飽受爭議的賭場老闆安迪·桑伯恩已將他與新罕布希爾州彩票委員會和總檢察長辦公室的爭鬥升級到州最高法院。桑伯恩已請求法院確定州是否通過阻止他出售其業務，康科德賭場，而非法行為。
律師們聲稱，州通過錯誤地撤銷桑伯恩的許可證，關於大流行欺詐的指控，並拒絕桑伯恩的買家自己的許可證，從而挫敗了一次銷售。
桑伯恩需要撤銷這一撤銷，以便出售賭場。
委員會在經過長時間的行政鬥爭後，於11月撤銷了康科德賭場的許可證。在新的法庭檔案中，桑伯恩的律師們爭辯說，沒有那個許可證，這個生意就一文不值。
丹尼斯·康拉德一直是一個有遠見的人，一個顛覆者和一個創新者。
成千上萬的博彩行業人士參加了他的會議，參加了他的培訓，閱讀了他的書籍，聽了他的演講，並吸收了他的高度個人化的文章，包括他為CDC博彩撰寫的月度專欄。
在1990年代，當博彩行業迅速從零售和航空業採用分析和直接營銷時，同時還有一個在博彩行業中日益增長的聲音，宣揚“顧客崇拜”和員工權利。
這個聲音來自內華達州裡諾的一家名為Raving Consulting的小公司，屬於創始人丹尼斯·康拉德。
在20多年的時間裡，Raving Consulting已經成長為博彩業中一個知名度高、備受尊敬的影響者，致力於客戶服務和玩家發展。在一群賭場專業人士的推動下，Raving Consulting最終能夠滿足任何尋求幫助的公司的各種需求。
丹尼斯·康拉德會告訴你，他在博彩行業超過50年的成功秘訣是依靠他“利用比我聰明的人的技能的能力”。
創新和遠見
從紐約州布法羅的郊區到內華達州的交易：丹尼斯·康拉德是一名賭場執行顧問，也是Raving Consulting Company的創始人和前總裁。他是斯坦福大學的畢業生，在博彩行業擁有超過50年的經驗，在哈拉斯娛樂公司和馬戲團馬戲團企業/曼德勒灣度假村集團擔任過多個高級職位，然後在1998年創立了Raving。
他是《康拉德角落：關於賭場、營銷和生活的觀察》(2004年)和《康拉德論賭場營銷》(2009年)的作者。他是各大主要博彩出版物的30年專欄作家，包括CDC博彩，並且是國內外博彩會議上的熱門演講者。
除了建立一個主要的營銷諮詢公司外，他還創立了賭場營銷會議、印第安博彩全國營銷會議和主持人會議等。丹尼斯構思並幫助執行了賭場營銷終身成就獎、羅梅羅獎、巴羅納/VCAT印第安博彩營銷卓越獎，當然還有他最喜歡的年度獎項，帶有諷刺意味的年度最佳（和最差）賭場促銷。他在2015年獲得了賭場雜誌的營銷終身成就獎。
丹尼斯已經半退休，但仍為真正關心以客戶和員工為中心的博彩客戶工作。他繼續自豪地支援諾塔·貝蓋三世基金會及其改善美國原住民兒童健康的至關重要的工作。
撲克和高爾夫
康拉德很早就在紐約西塞內卡，布法羅南部的一個郊區開始接觸博彩，那裡經常發生嚴重的湖效應暴風雪，常常成為全國媒體的焦點。他開始和他媽媽及其朋友們一起玩撲克，賭注是便士和鎳幣。後來，他用這些贏來的錢開始在當地的市政高爾夫球場卡澤諾維亞高爾夫球場賭美元，那裡他是一個著名的青少年球員。
“我和一群好的青少年球員一起玩，賭注大約1美元，這是一筆大交易。你不僅僅是和賭徒玩。你是和一些相當不錯的人玩。這對磨練我的技能然後贏得一些錢是個好練習，”康拉德說。
“有點像我的經紀人”
“我爸爸在一家叫Trico Products的公司工作。他們製造雨刷。他們是汽車行業的一部分，在布法羅有三個工廠。他是一個中層管理人員。
“當我開始打球時，他看到我打得很好。他有點想通過我來過他的生活。我連續兩年贏得了紐約州男孩錦標賽和布法羅地區區男孩錦標賽。然後第三年我輸了。我是14到18歲時的青少年高爾夫熱門人物。
“所以，當我打得好時，我爸爸成了我的經紀人。我沒有要求他這麼做，但他認為那裡有一個高爾夫獎學金。在1969年和1970年，並不像現在這樣。只有幾所學院提供高爾夫獎學金。
“我從斯坦福得到獎學金提議的那一年，他們只有半獎學金。斯坦福的半獎學金就像在其他地方支付全額學費一樣，因為它很昂貴。所以那是我從斯坦福得到的提議，”康拉德回憶說。
貝基
1974年從斯坦福大學畢業後，康拉德被錫拉丘茲法學院錄取，但從未就讀。
“我在回布法羅去上法學院的路上，在愛荷華州遇到了我的未來妻子貝基。在我放棄那件事之後，我說，‘貝基，我要回到西部。我會順路過來。所以現在我愛上了她。我離開了布法羅，回去和她在愛荷華州在一起。”
“我在愛荷華州的夏天找工作，但所有的大學生都搶走了所有的暑期工作。所以，我說，‘我要回到加州去。’”
“貝基說，‘我也想去。’她有一輛1965年的野馬，後備箱的車身都生鏽了。但她有一輛車和1000美元。所以，我們墜入愛河。我們去拜訪並與全國各地的一些朋友住在一起，最終在西部破產和沮喪。我們跛行進入加州的尼德爾斯。我們不得不修車並找工作。我找到了一份代課教師的工作，”康拉德回憶說。
我們應該這樣做
丹尼斯在當地學校系統和汽車旅館工作，“當房間是六美元時”，貝基在當地的山姆博斯工作時，康拉德開始在當地賭場玩二十一點。
“我們去這些賭場，荷官穿著漂亮的衣服；他們戴著漂亮的珠寶。你可以看出他們在賺小費。我不知道他們賺了多少錢，但我說，‘貝基，我們應該這樣做，因為他們賺的比我們多得多，’”康拉德說。
這導致了丹尼斯和貝基從1975年開始在內華達州的賭場工作的歲月。康拉德擔任過肯諾作家、荷官和調酒師。貝基最初是一名老虎機換錢員、肯諾跑腿和賓果叫號員，後來成為了荷官。
我問康拉德他從那些日子在賭場一線工作中學到了什麼，後來在他作為作家、作者和賭場顧問的職業生涯中使用了這些東西。
“你會對一線人員必須經曆的事情有所了解，對吧？我對這些人工作有多努力，他們必須忍受的東西有所了解，”康拉德說。
賭場隊長
康拉德的突破來自於一個名為賭場隊長的角色，他用這個角色教人們如何玩賭場案頭遊戲，就在它成為拉斯維加斯哈拉斯之前的假日賭場。
“這個角色是 dressed up as a ship captain with a room service jacket and a little hat, and that’s how you gave the lessons as this character.
