Casino Enterprise Management

Paul Tjoumakaris is a hard-working man. So hard-working, in fact, that with almost 30 years of gaming industry experience, he’s not unlike a modern day Hephaestus. Tjoumakaris may not have crafted Zeus’ thunderbolts, Athena’s shield or Achilles’ armor, but his perseverance, technological savvy and incredible work ethic (not to mention he is a Grecian himself) warrant comparison to the works of the Greek deity of technology and artisans. Throughout the course of his career, he has helped implement many industry firsts and, in his current role as senior vice president of gaming operations for Seminole Gaming, he’s tackling new challenges that are proving to be equally monumental.

With his uncanny grasp of gaming technology and his organic leadership style, it may seem like Tjoumakaris was born to operate a casino, but he actually began his life with a much different future in mind. Born in Macedonia, Greece, the birthplace of Alexander the Great, Tjoumakaris moved with his parents and his older brother to Philadelphia at age 12. It was there Tjoumakaris decided to follow in his parent’s footsteps and become an entrepreneur. “My parents left their homeland late in life and came to the states to start a new life and to offer their children opportunities that were nonexistent in a country torn by the Second World War and the Civil War that followed soon after,” Tjoumakaris said. “Their spirit and hard work ethic led them to open a small luncheonette business that gave me and my brother the opportunity to experience how to be self-reliant, as well as how to become good citizens.” After years of working hard at his family’s restaurant and pursuing a degree in electronics, he embarked on an entrepreneurial adventure of his own.

Entrepreneurial Dreams
In 1972, Tjoumakaris’ dream became a reality when he opened his own hotel and restaurant in Atlantic City, the Delaware City Hotel and Mary’s Restaurant. For close to seven years, Tjoumakaris worked tirelessly to develop his businesses, putting in countless hours and exhausting much of his finances. But on one fateful day in February 1978, a fire tore through both of his businesses, turning his hard work and dreams to ash. Although Tjoumakaris could have dwelled on the loss, his strong Greek spirit and perseverance prevailed and he soon found another opportunity that would prove to be his true calling. “It was difficult losing two businesses to fire, especially after putting so much hard work into making them successful,” he said. “But sometimes life has other plans for you.”

When a new business deal fell apart shortly after the catastrophic fire, Tjoumakaris went in search of immediate work. “With a wife and three children to support, I couldn’t stay out of work for long,” Tjoumakaris reasoned. Luckily (or perhaps fatefully again), Atlantic City’s gaming industry was booming at the time. Just a few years before, in 1976, the city had passed a Casino Gaming Referendum, allowing the first commercial casinos to open in the Garden State. And Atlantic City’s second casino was about to open its doors.

Caesars: The Door to the Future
“In the interim between business ventures,” Tjoumakaris recalled, “I thought: Why don’t I go and knock on Caesars’ door and see what they have available? I was looking for a position as a food and beverage manager because of my background, but unfortunately — well, actually fortunately — it was too early because they were only hiring table game dealers and slot operations personnel.” Tjoumakaris initially interviewed for a dealer position, but soon discovered he knew nothing about table games, and even if he did, he wouldn’t be able to wait for the training course that was scheduled to start a month later. His next option? The slot department.

“When Caesars’ director of slot operations at the time, Harry Okin, saw my resume and my background in electronics — three years in the service as a radar repairman, a broadcasting engineer in Philadelphia and owning my own business — he thought, ‘Hey, this is a guy I could use.’ I had no idea what I was getting myself into. But when he said he was going to start me as a slot technician, I said, ‘Well, gee … I’ve never even played one. I don’t even think I know what one looks like.’ But that’s how I started, and I’ve never looked back.”

Okin saw potential in Tjoumakaris, taking him aside and teaching him the ins and outs of the slot department, things most slot technicians usually did not have the opportunity to learn. With a mentor like Okin and an extremely inquisitive mind, Tjoumakaris was able to learn and accomplish great things during his 23-year tenure at Caesars. He quickly climbed the ranks, eventually becoming the senior vice president of slot operations. While in that position during the 1990s, Tjoumakaris and the rest of the management team helped Caesars Atlantic City become the first organization in the industry to include bill changers on 100 percent of its machines. “By hiring an engineering firm, we were able to develop our own external bill changer that interfaced with every slot manufacturers’ machine when such technology was not available,” he noted. “It also had enough intelligence to gather all the accounting data, as well as to communicate such data via a network to our main slot accounting system.” That system worked incredibly well for Caesars, and soon after, the property became one of the first to offer bar-coded ticket-in through the external bill changers.

