Casino Connection Atlantic City

From Employee to Owner

Ex-AC casino worker Denis Floge building Nevada casino

by Dave Bontempo

Think big. Ignore fear. Mesh people with profit. Denis Floge's lifelong summation oozes inspiration. The former Bally's table-games manager, now a budding casino owner, blends a social conscience with the bottom line. He's won on both counts. As a general manager at Sky City casino in New Mexico, Floge introduced expensive air handlers to dramatically improve air quality by sucking smoke fumes out of the building. He was also recognized for hiring disabled persons and won a business award over the likes of Intel and Hewlett-Packard. Did the social agenda hurt business? Hardly. Floge oversaw Sky City's leap from 10,000 square feet to more than 160,000 square feet in a market requiring unique promotions. He once crammed 1,200 people into a room for a tattoo giveaway. Floge also gave away three tractor-trailers, at a profit to the house. Several years later, Floge seeks to profit from his instincts. The former Brigantine resident bought 40 acres in northeast Nevada and plans to open a casino in Elko, a rapidly growing community off I-80. Timing may be perfect in this growing, yet untapped drive-through market. A nearby gold mine, a firefighting academy and new housing units support the building concept. "We'll have maybe 300 slots, a restaurant, steakhouse, high-end dinner establishment, bars, banquet meeting rooms and of course, diesel fuel stops on the property," Floge says. "We'll have at least a couple of hundred employees." Groundbreaking will begin after engineering studies, with an opening perhaps 12-18 months away. Floge reaches a market rung he could not have envisioned 26 years ago, when he opened Bally's. After his father, a dealer, convinced Floge to explore the business, he became hooked. "My jaw dropped at all this excitement," Floge says. "I knew I wanted to be part of it." Floge entered his passionate end of the business via side door. He became a kitchen specialist at Bally's, because dealing jobs were scarce. After his midnight-8 shift, he improvised by leaving coffee, donuts and a note to a shift supervisor indicating his desire to deal. "After about two weeks he called me in, said I could deal and told me to stop bringing the coffee," Floge says, laughing. For the next 17 years, Floge rode the industry's ascent. New properties opened. Innovation abounded. Atlantic City became a viable industry player. "Atlantic City gave me the base of my gaming knowledge," Floge says. "It was a great time, so much going on. We would work hard on the swing shift, carouse after work, the girls were pretty, and it was just awesome. "It taught me more than I realized. When you interact with departments, you may not think you have the answer to something, but the information is there. If it's not, you can get it. There's more in the data bank than you know." Floge trusted his instincts in 1993, stalking a project with deep personal implications. He ran for office. And nearly won. Floge came within 3,500 votes of becoming a New Jersey state assemblyman after being driven by one issue. Smoke took center stage for Floge, who beat cancer at the age of 22. The issue nearly made him the first casino employee to obtain elective office. Floge carried smoke-free, social integrity into subsequent posts. His new, unnamed casino will enjoy air quality similar to Sky City. Floge also understands the tie-breaking element of personal warmth in a business crunched by cookie-cutter success formulas. "Some of these tracking systems are becoming so antiseptic that companies are losing touch with the customer," Floge says. "That's the mistake I think the big corporations are making. I will see and get to know my customers. I will kiss the babies. Gambling is an emotional experience, a guttural reaction to what you're seeing. You need people to identify with you." Floge became well rounded over the years. He learned politics by seeking office and game development by inventing a game called Jackpot Poker, which will unfold in the new property. He learned property development in Elko. The people element? It's all instinct. "I remember one Christmas night, a player told me Christmas was just like any other day, nothing special," Floge says. "I told him that was too bad. While he was playing, I brought him one of our nicest shirts and told him ‘Merry Christmas.' This big, burly, guy broke down, started sobbing. He had to leave the game. You think, ‘what did it really cost to make this guy happy?'" Floge has spent a career maximizing financial, political and social capital. His instincts have usually been right. "I've often felt like a squirrel running through the treetops, jumping to the next branch without seeing one there," Floge says. "Somehow another branch seems to come up." From his perch atop gaming's trees, Floge may enjoy this view.

Where Are They Now? RSS 2.0 Feed
Where Are They Now? Podcast Feed