambling Weeks across the province. We began in Kamloops, and spent time in a total of six communities throughout the series: Prince George, Langley, Kamloops, Vernon, Greater Victoria and the City of Richmond.
There is great value in getting into communities and having conversations about what it means to keep gambling safe and fun. This initiative offers an excellent opportunity to connect with the public and share information using games, contests and sponsored events. The weeks involved myth busting kiosks around the community as well as workshops and presentations from experts in the field. The weeks have been a remarkable success. Our GameSense Advisors and volunteers had more than 2,000 interactions in the communities we visited. Dialogue was stimulating and many people were impressed and appreciative for the information we were able to share. These weeks are truly a community effort and we particularly appreciate the, support of our local service providers and their staff. Kamloops Chances, Gateway Casinos, Great Canadian Gaming and Treasure Cove Casino provided event space, volunteers, and encourage staff participation in events both on and off site. BCLC recognizes the commitment to responsible gambling from our service providers as one of the key reasons why RGAW is so successful. Thank you to all who helped out with Responsible Gambling Awareness Weeks 2014. Your work helps us build public understanding of our business. For more information and photos from the weeks visit the Responsible Gambling Awareness Weeks facebook page.
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It’s interesting when I jog, how much the music makes a difference. You can pretty much count on the Foo Fighters to get your heart rate up. Sheryl Crow
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poker faces wsop 2013 Don Chow
The 2013 WSOP Circuit Events – River Rock was held from October 27 to November 7, 2013 with a full schedule of 12 events. The $1675 buy-in Main Event (Event #7) attracted 875 entries and created a prize pool of $1,297,500. Here are the highlights: Event #1
Event #7
No-Limit Hold’em Buy-In: $300 (+$65) Total Entries: 511 Total Prize Pool: $153,300
No-Limit Hold’em1 Buy-In: $1500 (+$165) Total Entries: 865 Total Prize Pool: $1,297,500
Amateur poker player Vincent Wong wins $32,956 in sold out event.
Chilliwack’s Lincoln Milne manages to overcome a stacked final table and brings home over $250K as well as the coveted title of WSOPC Vancouver’s Main Event Champion.
Event #2 No-Limit Hold’em Buy-In: $500 (+$80) Total Entries: 343 Total Prize Pool: $171,500 Vancouver native Chris Back (student) overcame a stacked final table to win $39,439 in first-place prize money. Event #3 No-Limit Hold’em Turbo Buy-In: $300 (+$65) Total Entries: 328 Total Prize Pool: $98,400
Event #8 No-Limit Hold’em Buy-In: $1,000 ($125) Total Entries: 106 Total Prize Pool: $106,000 First-place finish for Vancouver native Chi Tsun Chan and wins the top prize of $31,800 and closes the gap in the Casino Championship points race placing him second behind Sukhpaul Dhailiwal. Event #9
Eric Kim, an accountant from Vancouver, crushes Turbo Event to claim the first prize money of $23,123
No-Limit Hold’em Six-Handed Buy-In: $500 ($80) Total Entries: 228 Total Prize Pool: $114,000
Event #4
Event #10
No-Limit Hold’em Buy-In: $1,000 (+125) Total Entries: 275 Total Prize Pool: $275,000
Limit Hold’em Buy-In: $300 (+$65) Total Entries: 120 Total Prize Pool: $36,000
Canadian professional player, Jordan Hamilton, denies two-time ring winner heads up to winhis first ring and $65,995 in first-place prize money
Rupert Whiting rose above the 120-player field to claim his first Circuit ring and the $10,801 in first-place prize money.
Event #5
Event #11
No-Limit Hold’em Buy-In: $300 (+65) Total Entries: 419 Total Prize Pool: $125,700
Playnow.com Online No Limit Hold’em Event Buy-in: $320 Total Entries: 159 Total Prize Pool: $47,700 Winner: Anthony Karim $12,998
Lorne Willment defeats WSOP bracelet holder Calen McNeil heads up after coming back from a severe chip deficit at the final table to grab hold of $27,650 in first-place prize money. Event #6 Pot-Limit Omaha Buy-In: $500 (+80) Total Entries: 159 Total Prize Pool: $79,500 Event 1 runner-up Sukhpaul Dhaliwal battled through another tournament field to finish first place and earn $21,467 in prize money. 25
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Event #12 Playnow.com Online No Limit Hold’em Event Buy-in: $530 Total Entries: 123 Total Prize Pool: $61,500 Winner: Jean-Nicolas Fortin $16,820
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After a long poker marathon, local boy from Chilliwack, BC, Lincoln Milne, emerged victorious in the Main Event to capture the $253,015 first place prize and earned his first gold circuit ring and championship title.