In addition to playing an integral role in the day-to-day operations of Caesars’ slot department, Tjoumakaris also helped the Caesars World Development team open Dover Downs in Delaware and Caesars Windsor across the Canadian border from Detroit. “I really enjoyed my time at Caesars,” Tjoumakaris reflected. “I had some incredible opportunities within the organization and especially enjoyed working with the development team. It’s a great company, and I had a lot of fun there.”

Moving Down the Boardwalk
In January 2002, shortly after Bally took ownership of Caesars, Tjoumakaris was ready to take on a new challenge and a new casino a little further down the Atlantic City Boardwalk. As the Borgata began preparing for its July 2003 grand opening, Bob Boughner, the property’s chief executive officer, approached Tjoumakaris to see if he was interested in changing gears. Tjoumakaris was game, and shortly thereafter was hired as the vice president of slot operations. His new challenge was to help prepare, design and execute one of the most technologically advanced gaming floors in the city. Boughner, whose vision and business savvy would help propel his Borgata team to create a new standard for gaming in the Atlantic City market, also become a mentor to Tjoumakaris. “Boughner was incredible to work with,” Tjoumakaris said. “It was truly an eye-opening experience to work with such a dedicated and innovative professional. He is a man with vision, passion for his work and provides the environment to get the most out of his team. His creative talents not only produce beautiful buildings with amenities, but his business savvy generates the right culture to run the business smoothly.”

When the Borgata opened its doors to the public, it arguably had one of the best technological gaming operations of its time. Not only did it have all the latest, state-of-the-art machines, but it was also a 100 percent coin-free operation with a backup plan so solid nothing was left to chance. This was remarkable by 2003 standards, as most competitors had only converted about 30 percent of their slot floors to TITO. “We wanted to start with a 100 percent TITO floor,” Tjoumakaris said. “But the only product available at the time was IGT’s EZ Pay ticket system, which had some reconciling issues with back-of-the-house accounting systems. I knew that ACSC already had a basic ticket server — which I had worked with at Caesars — so we asked them if they would consider taking that server and developing it into a full TITO system, which they did.”

Yet there was still some skepticism that a 100 percent TITO operation would work perfectly because it had never been entirely implemented and tested before. So Tjoumakaris and his team got to work on a proactive solution to the potential problem. “Because we had a year-and-a-half to work on the project before our doors opened, I was able to go to the slot vendors and explain exactly what we needed from them, which was a certain protocol that would allow us to interface with the downloadable credits (SASS 6.0), while at the same time ensuring that if our system failed we would still be able to operate. We literally developed a backup method for our slot machine software so that if the system were to go down, we could revert back to coin play.”

That meant from day one, the Borgata had the ability to operate as a 100 percent coin-free facility or a 100 percent coin facility. “A lot of people didn’t even know we had the backup system. Between our operations departments, the regulators and the vendors, we were able to create and do something that usually takes a couple of years. … We really took that property to the next level.”

Good Bye, Atlantic City … Hello, Hollywood!
The Borgata was the Mirage of Atlantic City, and represented a new generation of gaming for the city. But five years later, after helping the Borgata get its phenomenal start and being involved in its expansion, Tjoumakaris decided that it was time to take on another challenge. He left Atlantic City behind in December 2006 for a chance to pursue his goals at the corporate level for the Seminole Tribe of Florida. “I knew that the Seminoles would someday migrate from Class II to Class III and saw it as a great opportunity for me not only technologically and operationally, but also as a chance to become a mentor myself,” he said of his decision. “I really wanted to make a difference.”

And he certainly has. With so much experience as a Class III gaming operator, Tjoumakaris is well-suited as the senior vice president of gaming operations for the tribe. Since January, the Seminole Tribe has begun to take advantage of its renegotiated Tribal State Gaming Compact, which now allows the tribe to install up to 15,000 Class III gaming devices throughout its seven Florida casinos. The new compact gives the tribe the opportunity to compete with Florida’s racinos on an equal playing field, while at the same time benefiting the state’s tax coffers.
 
