Lead Interview

JAN JONES BLACKHURST: A LEADING VOICE FOR LAS VEGAS

FORMER MAYOR OF LAS VEGAS, an educator and a vocal advocate for diversity and inclusion. To say that Jan Jones Blackhurst has made her mark on the US betting and gaming industry would be an understatement

BY ERIN GALLAGHER

It’s 8:00am on a Tuesday morning, and the familiar dial tone of a Skype call echoes through a near-empty office. Despite testing positive for coronavirus a few days prior, Jan Jones Blackhurst was full of energy as she sat down with SBC Leaders to discuss her time in the betting and gaming industry.

Jones Blackhurst moved to the bright lights of Las Vegas back in 1983, and it wasn’t long before she found herself entering the world of politics. Finding a group of likeminded women from both north and south Nevada, they worked together to pass Proposition 7, which incorporated a “woman’s right to choose” in the Nevada constitution. This group of women then encouraged Jones Blackhurst to run for mayor, something which she suggested was a “bit of a dare”.

“In 1991, I began working with a group of women from across northern and southern Nevada; there was an open mayoral seat, and they came and asked me to run for mayor. So we went to all the political insiders in Nevada, which is still the same group that are the political insiders today. This group of political insiders told me that I couldn’t possibly win.

“Essentially, I ran for mayor as a dare because I found it so insulting that someone thought I couldn’t do the job. I won in the primary, which was a shock to a lot of people, including myself. I served eight years at a time when Las Vegas was the fastest growing city in the country, and probably the world.

“We went from 50,000 hotel rooms to almost 125,000 and also put $10bn of infrastructure in place. We master planned all of the city and changed the focus to trails, parks and building communities around the city rather than just rebuilding the Las Vegas Strip.”

Her election as the first female mayor

of Las Vegas has, without a doubt, helped smash the metaphorical glass ceiling of political and corporate governance.

However, eight years in office didn’t come without its own set of challenges - the most difficult, she explained, was making sure that she was “taken seriously”.

“The last thing that anybody expected was for me to be elected. But ultimately, they had to deal with me because I was the mayor. It was so fascinating to begin to watch the shift in attitudes towards me when they realised I was going to make my own decisions, and I was going to make them based on what I thought was the right thing to do.

“As mayor, I was not going to make decisions based on what had been done in the past. I've often said that many people got so used to me being the only woman in the room that pretty soon, they just didn't see me as any different to them.

ESSENTIALLY, I RAN FOR MAYOR AS A DARE BECAUSE I FOUND IT SO INSULTING THAT SOMEONE THOUGHT I COULDN’T DO THE JOB

“One of the biggest challenges was that I had to make it very clear that I was going to be taken seriously. In my first meeting at City Hall, all of the departments had prepared these incredibly dense briefing books which detailed all of the work they were doing. I’d be confident in saying that I was the first elected mayor that actually sat down and read every single one!

“But during this one particular

meeting, a number of the city’s homeless population marched on City Hall. Everybody told me that I couldn’t go outside, that it was dangerous and that I should stay within the building. But these people were hot, no doubt hungry, and they had no homes to go to. So one of my first major initiatives was to build a comprehensive programme for the homeless which prioritised housing, support and job training. We created a model which could be replicated across the US.

“For a number of my male colleagues though, this wasn’t seen as ‘doing something’. They wanted us to be building bridges, developing buildings - creating tangible infrastructure that could be seen. But for me, helping the local community was the ‘raison d’être’ for why I was in office. I have tried to carry this across into my work in every job I have.

“I like to think that I was mayor for all the right reasons. I didn't need a title. But the city needed so many services and they needed to be focussed on the people who live there. Yes, downtown Las Vegas needed to be preserved, but we had an opportunity to put people first. That is something that I passionately believed in then and still do to this day.”

After her time as mayor, Jones Blackhurst decided to run for Governor but unfortunately, it was not meant to be. This did, however, put her on the path to where she is now.

Having become a familiar name among the big names in Las Vegas - working with visionaries such as of Kirk Kerkorian, Steve Wynn, Bill Boyd, Elaine Wynn and Claudine Williams - Jones Blackhurst went on to become the Head of all Government, Corporate Communications and Corporate Social Responsibility at Harrah’s Casino.

“I worked with Harrah's, which later became Caesars. We acquired Horseshoe. We went from a $1.5bn company, and I think we’re now a $12.5bn company. It’s been quite the ride! Caesars now owns seven casinos on the Las Vegas Strip, and approximately 50 casinos across the United States.”

During her time at Caesars, Jones Blackhurst has overseen the introduction of the company’s Corporate Code of Commitment - which commits to certain standards for job quality, responsible gambling and customer service.

Among various other achievements, it was clear that Jones Blackhurst was also particularly proud of Caesars’ 50:50 by 2025 strategy - a benchmark for gender equality and inclusion across all levels of the business.

To her surprise, and also to mine, the Caesars Executive shared that such a focus on CSR and ESG was uncommon across the US - with only 10% of large corporations having such initiatives in place.

“Surprisingly, these initiatives were very forward-thinking when they were introduced. There were many people in the industry who believed that we didn’t need to set those standards, but for me, it was an obvious decision. We are in a very privileged position, it is our duty to ensure that we are uplifting employees.

“I really do not understand how anyone running a large organisation does not see the value in investing in your employees, showing them that they matter and promoting their ability to be upwardly mobile.

