New Strat GM focused on improving ‘perception’ through guest experience

While on a tour with the Review-Journal, The Strat’s new general manager was eager to point out changes on the casino floor and the best views at the Top of the World, the property’s restaurant in its observation tower.

Dice, previously the assistant general manager of the property since 2021, was officially promoted to the resort-casino’s top spot at the end of October. Dice came to Las Vegas to “help with the relaunch of the Strat” after about six years leading parent company Golden Entertainment’s Rocky Gap Casino in Maryland. He said he was proud of the changes in the last three years — like the development of 100,000-square-foot golf entertainment venue Atomic Golf, casino and room remodeling projects and new restaurants — and ready to take on a new challenge.

The Review-Journal sat down with Dice on Tuesday to discuss his experience at the Strat and the property’s future. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Review-Journal: Tell us a bit about yourself and what you hope to do as the new GM at the Strat.

Dice: I have over 26 years of gaming experience from Michigan, Indiana, California, Pennsylvania, Maryland and now Vegas. I was running our Rocky Gap casino for Golden Entertainment since 2015. I had the opportunity to move out west in 2021, come over and help with the relaunch of the Strat, if you will. So I think that’s what I’m looking forward to the most, is getting that brand out there, showing off all the improvements that we’ve made at this property, the focus that we put on service at this property – it’s a really exciting time to be here.

As the assistant general manager, were there any particular projects or areas of the resort that you led or spearheaded?

When I got here I was in charge of both the gaming and marketing areas and player development. We’ve worked on a lot of different initiatives throughout the property, bringing in new processes, new procedures that really ultimately help out the guest service experience. I think one of the things that we’ve really been honed in on is our service scores, and we’ve made tremendous improvements upon that. We’ve made great strides on the physical aspects of the property, like we’ve redone the casino hotel rooms, new restaurants. The tower up here, we’ve redone this space. We’ve got the physical stuff taken care of, and now it’s really focusing in on the people part of the equation.

How does experience in regional casinos help you?

Every market is a little bit different – and every casino is a little bit different, in Las Vegas too. I think taking a somewhat reasonable mindset, looking at it and saying, ‘How can we approach this a little differently than we have in the past?’ You just approach things with a slightly different viewpoint.

Looking at the next few weeks here in Vegas, they’ll be busy. What are you watching for as Formula One returns to town, and this new Neon City Festival? How will you gauge the success of those new events?

We’re really excited with our partnership with the Neon City Festival, and F1 being in town is huge for the city. We’re going to have players here for F1, we’ll have players here for the Neon City Festival and we’ll also have players here for the Raiders game when they play the Broncos. There’s a lot of activations throughout the city and we’re really excited to be a part of that.

In terms of the Neon City Festival, we’re a partner in terms of providing room nights. We’re actually providing one of our restaurants as a food truck, Chi Asian Kitchen. We’re really committed to being a big part of that festival.

What’s your biggest challenge in this new role? What about some successes?

The challenge is always going to be the perception of property. I think it’s really changing that from what the Stratosphere was and was known for, into what the Strat is now. We really look at ourselves as the gateway to the Arts District now. I think the easiest success has come from just being here every day, being engaged with our team members here, being engaged with our guests.

Tell me more about connecting to the Arts District.

It’s a lot of being a good neighbor. We’re out in the community a lot. We’re doing a community cleanup in a couple weeks, we’re doing an event with Casa de Luz where we’re distributing Thanksgiving meals within the community as well. I think it’s being visible.

Last week on Golden’s earnings call, a couple of executives mentioned both the land directly across the Strat and the mezzanine level as opportunities for development of some kind. Can you expand on what could exist there?

That’s something we’re not ready to speak on. I’d defer back to the financial team on that because there’s no imminent papers signed on that.

What can you say about the opportunities that exist in the future of the Strat?

One of the big opportunities for us is getting back to our gaming roots on the property, really focus on the gamer experience. (Things like) offering single zero roulette, 10-times odds on our crapless craps tables. We’ve got a myriad of new slot machines throughout the property, so it’s exciting to see that side of the property really starting to grow and take off.

Why is that important?

It goes back to our gaming roots as a company. I think it’s important to be able to offer a good gamble to people, and people understand that. I think maybe throughout the city we haven’t done a great job of that. It’s getting back to those roots, providing that experience.

Contact McKenna Ross at mross@reviewjournal.com. Follow @mckenna_ross_ on X.