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The best thing about Mick Jagger is how uncalculating he is. He does what he wants to do and it feels right. Adam Levine
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SPEAKING safety Newly formed Casino OHS Committee Chris Lyth & Andrew Fraser Around mid-April 2013 conversations started to happen regarding forming a Casino Division Operational Health & Safety (OHS) Committee Chris Lyth was very instrumental in helping set this up and is very passionate about the health and safety of all BCLC employees.
Each Casino Division member has from 4–6 Casinos and CGCs that they have responsibility for ensuring that minutes from previous meetings and any updated safety related procedures are all delivered to relevant site staff.
Much like our gaming business, a safe and healthy workforce helps us sustain a safe, productive workforce. “Why do we need it now?” I hear you say, “Has everything not been going ok?”...In a word, NO. There have been a few recorded near misses in some of our locations with signs falling, etc. And also a team member at a Lower Mainland casino had an eye injury in August and is still off work after many operations. So with that said, we have to take safety in our workplaces seriously and conform to WCB regulations. After a couple of initial round table meetings and some Casino Division team members joining the newly formed Casino OHS Committee, we are now having regular monthly meetings which started in October 2013.
Brought to you by your joint Occupational Health & Safety committees
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chances maple ridge grand opening
Chances Maple Ridge officially opened, Wednesday, October 23 at 5 p.m. To mark this special milestone, an amazing performance by a local tribute band, Atlantic Crossing kicked-off the Grand Opening party. Chances Maple Ridge opened to the public following the official ribbon cutting ceremony. The ceremony was attended by members of the community along with representatives from the District of Maple Ridge, BCLC and GCC. To keep the excitement and party going, Atlantic Crossing hit the stage at 7:45 p.m. while the first 100 guests were presented with a commemorative Chances Maple Ridge gift. Chances Maple Ridge, located on the corner of 227th Street and Lougheed Highway, boasts 175 slot machines, 200 electronic and paper bingo seats and an exceptional dining destination, The Well. With a modern industrial feel that pays homage to the history of the community, inviting atmosphere, live entertainment programming on weekends and a sumptuous menu, The Well is sure to offer a memorable guest experience. “We have been on an amazing journey in the last eleven months as we have worked tirelessly to build this great venue. Today we celebrate and look forward to sharing this unique and inviting property with our guests and the community,” said Andy LaCroix, General Manager, Chances Maple Ridge on October 23rd. The 27,500 square feet property has a site capacity of 653. The flex place, as well as the 52-person capacity boardroom on the second floor of the gaming centre, can be booked by community groups for various functions, for example, a minor hockey annual general meeting or a legion meeting. Prior to the new location, Maple Ridge was one of the most popular Community Gaming Centre destinations in the province. This new site is a model for future CGC’s as it has early on become part of the fabric of the community. BCLC’s own Jerry Williamson, Director of Facilities, mentioned just prior to opening, “That was one of the best new construction projects that we’ve seen from a service provider in the last 17 years”. BCLC’s project team, led by Albert Edwards, provided leadership to a fantastic team that had the project finished and the walk through completed ahead of schedule. The Service Provider has worked extensively with the community and the surrounding businesses to develop the property and ensure following of the appropriate local government protocols. Since October there have been a number of charity events including a charity poker night and a Zumba class to continue to give back to the community. In keeping with its community focus, Great Canadian Gaming Corp. gave a donation of $5,000 to the Ridge Meadows Hospital Foundation on opening day. The property includes the development of a park area for all to enjoy along with a patio, which is linked to the restaurant. “It exceeded our expectations.” LaCroix said of the first weekend the gaming centre was open.
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spot light on
craig
crazy train jooste Gina ‘RockChic’ Morin
Craig Jooste, Director of Casino & Community Gaming joined our organization in January of this year. We had a little chat and thought the people in the field would like to know a little bit more about Craig.
Tell me something interesting about your personal life? I was born in South Africa and spent my youth living in Cape Town and then just outside of Johannesburg. My family moved to Canada in 1988 and I attended high school in Edmonton, yes, Africa to Edmonton is a slight temperature shock!! Fast forward to 1998 and I moved to Vancouver where I met my wife Kristen and we have been together since. After 15 years of travelling and building a few businesses together we just recently had a child, his name is Charlie and he’s almost a year old, quite a routine change from Dual Income No Kids to having a little one in the house, but what a fantastic experience.
