INSIDE THE HUDDLE November 2015 WHAT’S HAPPENING AT WILLIAM HILL US A MESSAGE FROM JOE ASHER, CEO Hello everyone, going on in our business. We are in middle of a really interesting football season and at the end of a solid baseball season, and the NBA and NHL getting into action. As usual, there’s a lot The NFL has been interesting because there is such a wide gap between the really good teams, several of which remained undefeated through week 7, and disappointing teams like Baltimore, Kansas City and Detroit. What happens in the NFC East when Romo returns? Can the Raiders be a contender? Are Cincy and Atlanta for real? I’m excited for the remainder of the season. Our team is working hard to continue our growth. We’ll be opening a terrific new location at a small property in the heart of the Las Vegas Strip soon; the Casino Royale is going to be a home run for us, just from the business we can get from people who work nearby, let alone the thousands of visitors who walk past every day. We’re also working on an enhanced mobile app to further extend our competitive advantage in the marketplace. We’re also hard at work to get our virtual racing product released. In the broader picture, the rapid pace of events involving the Daily Fantasy Sports Betting (DFSB) industry present a possible opportunity and a potential threat. In just the last few weeks, the DFSB players, basically Draft Kings and Fan Duel, have gotten a lifetime’s worth of attention from the media, regulators, legislators, class action lawyers and, most seriously, federal prosecutors. There will be business and law school case studies on this when it all shakes out. Our position on DFSB is pretty clear: DFSB is gambling, as the Gaming Control Board has ruled, and it needs to be regulated. I’m all for DFSB - I think it should be legal, regulated and taxed, just like traditional sports betting should be legal, regulated and taxed. But, to pretend one is ok while the other is not makes no sense. And to suggest that DFSB should be unregulated is ridiculous. I do think all of the attention on DFSB has helped the movement towards legalizing traditional sports betting and that is the opportunity; the threat is that the blowback resulting from severe legal action like a federal indictment could cause those who might otherwise support legalizing both types of sports betting to back away. Time will tell how this all plays out, but you can be certain we are very engaged on this issue. In New Jersey, where our sports bar at Monmouth Park awaits its eventual transformation into a sports book, we received good news from the Third Circuit Court of Appeals recently when the court granted a rare en banc review and withdrew its prior decision against New Jersey’s efforts to offer sports betting. An “en banc review” means that all 11 judges on the court will rehear the case, rather than letting the 2-1 decision of just three judges prevail. In the last five years, the court has granted a request for en banc review only eight times. In four of those cases, it kept the original decision, and, in the other four, it reversed the prior decision. So, we are very much alive in our New Jersey efforts. We expect the en banc hearing to be in February, with the decision by next summer. Last, but certainly not least, I want to express my appreciation to all of you for your hard work day in and day out. You’ve made us number one in the U.S. and number one in Nevada. It’s not just my opinion; the numbers prove it. And, to those of you I don’t get to see between now and then, best wishes for a great holiday season! Joe Inside this edition Health and Wellness 3 HOME Champions 4 HOME All-Stars 5 Marketing Playbook 6 Department Updates 9 Tech Chat 10 Shout Outs and Submissions 11 PAY IT FORWARD On Saturday, October 10, your colleagues hit the water at Lake Las Vegas for the Rose Regatta Dragon Boat Race. The William Hill team raised $1,980 to be donated towards Breast Cancer research. Thank you so much to everyone who helped support the cause! n races! ing out betwee Matt, IT, hang Race 1 Race 2 time- 1:41.85 time- 1:37.80 Steve, Ed, and Leo, Revenue Auditors, checking out the festival between races! The team linin g up for the fir st race! g Heading out to the startin Sue, HR, Tami, Compliance, and ers! ead erl being great che 2 2015 William Hill Rose Regatta Team line HEALTH AND WELLNESS Staying active is a great start to maintaining a healthy lifetyle. That’s why we introducted the “GetFit” Challenge in October. Colleauges around the business