“Employers need to place a focus on equal pay, equal representation, being responsive to customers and letting them know that you’re giving back to the community. Show the people who regulate and legislate you the positive work that you’re doing! That, to me, is pure common sense.”

Throughout her career, Jones Blackhurst has made it abundantly clear that she is a strong advocate for both diversity and inclusion - whether that’s gender, race, ethnicity, age and social background.

But for equal opportunities and representation to become commonplace across the industry, companies must do considerably more than just provide “lip service”.

“There are clear data trends which show that diverse and inclusive leadership teams perform considerably better on all metrics: sales, return on sales, EBITDA and revenues. That’s just common sense.

“You really have to look at who your customers are. When you’re creating

WE ARE IN A VERY PRIVILEGED POSITION, IT IS OUR DUTY TO ENSURE THAT WE ARE UPLIFTING EMPLOYEES

THERE ARE CLEAR DATA TRENDS WHICH SHOW THAT DIVERSE AND INCLUSIVE LEADERSHIP TEAMS PERFORM CONSIDERABLY BETTER ON ALL METRICS

new and innovative solutions, if everybody is looking at it from the same perspective, you're never going to see new perspectives. You’ll just keep doing what you’re doing; sometimes that will work, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s the best you can do. It will never result in true innovation.

“So if we know that best business

practice is creating diverse and inclusive teams, why don't we do it? Some might think that it’s hard to do. It's really not. If it was evolutionary, it would have already happened.

“Some used to argue that there weren't enough people in a

IF WE KNOW THAT BEST BUSINESS PRACTICE IS CREATING DIVERSE AND INCLUSIVE TEAMS, WHY DON'T WE DO IT?

minority background to have true representation. But we’re in 2022. We have a big enough pool of educated women and people of colour. There are now more women and POCs with BAs, MBAs and other higher education certifications than ever before. It’s not that companies can’t find them.

“It's just easier to tap the person who looks just like you. I also think there are huge differences when it comes to hiring men and women. Typically, if men fit the criteria for 60% of a job’s requirements, they’ll apply. But more often than not, women will have a tendency to be more conservatives - they will assess their ability and question whether or not to move forward with a job application.

“That was something that I always found interesting when I ran for mayor. I'd never been in politics. But I didn't think being mayor was about politics, I thought it was about leadership and community.”

THE LAS VEGAS KNIGHTS ADDED AN ELEMENT OF THE LAS VEGAS EXPERIENCE TO SPORTS

If we were to stretch out a list of Jones Blackhursts’ accomplishments throughout her career, we’d be looking at the length of the Las Vegas Strip twice over. But one which she drew particular attention to, and something which has helped maintain the city’s status as a global entertainment hub, was the development of the Allegiant Stadium.

A 71,000 capacity stadium, the Allegiant serves as the home stadium for the NFL’s Las Vegas Raiders as well as a venue for large scale events.

While I may have thought that the repeal of PASPA may have helped bring new sports teams to Las Vegas, Jones Blackhurst was very quick to point out that the city became a ‘go to sports destination’ after it was approved for major league sports. As a result, sports teams were able to become a part of the “Las Vegas environment”.

“It all started with the Las Vegas Golden Knights. Everybody thought that Las Vegas wouldn’t have the fans or that it wouldn’t have great sports teams. But with the Knights, they added an element of the Las Vegas experience.

“They were playing music, it’s a lot of fun when you go to the games. It just so happened that they also turned out to be a great team! Now, we’re seeing more hockey teams looking at ways in which they can make the game day experience much more entertaining.

“The other factor that nobody thought about was that people would buy tickets from all over the world because it's a great excuse to come to Las Vegas - we should be able to accommodate these fans too.

“When we got the Raiders, I was part of the group that was helping pass the legislation. At the time, there were a small handful of people that seemed very angry about it all. They wanted this money to be used for education. This money was earmarked for the tourism industry - Las Vegas had never had a 70,000 seat stadium. We had never been able to bring in big bands like The Rolling Stones, or host huge concerts.

“We estimated that Allegiant would need to be booked 46 times a year to break even. But the people wanting to come to events are triple that of the capacity! When the Raiders first put season tickets on their site, it almost crashed because of so many people from across the world wanting to come and watch the team.

I THINK IN THE US THAT REAL INTEGRATED ONLINE GAMING ACROSS STATE LINES IS STILL QUITE A WAY AWAY

“We have always had sports betting in Las Vegas, but what this did was allow sports teams to be a part of that Las Vegas experience that we all know and love.”

To accommodate visitors from all corners of the world, Las Vegas sportsbooks are always trying something new, she continued. Whether that’s a three-floor sportsbook, celebrity brand ambassadors or experience days, it is overwhelmingly clear that the customer service is front and centre. But does this transcend over into the mobile gaming space?

“This may be controversial to say, but many of the land-based casinos think that setting up an online offering will cannibalise their business. They don’t mind online, but they want you to go and physically register at a brick and mortar venue.

“I think in the US that real integrated online gaming across state lines is still quite a way away. If you look at the data from New Jersey, one of the first states to go live following the repeal of PASPA, what you find is that it doesn't cannibalise your business.

“You can actually meet a new customer, give them incentives to come and try a brick and mortar product. In that respect, it grows the market. But as we’ve seen in the past, fact versus opinion is slow moving.” •