Recently, I was Managing Director at WOW 1 DAY where we built this new brand out to 30 locations across the US and Canada in 30 months and grew revenue by 2500% from the original 1 location, something that I’m very proud of. We continued to improve and strive for operational excellence; refining our business by understanding customer experience through NPS (Net Promoter Score) scoring. We improved our processes from cloud based booking systems, brand messaging, collateral development, dual call centre management in Toronto and Vancouver, financial modeling and turnkey franchise systems for all aspects of the business. At this stage I was also managing all Franchise Sales for both 1-800-GOT-JUNK? and WOW 1 DAY. It was a busy time!!
Tell me something interesting about your work life?
What is your work philosophy? Personally I am a firm believer that what gets measured gets done. I believe in accountability and providing a clear vision of where we are going and how to get there. I also ask why a lot :-) if you haven’t noticed. I believe that we all have a personal Brand in how we present ourselves in professional and personal manners. My Brand would say, “I’m collaborative, a leader, fair, somewhat blunt and to the point, honest and I trust until you prove to me otherwise”. Oh, and I do like to let loose and have fun!
I have spent the past 15 years in hyper growth private companies. Spending 5 years at Canadian Springs Water Company, I led the Fleet Department and Distribution. We completed 9000 deliveries a day with 150 delivery drivers in a union environment. It was a challenging and rewarding job and gave me some great insight for what was to come in my career. The last decade I spent at O2E (the ownership group of 1-800-GOT-JUNK? and WOW 1 DAY PAINTING.).
Baby Train & Crazy Train
I was part of the Executive team at 1-800-GOT-JUNK? where I led the Operations Department. We built out our environmental impact, landfill diversion tactics and all systems pertaining to Franchise models and Franchise Sales. It was an amazing time for the company and I was privileged to be a part of that growth curve. We grew so fast that at one point I was hiring so many people I had to move my office to the coat closet between the bathrooms and lunchroom for 4 months so that new team members had somewhere to sit, true story!
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How do you unwind?
My favorite time is spent out at the lake with my family, sitting around a fire with friends sharing stories and a beer or 2. To clear my mind I love riding my motorcycle as it forces you to think about riding and nothing else, it’s a great way to clear your mind.
There’s definitely an old school element to my music, but I also think it’s modern. Lenny Kravitz
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jack it up! The 3rd annual Jack up the Jackpot scores big with Encore members
Encore Rewards’ 3rd annual Jack up the Jackpot promotion was once again, our most successful campaign of the year – resulting in total net revenue of $2.7 million and 507,645 visits province wide. New Encore Rewards enrollments exceeded expectations by reaching 7,165 in March. This year’s lucky grand prize winner, Ina Hansom from Chilliwack, took home $239,713 - one of the biggest Encore jackpots awarded at any of our casinos or Chances facilities. She was thrilled to share her celebration with the staff at Chances Abbotsford, who greeted Ina and her family to a celebratory breakfast, along with presenting her the grand prize cheque. During the promotion, from Sunday to Thursday, hot seat draws were conducted at all sites throughout the day. New to Jack up the Jackpot this year, Encore members playing at the same bank of machines as the hot seat winners were also awarded prizing. Direct mail lure pieces contained ‘golden tickets’ which resulted in additional prizing valued at $40, 000. Over $500,000 in cash was awarded to Encore members. For 3 straight years Jack up the Jackpot has proven to be BCLC’s most successful promotion throughout the year. Each year new levels are added designed to reward more and more valued Encore members.
Edgewater elevator shaft
Grand Villa bulkhead
River Rock feature wall
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stray cats and other nocturnal creatures
Arnaud Granoux,
Senior Business Analyst, Lottery. Sweet sound stylings...
Krista Brown,
Research Specialist, BCLC. Giving Flea a run for his money
Jeff Broomhall,
Market Analyst, Lottery Making sure everyone in the band keeps the beat.
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Chris Pasceri, Gavin May & Nolan Leach Party animals from the CTS department. Go ‘old-school’ on Rock shirt Fridays.
Frans Pynappels
Casino Technician, Lake City Kelowna. Runs a DJ business!
Sandy Khaira,
Technician, River Rock. On stage at the Bell Centre, Montreal.
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Andrew Williamson
Senior Manager, Casino Operations. channeling his inner Eric Clapton
Chris Hum
GMS Warehouse Assistant. Singer, songwriter, plays multiple instruments
Chris Robertson
Senior Technician, Chances Squamish. Playing the bass with Murder of Crows
Brad Martin (Drummer)
Slot technician, Prince George. Pounds the sticks at the Treasure Cove Christmas Party
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Everytime we put a record out, we lose people that can’t deal with the growth. Lars Ulrich
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