tracked their activities during an entire month in an effort to get healthy and earn Wellness Days! Three superstars will recieve extra PTO for their efforts. The true benefit is living a happy and healthy life! Austin and Ava after reaching the sumitt of Lone Mountain. Dan and David after finishing the Spartan Race in SF! Ben, David and Mike on a walk at the Sparks marina for Health and Wellness. Basketball game with colleagues every Wednesday in Southern Nevada. Ellie and Alf Meyers stopping to pose during a hike with their mom. Reynette hiting the streets for an early morning run. James tracking his fitness levels on his nifty Garmin watch. Ash making sure he completed the daily challenge to get the 5 extra points! Mike, Shannon, and Sharon getting their “Get Fit” challenge time in! Elijah sporting a new backpack that he won by participating in a William Hill Walkers event! 3 HOME CHAMPIONS FEATURED CHAMPION “HOME is working together in order to build a mutual bond with co-workers and customers so that we may achieve a prosperous work environment. The outstanding services and products we provide on a daily basis will lead to the longevity of what we as a community have built. In the end, proper care of our customers and each other will benefit us all. Which is why everyone matters!” -Art Lopez, Operations Analyst Tis The Season To Give Back On Monday, November 9, William Hill HOME Champions are starting a charitable initiative to kick off the holiday season. We are partnering with Olive Crest’s Project Independence to host a Holiday Street Store and we are asking for your help.! What is Olive Crest’s Project Independence? Project Independence is a program for current and former foster youth ages 17 – 21 years of age who are now living on their own. What is a Street Store? The goal of the Street Store is to provide an extrodinary experience for this group. We have invited vendors to provide services that these young adults do not regularly recieve and mentors to teach life skills that they have not yet learned. This year we are asking for donations of the following items: Clothing – New or gently used Coats – Young adult coats Non-perishable food items Extras – Movie tickets, gift cards, etc… We plan to place collection boxes at the Rainbow office, Plaza, Binion’s, Poker Palace, Edgewater, Pahrump Nugget, Gold Dust West- Carson, Valle Verde, Primm Valley, Grand Sierra, JA Nugget, and Tamarack. You can also give items to Area and District Managers. The Holiday Street Store will take place at the Olive Crest on December 4. A number of rooms will be decorated in various themes, Winter Wonderland, Twas the Night Before Christmas, Santa’s Workshop (with a real life visit from Santa!), hot cocoa bar, and a William Hill pop up store, in which we will distribute your kind donations and have the opportunity to spend time with the young people. Your HOME Champions move HOME forward in their local areas. Some ways of doing that include organizing events, talking to people about HOME, recommending improvements to processes and activities and being a central point for charitable projects. HOME Champions act as role models for HOME demonstrating what good practice looks like and challenge behaviors/decisions which are not really in the spirit of HOME. There is no formal job description – some champions are very active and always moving forward with activities and events while others are not comfortable in the limelight and are simply great HOME role models in what they do, how they treat customers, and drive business success. If you want to know more about what it takes to be a HOME Champion, drop us an email at [email protected]. 4 LET ME TAKE A SELFIE! Amanda Baile y, SB Supervisor , and friend at the Elko County Fair! Colleagues taking a selfie break on their hike! Lonna White, QA Tester, all smiles with her Daughter, Jennifer Lynn, at the Bowl for the Cure event. Mike Dale, CBS Ops ManagerNorthern Nevada, at the 49er game! Ashley Underwood, DM, and Vicky Lucente, HR Coordinator, on the High Roller! WANT TO SEE YOUR SELFIE HERE? SEND Ash Ibbotson and Kevin Rose, CBS Customer Support, getting their office selfie on with a PHOTOS TO VLUCENTE@WILLIAMHILL. US OR POST THEM TO OUR HEALTH AND friend... WELLNESS FACEBOOK PAGE! For all of our Outstanding All-Stars, this is your time to shine. We will be looking for people who go above and beyond to support our customers and teammates. Everytime you receive an All-Star award, you earn a chance to win some awesome prizes, inculding