Golden Entertainment appoints Blake Sartini II as COO

Former COO Steve Arcana has moved to the new role of chief development officer.

US.- Gambling operator Golden Entertainment has named Blake Sartini II, executive vice president of operations, as chief operating officer. Former COO Steve Arcana has moved to the new role of chief development officer, where he will be responsible for new tavern development and finding new third-party food and beverage concepts for casino resorts.

Sartini II joined Golden in 2007, working with the firm’s tavern operations and building the tavern portfolio in Nevada with 69 locations. As vice president of operations, he has direct responsibility for the company’s five casinos in Las Vegas and Pahrump.

Blake Sartini, chairman and CEO of Golden, said: “Blake has worked in every capacity throughout our organization since he started at Golden almost 17 years ago. His unique knowledge of our Company’s culture, commitment to operational excellence, and strong leadership skills make him the ideal individual to be given responsibility for all our Nevada casino resorts, locals properties, tavern operations and related corporate functions.”

Arcana joined Golden in 2003 and has overseen the firm’s operations as it has grown from a privately held, 900-slot machine route operation to a publicly traded gaming company with casinos in Las Vegas, Laughlin and Pahrump.

Sartini said: “Steve has been with Golden for over 20 years and has been an integral part of growing our business and guiding us through many challenges. Steve has established a strong operating team and has been a consistent leader throughout his decades at Golden. His long history and extensive experience in the industry will continue to benefit the Company in his new role focused on creating value from new tavern development and unused assets in our casino portfolio.”

In January, Golden Entertainment completed the sale of its distributed gaming operations in Nevada to an affiliate of J&J Ventures Gaming for approximately $213.5m, with another $37.5m of purchased cash.