By Lisa Waterfield, The LW Consulting, LLC

With the worst pandemic ever in our rear-view mirror, the gaming industry is on the road to a strong recovery. Vaccines have provided the well needed economic shot in the arm for Vegas, lifting mask restrictions and bringing capacity levels back to 100 percent. Tourism, bookings and gaming win hit the highest levels since February 2020.

Changes made during the early stages of the pandemic, resulted in a flurry of activity with several industry-changing outcomes. With casinos shut down in 2020, online casino play was accelerated together with the rollout of sports betting across North America. The pandemic forced traditional casino operators to embrace online gaming and sports betting in states where it has been legalized.

Cultivating Success

Saverio Scheri and his Agua Caliente workforce reap awards for their combined efforts. 

“Team” is a word you’ll hear a lot from Agua Caliente Casinos COO Saverio “Sal” R. Scheri III, a lifelong baseball fan. (Even after years in California, he is still a die-hard Yankee fan.) It’s key to the passion that infuses his leadership of one of tribal gaming’s most exciting ventures. The Coachella Valley-based gaming empire has transformed a patch of bare desert into award-winning Rancho Mirage resort. It’s got a premier night spot in downtown Palm Springs with a cool vibe. And it braved the Covid-19 pandemic to finish and open its Cathedral City casino, a smaller but distinctive variant on the Agua Caliente brand.

Give us a bit of a background of your involvement in the casino gaming industry. What led you to Jin Bei Group?

Considering myself still new to the industry, and having the need to continually learn and improve based on vast information and strategies of the business to be executed in this challenging environment. I was recruited by Jin Bei Group to be part of the pre-opening team, now looking after two hotel and casino properties packed with a myriad of entertainment options with a total construction area of 50,000 square meters and 60,500 square meters. We started construction in 2018 and we officially opened on the March 9 2020.

What is your position, and what are your responsibilities with Jin Bei Group?

DR Gaming Technology: Mexico’s Managing Director, Alfredo Moreno, and Group CEO, Jurgen De Munck speak with Peter White

Over 1,000 beds delivered in a single day, a record as far as I understand; well done! This assistance though is not your first, how did your Company get involved with this specific NPO?

Jurgen: As we’ve grown Peter, specifically here in Mexico, I have become far more aware of just how important communities, that in many cases are just massive families, are. As you know I moved here about two years ago, quite soon after we established an office here in 2017; the culture, and the sense of community I feel here is very different to what I grew up with in Belgium, and in a good way. Those that ‘have’ today help those that ‘have not’ today, because tomorrow the shoe will in all likelihood be on the other foot.