a trip to the 2016 FINAL FOUR in Houston!! Congratulations to the following winners in October! Robert Escobedo - Spa Package Kyle Alvarez - FitBit Wanda Mosier- Nutri Bullet Prizes for the December - All-Star Winners 1st Place – $500 Visa Gift Card 2nd Place – $300 Visa Gift Card 3rd Place – $200 Visa Gift Card 5 MARKETING PLAYBOOK By Michael Grodsky, Director of Marketing The Marketing team would like to thank everyone for their help in making the fourth year of the Pro Pick’Em Football contest a success! Through the first 5 weeks of the season, the best record has been 58-17. As a reminder, if a contestant finishes with a record of 200-55 or better, they will claim a $100,000 cash bonus! casino signage, billboards, direct mail, and with television & radio commercials. The Marketing team’s main focus for the upcoming weeks will be on promoting that William Hill offers the most parlay cards and biggest payouts throughout Nevada. We will be teaming up with our casino partners to get the word out through We’re very excited for the upcoming Breeders’ Cup! We will continue to work with our Pari-mutuel locations to bring rewarding and innovative promotions to our race customers. An easy way for us to spread the word that William Hill has the best payouts is by sharing “Big Wins”. Please continue to send copies of any “Big Wins” to our team so we can share them. As we look ahead, we will be bringing back the 20/20 College Football Bowl Contest –which has grown at a rapid pace for three consecutive years! We also will continue to send coupons to customers promoting InPlay and other wagering options that make William Hill the best Sports Book in Nevada. Please continue to encourage all customers to wager with a William Hill Rewards Club card so we can share special offers with them. As always, please shoot me an e-mail at [email protected] if you have any bright marketing ideas that you want to share. SAFE at HOME WILLIAM HILL TEAMED UP WITH LAS VEGAS 51’S BASEBALL AND OLIVE CREST THIS SEASON TO ENSURE THAT AT-RISK CHILDREN IN OUR COMMUNITY ARE “SAFE AT HOME.” WE’RE PROUD TO BE WORKING TOGETHER TO STRIKE OUT CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT. FOR EVERY 51’S HOME RUN, WILLIAM HILL DONATED $51 TO SUPPORT KIDS AT OLIVE CREST WHO HAVE SUFFERED FROM ABUSE, ABANDONMENT AND NEGLECT. THIS SEASON, 65 RUNS WERE SCORED BY THE LAS VEGAS 51’S AND $3,315 WAS RAISED! MICHAEL GRODSKY, DIRECTOR OF MARKETING, PRESENTED THE CHECK TO OLIVE CREST ON AUGUST 31. YOU CAN HELP LOCAL AT-RISK KIDS FEEL SAFE AT HOME! JOIN THE TEAM AND HELP STOP CHILD ABUSE AND KEEP FAMILIES STRONG. VISIT WWW. OLIVECREST.ORG/NEVADA. 6 THE RULING ON THE FIELD... You’ve got questions? We’ve got answers! Our newest article will feature a different department each edition to answer your questions and respond to your suggestions. Our referees, aka department heads, will be calling the plays and, for this edition, our referee is... David Grolman, VP of Operations Q: Can we get better sports packages at our books? A: FURTHER REVIEW- Every casino is different based on the contract we have with them. We look at each book individually and weigh the cost of a package against how much handle we might expect in a certain location. When it makes sense, we will add the packages. Q: Have you considered raising the $1,000 or $2,000 card limit ? A: STANDS- The $1,000 or $2,000 card limit has now been in place for two full years and we’ve had very little push back from players. These amounts won’t be changing. These card limits are put in place to help us know our customers better and assist us with completing compliance paperwork. Additionally, if a customer loses their ticket, we are better able to assist them and provide a better service if they have a card. Q: The final scores sheets are sometimes hard to read and cluttered. Is there a way to improve this? A: FURTHER REVIEW- CMS is always trying to figure out a better way to send out sheets. If you have suggestions please call them when you have time and give them some ideas….everything is worth trying! Q: How about EDR use? A: FURTHER REVIEW- Many of our properties don’t have an EDR and, those that do, use of the EDR is based on our contract. If they offer an EDR and it’s beneficial to our Writers, we’ll absolutely consider it. Q: I think customers would love scrolling tickers in the books. A: OVERTURNED- Great Idea! Actually, Mo and the CMS team are working on a solution right now. I’m hopeful we’ll have something soon. Next edition’s referee will be Nick Bogdanovich, Director of Trading, answering all your questions about Trading. If you have any suggestions or questions for our Trading deptment, send them to [email protected]. 