today gaming america is speaking with jeff hamilton the president and general manager of mohegan sun's flagship location in unclesville connecticut they just underwent a 15 million dollar renovation in certain parts of the location and mostly we will be talking about that today thank you jeff for speaking with us thank you thanks for having me all right uh my first question is sort of just about the renovation what major changes have happened at the uh connecticut location of mahikitsu yeah so we're still in the midst of that uh that renovation really a three a three-part renovation uh we wanted to redo our we have two 3 500 royal suites we're in the midst of remodeling uh those we're using a portion of our buffet space to build uh a brand new uh players lounge uh and then we did a bunch of improvements you know really a three-year project over at um over at our golf course so really three separate projects kind of being grouped into into one here um we're really excited about all of them and you know we believe all are going to have a you know pretty large impact on our business sure i was wondering about the uh sort of strategic planning that went in obviously mohegan's son up in amgasville is a huge huge destination and there are presumably a lot of things that can potentially be renovated at any given time in any given project how did you go about deciding on the three you just enumerated yeah so i think from a from a lounge offering perspective um you know one of our key uh our key business um you know uh areas is the high end right so we you know we believe that we're the the place that you know the high end you know the high-end gamers come to uh in the northeast um you know from a database perspective uh you know they've been you know a big chunk of our of our database we're constantly looking for ways to improve that overall experience um you know when we brought tao here we really created this immersive fnb experience and kind of have tried to build that strategy as we navigate through the next you know three to five years is what other things can we do that really are immersive and differentiated um so our lounge offering is something that you know has always been a competitive advantage for us we're really proud of our momentum program not just for the high end but for all you know all of our our customers that my monthly program is really really valuable and the lounge offering that we have um is great and you know one of the things that we did is you know kind of revisioning that how do we create a more immersive experience um you know for people that have access to the lounge and we're going to do our earth lounge which is what we're doing now and then the plan next year is to do the sky lounge and then the same thing with the royal suites the royal suites you know for us you know having fresh hotel products has always been um you know one of our uh you know one of our strategies you know we kind of go through the hotel in stages we haven't done the royals in you know over 10 years so um you know really diving into those and creating again just an immersive hotel experience that's going to be different you know whether you're on the you know the one on the 35th floor the one on the 36th floor those experiences will be different and we believe that those you know ultimately are going to drive more visitation because i think you know from a from an overall hotel uh sweet perspective you know going to be some of the best suites in the country sure sure and uh i was wondering about the process of sort of deciding on architects or contractors are are there people that mohegan son always uses for their construction endeavors or do you take it on a base by a case-by-case basis we do take it on a case-by-case basis but i would say you know for the most part our property um has been designed by rockwell so they've been a part of our our building since the very beginning um and the quality is right there right so i i think from from our perspective we've we've strayed away from them a little bit uh over the course of the last five or six years i know you know when i took over you know one of my focuses is making sure that we have quality of design because design is really going to set the tone for the building and then ultimately the experience um so we've used we use rockwell for towel we're in the midst of using rockwell for the lounge we have you know two other f and b uh you know uh experiences that are coming up that will hopefully be able to announce you know over the course of the next six months uh rockwell will be designed and the uh rocket will be part at least one of those um so you know like i said rockwell understands the tribe they understand our building uh and they're just you know great from a design perspective they really know how to create this immersive you know storytelling type of experience uh you know and everything that they design sure that uh your answer there sort of prompted a follow-up question would you say that there's uh a design aesthetic uh for the whole for the whole place you're going for yeah so i think you know if you if you think about going back to 1996 you know the tribal component was always a very very important uh part of the design and and i think that's still kind of flowing through in the designs that we're doing uh today but i would say you know one of the things that we really pride ourselves on is we don't you know through our expansions you know through our changes of product and changing of the property you know we're big believers and not just bolting things on that don't fit you know so i think a lot of times you go to properties and sometimes you know they want to have something so they changed it and they made it something else and it's kind of like you walk around the property and it feels a little disjointed you know i i think one of our you know strategic uh initiatives has always been never make sure make sure that it's never disjointed so whether it's the earth tower that we you know did in 2016 or the new you know earth uh exposition and meeting center which we did um in 2018 or the new lounges or tao they feel like they've always been there right and when you're walking around the property it doesn't feel like this is new and that is old right it feels like you're in a building that was built all at once even though you know that's been built over you know five or six big uh you know big uh projects and then we've changed out you know numerous restaurants and retail and parts of the property throughout our 25 years yeah i was wondering i've been to the tower in new york city does this one have a very large buddha in it yeah so it's a coin yeah and actually not a boo well it's a type of buddha uh so they have those at all in all the in every towel so yeah you know i think from a differentiating perspective um like i said a really immersive type of experience um you know it's digitally mapped you know you can you know you get a great uh a great show on it you know every single uh every single night and really you know from a restaurant perspective has really you know added a whole other level of smb um to our property and we're going to continue that you know i think for us we want to try to make sure that our fab product uh is second to none and we believe that has been one of our competitive advantage we have great restaurants like michael jordan steakhouse and tuscany now we have tao and like i said we're going to be announcing uh two new uh restaurants over the course in the next six months i had a question too about um well all land-based operators who are doing construction properties all all construction is beset with these uh difficulties with supply chain i was wondering if uh you guys in connecticut had faced supply chain issues um if so uh are there sort of methods you could do to minimize the uh the fallout from them yeah so you know i think for us similar to everyone um you know we're struggling you know construction materials and then also finished materials