Vol. 4, No. 8, August 2007
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Downtown Advantage
Atlantic City gaming vet adds expertise to Binion’s in Las Vegas
All three propelled the 30-year industry veteran to lofty status. The former Atlantic City vice president of Asian games guides the Binion’s poker resurgence in Las Vegas. It’s been one year since Frabbiele returned as director of table games—poker and keno—to the place that made poker famous.
Las Vegas launched her career 30 years ago and led to a big Atlantic City run. Frabbiele learned Asian games by chance at the Hilton and Riviera while connecting with an insightful mentor. His name? Dennis Gomes.
After reaching supervisor status in Las Vegas, Frabbiele indirectly followed him here in 1991. The move lasted 15 years.
“The news was out that they were looking to add Asian games in Atlantic City,” Frabbiele says. “Then, I visited a friend in New York who said the same thing. I came down to Atlantic City, just to see if Dennis was around, because we’d lost touch for about a year and a half. Sure enough, I get to the Taj Mahal and he was going up an escalator as I’m going down. We saw each other, and he hired me immediately and said the Taj Mahal was going to have Asian games.”
Frabbiele actually spearheaded the process. Industry rules required a level playing field for new games. Every property had to share in the development. Frabbiele became the resident authority, giving demonstrations to the Casino Control Commission and dealers from other casinos. She taught surveillance personnel, supervisors and employees. Frabbiele even became a professor at Atlantic Community College.
In Atlantic City, Frabbiele followed Gomes, who had become one of the industry’s biggest pioneers. Five years into her Atlantic City tenure, Frabbiele joined Gomes at the Tropicana and ascended further. She became one of the first female VPs in the Atlantic City industry, and gained a new area of influence.
“We built the Asian gaming room to showcase the tile game,” Frabbiele says. “We made the décor acceptable to the Chinese, who are superstitious. You put lucky colors in the room. You can’t put dragons on the floor. We included the food as part of our package, with noodle bars on the casino floors. There were lucky kinds of noodles.
“It was a wonderful stretch of time. We had fun and ran with the ball.
“Dennis was a proponent of promoting females, and that’s been a trademark of the Tropicana,” Frabbiele adds. “I was thrilled at the promotion, but I knew his philosophy, so it wasn’t a shock.”
Frabbiele helped her property prosper. Gomes assigned her to market, recruit and supervise the Asian games operation. Frabbiele orchestrated the bus trips, the food and Chinese-speaking personnel to shatter the language barrier. Consequently, Frabbiele experienced an industry high point.
“As a dealer, you are doing what somebody else thinks is important,” Frabbiele says. “It’s really great when you can become a supervisor and form an idea that gets put into practice. Niche marketing was just being born in those days, especially in the East. With pai gow tiles, we were on the cutting edge.”
Few understood the nuance behind pai gow tiles, an ancient Chinese game with 32 pieces that resemble dominoes. Pai gow poker and sic bo also fit into the Asian mix. Few realized that Asian games would produce a windfall, seemingly from nowhere. They would be worth $125 million some years later, with 20 percent hold, at the Tropicana.
Bean counters rejoiced. Casinos barely had to hire staff to accommodate the new demand. They merely needed to educate workers. For Frabbiele, it was a fitting reward for past diligence.
“I always wanted to know about pai gow in Las Vegas, but when you asked people if they knew it, there were no books written in English about it,” Frabbiele says. “I got friendly with every Asian who knew the game, and began compiling info. In the end, I started writing my own stuff.”
Frabbiele prospered, came East and experienced the contrast between two gaming powerhouses. Las Vegas built whenever it pleased, while Atlantic City experienced stringent regulations. Frabbiele thrived in both environments, and loved this area enough to maintain a residence.
The New Orleans native lauds an industry that revolutionized her life. Frabbiele had moved to Las Vegas and was a divorced mother of four when gaming beckoned. By necessity, she entered the business.
“I am a lucky, lucky girl,” Frabbiele says. “The gaming industry was a savior in my life. I had no real work skills when I got into it, but it produced many friends and mentors. Gaming afforded me the chance to provide for my children and send them to college, in a professional manner. It has been a great thing in my life.”
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