7 WE REMEMBERED TO “THINK 30”! Sports book employees who remember to “Think 30” during their mystery shop are rewarded with a $30 Visa Gift Card. Bob Taylor n io at St Thank you for showing diligence with this initiative that is a key n so ar Ticket Writer-C part of our success and our ability to remain compliant. Brent Benavidez Ticket Writer-Comstock Chris Calvin Ticket Writer- Edgewater Darin Riggin Ticket Writer- Terrible’s Bob Jackson r Ticket Writer- Red Garte Sharon Prosser Supervisor- Alamo Travel Center Michele Jakubczak Ticket Writer- Pioneer Crossing Steve Tan Ticket Writer-Sierra Sids Dave Kuhl Ticket Writer-Slotworld Dick Coyne Ticket Writer- Fandango Mike Goodman n Supervisor- Red Lio 8 Rebecca King Ticket Writer- Silverado Frank Bucci Ticket Writer-Wendover Nugget Kiosk & Mobile News By Dave Lichterman, Kiosk & Mobile Ops. Manager I am excited to announce a new feature we are adding to the kiosk functionality. We are beginning to roll out this new feature to our casino kiosks. Account wagering withdrawal vouchers are currently being tested at a few select locations. This will give customers the ability to make a withdrawal from their mobile wagering account issued in a voucher form. We will be slowly adding more locations and communications on how this work. Essentially, this will enable customers to have greater access to their funds and give them ability to make a withdrawal from their account when the book is closed and cash the voucher at the Cage (where applicable). The voucher is also able to be cashed at any writer terminal. The voucher that is issued must be cashed prior to the end of the day that it was initiated, otherwise the funds go directly back into the account and the voucher is void. To the right, you will see a sample ticket of this new type of voucher. It does not have a bar code on it, so it must be typed in by hand. ID verification is MANDATORY for cashing these vouchers. As we roll this new feature out to more locations, there will be additional communication and documentation as there are specific instructions and procedures for cashing this new type of ticket. Odds and Ends By: Nick Bogdanovich, Director of Trading Basketball season is upon us. The NBA has three teams (Cavs, Spurs, and defending champs, Warriors) that look like they are a cut above the rest. There are plenty of different ways to bet the NBA. Bet who will win the NBA title, win the Eastern or Western conferences, or number of wins each team will have in the regular season. On a daily basis you can bet against the pointspread, the total number of points scored in the game, or the money line. Also, first half and second half wagering on all games. Don’t forget about InPlay as well. If for some reason you are late to the post, don’t worry, you can pick up wagering in the middle of the first quarter or whenever you feel like it. My favorite sport is NCAA basketball. The kids play for the name on the front of their jersey, not the name on the back. There are more than 200 college teams that we book. The challenge is putting up decent numbers in this sport. Out of conference games in November and December are the hardest to make lines for and, often, they can move six or seven points. All games are important to win because teams are trying to build a solid resume to get into the greatest spectacle in all of sports, March Madness. Sixty-eight teams get in and, I can tell you from a bookmaking and fan prospective, it’s the best three weeks in sports. Everyone has a bracket filled out, everybody is in a pool of some sort, and the entire country is rooting for a Cindarella team to make a deep run. Kentucky is the preseason favorite , but trust me, this thing is wide open. It starts in November and ends in early April and, for my money, it’s the best sport of them all. COMPLIANCE CORNER By: John Salerno, Director of Legal Compliance and Raquel Shingleton, Director of Financial Compliance We have seen a lot of counterfeit currency being passed in our books over the first couple months of the football season. Please check any bill that seems suspect. The counterfeits have been pretty good, but they always have a feel to them that should tell you they are fake. Also, the watermark is very easy to check for and it is normally missing on counterfeit bills. If you are handed a counterfeit bill by a customer, do