Casino Connection Atlantic City

Tracking His Success

Harrah’s Vince Donlevie learned the angles here, and plays them in Chester

by Dave Bontempo

Vince Donlevie savors two views of the Harrah’s Chester, Pennsylvania, gaming machine.

As senior vice president and general manager, he sees an unmatched synergy between racing and gaming. Harrah’s brought the formula to new levels by becoming a national harness-racing powerhouse. Its $500,000 stakes races and strong individual cards lure higher-end racing fans to the casino.

About 70 miles east lies the place where Donlevie first learned his trade. Atlantic City provided his gaming baptism at four properties between 1979 and 1993: Resorts, the Sands, Bally’s and Harrah’s made him a seasoned gaming jockey.

For Dunlevie, the distance between Chester and Atlantic City is a bridge between two eras. In Chester, which built its track in 2006 and had its grand opening in early 2007, he runs a first-class operation. Here, he learned to figuratively break from the gate, keep a fast work pace and keep his property ahead of the competition.

“Atlantic City was just an incredible place, unbelievably intense,” Donlevie says. “You learned very rapidly in that world, because it was extremely competitive. You have to be very strong in going after the customer. You’d think about how to get your piece, how to hold your piece. It was important to think hard about the service experience, making sure you built loyalty and developed long-term customer relationships.”

The experience served him well. Donlevie managed the Resorts bus programs, worked Harrah’s million-call reservation center and became attuned to customer nuance. He listened to patrons, found what they wanted and tailored programs for them.

“There was a lot involved in creating an exceptional environment for our players,” Donlevie says. “From the hotel accommodation to the check-in process, the VIP lounges and the slot tournaments, you needed to perfect every element of the experience and look after them from the start of their journey to the finish.”

The stakes were high in a market spreading its wings. Atlantic City competed nationally with Las Vegas and locally with emerging properties. Donlevie spanned a number of Atlantic City eras: baptism, expansion, the Roaring Eighties, the peak followed by stagnation. It gave him a wealth of tools to use in the future.

“Atlantic City was so dynamic, with so much happening: boxing, the overall growth of the industry, the newness of it all and the excitement of people in the Northeast corridor.

“What I really loved was the depth of the relationships you could make. You became an intimate part of the family in any property you worked at. You knew all the customers; they seemed to know everybody who worked in the casinos. It would go on like that year after year.”

Donlevie’s most significant relationship here was his last one. It developed with the Harrah’s corporation and propelled him across the country. He became vice president of casino operations for Harrah’s Reno, specializing in overseeing slots, table games and the race and sports book. Years later, Harrah’s tapped him for its Pennsylvania project.

The company built a state-of-the-art harness-racing track, the first of its kind in 41 years, plus a simulcast area to complement gaming. The entire property, about the size of a mid-sized Atlantic City casino, features live racing four days a week. The next racing season opens April 20.

Besides the major stakes, Harrah’s will be showcased on the Grand Circuit, a one-day national event highlighting the nation’s top tracks. Television coverage is a coveted de-facto free advertisement, creating demand for the brand, all under the powerful Harrah’s name.

“Our purse for harness racing this year will be in the $200,000 daily range—that’s as strong as anywhere in the country,” Donlevie says. “It enables us to attract the best drivers and put on a world-class harness meet.

“From a marketing perspective, racing helps with a lot of shared play between spouses, with perhaps the husband going for the races and his wife or girlfriend playing the slots. It brings more people in on both sides of the equation.”

Take it from a man who knows the angles.