Mixing it up at the Seminole Hard Rock
Currently, Tjoumakaris and his team are hard at work installing the new Class III slots on Seminole’s Hollywood Hard Rock casino floor, with plans to continue on to the remaining casinos within the next few weeks. “We started at the Seminole Hollywood Hard Rock property to make sure we had enough of an impact on our customers at one place to properly market the changeover,” Tjoumakaris said. “The next property we’re going to attack will be the Seminole Coconut Creek Casino, and then we will move on to the Seminole Hollywood Classic. … We’re doing one property at a time, not just putting in a few machines here or there, and we hope to have ample Class III devices installed in all our properties within the next six to eight months.”

And Tjoumakaris knows just how to take advantage of the Class III manufacturers’ product mix. “My Class III experiences in high-profile casinos and in very competitive markets have definitely provided me the necessary tools to take the Seminole Casinos and Seminole Hard Rock slot operations to the next level,” he said.

And while it may be tempting to completely covert all of its properties to Class III devices, Tjoumakaris’ experience has taught him that there is no perfect mix.

“Our main objective is to install Class III slots in all seven Seminole properties with the proper mix to stay competitive and continue to evaluate our casino floors with the best product and mix to optimize our revenues,” he said. “There is no one formula that will fit all seven properties, so we will continue to evaluate our floors, making sure the proper mix is achieved for the right marketplace.”

Part of that mix means making decisions about which vendor’s products to choose for each of the tribe’s gaming floors. And although it may seem like a difficult task wading through the bells and whistles each manufacturer has to offer, in the end Tjoumakaris says it came down to old alliances and history. “We definitely gave Bally and IGT the first opportunity because of their continued support throughout the years,” Tjoumakaris said. “Both companies were instrumental in the support and success of the Seminole casinos since their inception.” But Tjoumakaris did note that as they begin planning for the second phase of installations, the tribe will reach out to the rest of the vendors for placements.

The tribe is also making plans to install live table games throughout its properties. “Currently our focus is on installing the new Class III slot products, but we are also planning our table game pits. Because our infrastructure wasn’t in place to house the equipment and personnel needed to operate full live table game pits, we are just beginning to plan these areas now,” he said, adding that additional facility expansions plans will also eventually be unveiled.

The Future Complements the Past
Tjoumakaris has brought many experiences and vast knowledge to the Seminole Tribe’s gaming operations, but he has learned an almost equal amount from being a part of the organization. “I’ve discovered through my time here that product is not the complete answer to player’s entertainment, and that there are a lot of manufacturers I had no idea existed,” he said. “I’ve also learned how difficult it is to emulate the Class III product in the Bingo format, particularly the Video Poker products. Jim Allen, our CEO of Seminole Gaming and Hard Rock International, and his team have done a remarkable job with the Seminole casinos and Seminole Hard Rock properties’ operations and its gaming products. Through Jim’s vision, past experiences and hard work, and with his passion about the Seminole Tribe of Florida’s past history, culture and core values, he and the Seminole Tribe’s Council have made an unprecedented leap into the future that will not only benefit the Tribal members, but the whole Florida region for generations to come.” 

But the challenges of a Class II facility also helped cement his knowledge about the future of gaming through server-based systems. “Working with the Class II products when I started with the Seminole Tribe really helped my understanding of server-based systems,” he said.

And Tjoumakaris is excited about the future server-based gaming holds for the industry. “I am very optimistic with the progress we’ve seen from the slot manufacturers for the past couple of years. The major players have spent a lot of money in the research and development of server-based gaming, and that is encouraging. I truly believe we will see a major operator within the next couple of years utilize open-network architecture or server-based gaming as their main system infrastructure.”

Tjoumakaris is also aware of the important role the Gaming Standards Association plays in getting us there. “GSA will provide to gaming what Microsoft provided to our computer operating systems. Through server-based gaming, its certified standard protocols will offer the industry the opportunity to market products, amenities and services to guests across all brands of slot machines and other point-of-sale systems. It will offer us better tools to analyze data, bringing the player closer to the product as well as providing the right pricing and value to coincide with guests’ earning potential in gaming and non-gaming venues.”

Tjoumakaris is sure that this open architecture will open up a road of opportunities for the players, the operators, the manufacturers and the other inventive people out there with a great idea for the casino floor. And, of course, Tjoumakaris will be right there along with the changes, because just like Hephaestus he has become known for the incredible work he does and the passion with which he does it: “I love what I do now and I am blessed to work with a team of true professionals in their own fields. It’s just so exciting at this point of my career.”

Krista Reiner is the Managing Editor for Casino Enterprise Management. She can be reached at (701) 293-7775 or by e-mail at editor1@aceme.org.