not give it back. It is required by law to confiscate the bill and turn it in to the proper authorities. Please notify your District Manager and John or Raquel anytime you receive a counterfeit bill. Football season is among us which means the volume of activity seen in each book has significantly increased. Usually this boost in wagering activity leads to a rise in exception reports issued by an auditor. We want to acknowledge the good work done by the writers and supervisors at the following books: Silver Sevens and Grand Sierra Resort. Both book locations have done an exceptional job in complying with BSA Compliance and have received minimal exceptions given the volume of activity in their books. Thank you and great job! 9 TECH CHAT By: Adam Goldstein, VP of Technology Football Season System Performance We’re approaching the half-way point in our busy season and I’d like to acknowledge all team members from our support teams who have worked really hard to keep our systems and networks operating smoothly. As anticipated, volumes, especially on mobile, continue to be high. We anticipate this trend to continue and we are doing everything we can to ensure our critical systems are operating efficiently. a “soft-launch” process which will allow us to receive valuable feedback from a small group of our customers. The feedback will help us to improve the wider rollout and to ensure customers are comfortable with the upgrade. In addition, we are working closely with all key William Hill stakeholders to ensure everyone is aware of the rollout process and to ensure our support teams are comfortable with the support procedures. Additional information will be sent out in advance of the rollout. New Mobile Applications Over the next 1-2 months, we will be launching the next generation of our IOS and Android mobile application. The Product Development team has worked really hard to bring this to market so we are all looking forward to this launch. As previously reported, the user experience on the new mobile app is a lot different from the current one and there will be a learning curve for many of our customers. We will be deploying Virtual Racing The Virtual Racing project is progressing well. This solution will allow us to deploy virtual horse racing content into our sports books and customers will be able to place bets just like a real horse race. This product is extremely successful in the UK and we believe it will be just as successful in Nevada as well. Over the past few months, we have been working closely with the software vendor to prepare the software BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT By: Dan Shapiro, Director of Business Development We will soon have a presence in the heart of the Las Vegas Strip when our new sports book at Casino Royale opens this winter, subject to regulatory approval. Casino Royale, across the street from the Mirage and between Venetian and Harrah’s, is known for bringing in well-known brands Denny’s, Outback Steakhouse, Walgreens and White Castle are just a few. Soon there will be a William Hill Sports Book as part of an all-new bar in the center of the casino. The sports book will have a single window and a kiosk, but we expect it to handle a good volume of business from the thousands of pedestrians who walk by the Casino Royale doors every day and the thousands of employees who work at the neighboring casinos. In northeastern Nevada, we will be adding to our footprint by installing a kiosk at the Alamo Casino in Wells. Located between Elko and Wendover, the truck stop is just off the I-80. On October 14, CEO Joe Asher (pictured below) testified in support of a sports betting bill in Lansing, Michigan in front of the House Regulatory Reform Committee. Michigan is one of several states to introduce sports betting legislation this year. The bill, introduced by Michigan Representative Robert Kosowski, would permit sports betting at the state’s casinos should it be permitted under federal law. 10 for gaming submission. As this is a new gaming solution, the submission process will take some time, but we are already starting to engage the GCB and the testing lab. The Gaming approval process will take some time but we are confident we will be successful and deploy the new Virtual Racing Solution into our sports books during the first half of 2016. New Call Center Solution Over the next couple of months, we will be migrating to a new Call Center Solution to support our Customer Support, CBS Software Support and Trading teams. The