“I took the gig as Captain Casino, and I did that for one year, and it was terrific. It opened some people’s eyes. I had huge crowds around my tables,” Conrad recalled.
The laughing, joking, crazy lesson, crowd-attracting Captain Casino caught the attention of fellow Stanford graduate Phil Satre, then the President of Harrah’s Entertainment, who had Conrad help start a similar program in northern Nevada.
Conrad’s future mentor, John O’Looney, came from Harrah’s Atlantic City at this time to take the job of VP of Casino Operations at Harrah’s Las Vegas. Recognizing the spark in Captain Casino, he promoted Conrad to Special Events Manager and then Casino Marketing Director.
A few years after that, it was suggested that Conrad take the job as Director of the Harrah’s Institute of Casino Entertainment, a program conceived by President Satre to prepare current Harrah’s non-gaming executives for careers in the burgeoning gaming business. Satre said, ‘We need to have a program where we teach smart people in our company about the business.’
“I had to interview with a Corporate Senior VP of HR. I said, ‘I’m interested in this job, but I only want to do it if I can do it the way I want. I want this to be down and dirty, so they see it from the inside. It’s not an academic exercise.’
“’This thing needs to be about the cheater coming in who shows them how to cheat and knows how to do it. We need to show them the inside. We need to take them into the count rooms. We need to have them become customers and see what a customer experiences. We have to tell them about this problem gambling stuff. If I can’t do it the down and dirty way then I’m not interested’,” Conrad said.
The concept for Raving is born
Conrad taught 40-60 executives monthly from all senior levels of the then PROMUS companies, including the Harrah’s casinos.
“This is how I got the idea for Raving. All I did was find the smartest people I knew and turn them loose on stage, and I kind of spearheaded the program.
“When we needed to talk about the math of gambling, I brought in Peter Griffin from Cal State, Sacramento, who wrote the Theory of Blackjack and studied how advantage players got the best of casinos. I got Anthony Curtis of the Las Vegas Advisor to talk about a bunch of different things. I got Steve Forte, the preeminent expert on cheating, to show some ways to take down a casino. I’m taking them into count rooms. I’m making them play live games on the Las Vegas Strip. A lot of these people had never been in a casino back in Memphis. Their eyes are, like, wide open. They all run back home, raving,” Conrad confided.
Twist of fate
In a twist of fate that is all too typical in the casino industry, Conrad was lured away by Circus Circus Enterprises to use his Harrah’s Institute background to help change the culture at Circus Circus Enterprises as the Vice President of Employee Training and Development. Due to changes in ownership at Circus Circus, Conrad’s job as Corporate VP ended, only six months after it had been created. To complete his three-year contract, he was asked to choose a senior-level job at any property in the company, and for a variety of reasons, he chose Circus Circus Reno to be Director of Marketing right after the market-changing opening of the Silver Legacy.
After two and a half years in this role, Conrad found himself with an expired contract, living with his wife and family in Reno and decided to take the $100,000 cash he had saved from his corporate and property roles and start Raving Consulting.
“Becky, who’s from Iowa, loves Reno and she said, ‘We like it here.’ I said there is one thing I’ve thought about. I got this idea from the Harrah’s Institute; I’ve thought about starting a consulting company that has the same principles. You gather up the smartest people you can find that know everything there is to know about their area of the business and you offer it as a package to casinos. It’s going to be whatever you need, the best you can get. That was my first tagline for Raving, ‘Whatever you need, the best you can get.’” Conrad recounted.
After three years, Conrad picked up a few jobs at places like Beau Rivage, but was spending much more than he was making. Around that time, he began working with Steve Browne, and the combination of Browne’s small town casino Cactus Jack’s customer worship and Conrad’s brand of disruptive thinking began to gain traction.
Conrad received a call from the CFO at Majestic Star in Gary, Indiana who had been through the Harrah’s Institute and had read some of Conrad’s columns and said, ‘Do you guys do