so um i think we've provided more of a time frame for build out understanding that that is you know going to be something that we have to uh contend with and then we've tried to get creative i'll just give a good example you know we just built you know a brand new uh ten thousand square foot sports book uh you know mohigan sun fanduel sports book uh we we have the biggest uh video screen uh on the east coast uh to watch sports you know as part of that build out we actually still have not gotten our walk-in cooler so we've come up creative um creative solutions to be able to operate the f and b component of that without a walk-in cooler so we're you know bringing things further away other walking coolers we're utilizing it makes it a little inefficient initially uh you know we expect the walking cooler you know for that you know that open for super bowl sunday uh we expect that to come in the next few the next few weeks um but i think we just look for ways if there's a way that we can get creative we can do without something um you know to make sure that we can you know get get the the asset open as quickly as possible yeah sure sure uh i was wondering uh for the whole as your president general manager it's a huge thing what would you say are the biggest draws is it you know the casinos are your entertainment offerings what are the biggest draws of the destination yeah i think you know we're an all-encompassing you know uh uh integrated resort but i think the biggest draw is our team members you know in our service so you know we're big believers in hiring great people uh a diverse workforce and then we allow them to be themselves so you know we kind of look at service delivery a little differently than any other hospitality company you know i would argue where we kind of allow our team members to deliver service in a way that's most comfortable for them and what that what happens with that is when a customer or guest comes here they get a more genuine natural service experience right and every time you come it's a little different depending on the team member that you've interacted with so we always hear from our from our guests uh you know how it feels like home they love to interact with our team members it's friendly it's natural it's outgoing and it's different so we're not we're big believers and not scripting service you know we focus a lot on what not to say instead of what to say you know we're big believers in allowing our team members to to be themselves uh and to express themselves uniquely we believe that's you know has always been something that we've been you know very very proud of and then from a service delivery perspective you know they can greet a guest in a way that they're comfortable greeting against now we probably don't want them to say what's up the first time that they uh interact with the guests but you know how they say hello you know maybe they're from the south you know maybe they're from another country um you know that might be you know a way that they you know greedy guests differently and that experience you know we believe uh is really differentiated so we have this beautiful property of this great infrastructure um you know we obviously have a 10 000 seat arena you know we have you know immersive fmv experiences we have a lot of assets you know from a property a lot of things to do here uh but from uh you know from a from a competitive advantage perspective we really believe our team members and our service delivery uh really is our number one competitive advantage sure uh and you mentioned the fanduel sports book uh which is uh you know well known you said it was the largest uh screen for watching sports in the east coast but uh sort of tangential to that i'm wondering uh as you know in connecticut uh you have online betting you have online casino in new york it's bedding as that becomes um you know more more prominent and more people are betting online on their phones are you are you seeing uh reduced foot traffic at the uncasville location i i i think the sports are an event right so you know whether it's a show you know you know in your in your arena um or it's uh you know a big event like barbecue fest you know outside our wine fest some of our food food food festivals big sports is an event so i'm just going to give you an example kentucky derby was last uh last weekend we also had mma and then we had a humongous boxing event a lot of people want to a lot of people are going to watch that at home but what we've found is people want to go and see that in a you know again immersive experience with this humongous screen with their friends you know and have cocktails and bottle service and kind of you know have that uh that experience so i think from an overall you know visitation standpoint i actually think you know we haven't that online component while it's uh convenient uh for sports you know especially big event nba playoffs nfl you know big horse racing boxing mma the kind of things that drive you know your your um your your sportsbook uh profitability those are events and people we all want to kind of be with each other interact and be in a cool place to watch an event whether that's going to the game and being in the stadium or coming to the sports book and you know having bottle service and you know great experience and watching it on you know you won't get screened it's a little bit more than you know sitting in your living room you know trying to keep yourself awake at 11 p.m for the you know for the fight yeah sure uh my last question is uh about the future you're i mean you mentioned you're not quite done with this renovation i was hoping uh you could tell us what what are the next uh the next big project's gonna be in terms of uh you know renovating mohegan sun and where do you hope the property is in say two years time yeah so i mean over the course of the next years obviously we're gonna finish the projects that we've uh we've started i talked a little bit about you know we believe two you know really distinct f and b uh new f and b outlets will open over the person next year we're focused on the outdoor area too so we you know one of the things we do is we have an old earth valet entrance that we it's a beautiful area that we've in the midst of you know investing two million dollars to kind of create a cool outdoor uh entertainment area where we can do shows and we can do events out there we're going to be adding fire pits and turf and you know field games and really creating a cool uh outdoor area that people can enjoy you know really three seasons so spring summer um and in the fall we talked about the lounge that we're doing now we're gonna do our other lounge our sky lounge next year so you know when you think about two years from now i think we have a great outdoor area we have two brand new uh restaurants you know we have two brand new royal suites we have two brand new uh lounges and then you know right on the horizon you know over the course of the next you know i would say eight weeks we're also going to have you know three really really exciting retail tenants that we're going to be adding as well so um you know there's going to be a lot of new offering uh to go along with you know our already uh you know great great offering and then from a show perspective we're really excited to see entertainment come back um you know that's one of the things that's been really hit by the the pandemic and you know if you look at over the course of the next six months our you know our show calendars is pretty impressive so uh june being you know one of those months you know we have justin bieber coming we're really you know we're really really excited for that a bunch of great country uh so we're gonna have some great shows over the course this summer as well yeah cool well good luck with all that uh this has been jeff hamilton the president and general manager of mohegan's son in unclesville connecticut thank you so much for speaking with gaming america have a great day thank you so much all