new solution will provide greater flexibility during disaster scenarios (ie. network outage or communication issue at Rainbow office) and will provide a more robust reporting solution. We are planning to have the new solution deployed by the end of November. Additional information will be sent out in advance of the upgrade. UPGRADES AND RENOVATIONS New signage at Grand Sierra being installed! Improvements being made to the Gold Dust West in Reno. Upgraded chairs at Bonanza. AROUND THE “HILL” SHOUT OUTS AND SUBMISSIONS To Lindsay and her team for putting together an explanation of all the benefits of working for William Hill. Larry Johnson, Sports Book Manager- Tuscany Matt Plourde continues to help us out when we need live, up-to-the-minute, data for our media contacts. He pulled data at 11:30pm on Friday and midnight on Saturday. In doing so, we wrote up stories breaking down the data he sent us and we were able to be in a few ESPN and Covers stories. Ryan Oakes, Marketing Specialist Shout Out to Jim Nasir at Tuscany for re cycling all th e unused shee ts and parlay cards. Austin Septer and his new baby girl, Payton! Larry Johnso n, Sports Boo k Manager- Tusc any Colleagues gather ed to support the Tyler Robinson Founda tion. I would like to thank Todd (Kalivoda) for his patience and long hours helping me get over a few hurdles. Mike Shaver, Ticket Writer of Childhood Joe at the Art Ben, Mike and ren’s Cabinet ild Ch fits the Event that bene in Reno. I just want to drop a line and commend the two ticket writers at the Comstock Casino/William Hill Sports Book in Carson City, NV. Dana and Brent have consistently been helpful, informative, reliable and on time, friendly and, most important, truly professional. If I have a question, both are very informative and will exhaust any remedy to get that question answered. I have seen both of them deal with extremely busy times of customer action with deftness and efficiency. Your company has a couple of very good employees at that location. Rick, WH Customer igh Roller ess on the H e busin all parts of th m o fr s e u g Collea All ladies team at Eldorado, you go girls! Michelle (Spatafore) is very helpful...she is the best! Awesome! Goes beyond the best! - WH Customer 11 AROUND THE “HILL” BIRTHDAYS, ANNIVERSARIES, AND MORE Movers & Shakers Amanda Bailey Ticket Writer to SB Supersivor Elijah Burke Ticket Writer To SB Supervisor Rachael Flanagan Revenue Audit to Accounts Payable Sandy White Kiosk Operations to Revenue Audit November Adam Pullen, Senior Trader Anthony Collier, Ticket Writer Cara Colman, Ticket Writer Dale Ashley, Ticket Writer Dawn Povijua, Ticket Writer Diana Nemoy, Revenue Auditor Gina Galasso, Ticket Writer Jim Francis, Sports Book Supervisor Jeff Short, Accountant Jeff Oberlander, Controller Justin Jonas, Open Source Developer Ken Rothmel, Ticket Writer Lana Richardson, CS Agent Leslie Terada, Ticket Writer Lori Ware, CFO Melanie Weissman-Rush, CS Manager Mike Dindia, CS Agent Michael Burgess, SB Supervisor Mickey Mosier, Ticket Writer Muhammad Kausar, Ticket Writer Nina Prologo, Ticket Writer Rafael Rojas, Ticket Writer Ricardo Peraza, SB Supervisor Ruth Del Rio, Ticket Writer Tom Butterworth, Head of InPlay Vik Kannegundla, Revenue Auditor Warren Crain, Ticket Writer December Amber Teichman, CS Team Lead Andres Ameigeiras, Ticket Writer Ashley Underswood, District Manager Brett Larson, Open Source Developer Bo Reily, Ticket Writer Bob Brown, District Manager Bob Taylor, Ticket Writer Chris Schipper, Ticket Writer Christina Sample, Ticket Writer Cody Sutryk, Sports Book Supervisor Dave Blanton, Ticket Writer David Grolman, VP of Operations Ed Uy, Revenue Auditor Elijah Kinsey, CBS Technician Gene Polachek, Ticket Writer Gerald Stohlgren, Ticket Writer Joe Cioni, Ticket Writer Jojo Calaguas, Ticket Writer Josh Smeltz, Sports Book Supervisor Matt Grill, Trader Melissa Houck, Revenue Auditor Penny Spurgin, Ticket Writer Randall Hawn, Ticket Writer Ray Hamzehlou, Ticket Writer Rebecca King, Ticket Writer Red Kelly, CBS Technician Reynette Maldonado, Revenue Auditor Robert Delmar, District Manager Sandy Drozd, Project Manager Scott Logan, Junior InPlay Trader Sean Moore, Revenue Audit Supervisor Sean Cronan, CBS Operations Manager Steve Astrin, Ticket Writer Wayne Hageman, Sports Book Manager Wes Storey, District Manager Y’vette Ako, Ticket Writer Long Service Anniversaries 10 Years Ben Knutson - Area Manager Weslie Nigro Ticket Writer to District Manager 12
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