Good afternoon everyone,
There was a big change in the boardroom of Dover Downs owner Twin River Worldwide Holdings with the company’s major investor taking the helm.
John E. Taylor, Jr. is stepping down as Executive Chair and board member. Soohyung Kim has been appointed chair. Kim is a founding partner of Standard General L.P., a major shareholder in Rhode Island-based Twin River and had been serving as a board member.
Kim praised Taylor’s work with the company and Taylor seemed to indicate that the decision to step down was his own.
Kim, whose net worth is estimated at more than half a billion dollars, cut his teeth in the casino business in connection with the bankruptcy of a Las Vegas area casino. The casino was later sold to Boyd, a casino company based in Vegas that caters to the locals’ market.
It has been a long journey for the politically connected Taylor who guided the Rhode Island-based company out of bankruptcy in 2009 and went on to add casinos that included Dover Downs.
Twin River plans further expansion with the acquisition of casinos in Kansas City and Vicksburg, MS after adding Dover, Gulf Coast, and Colorado properties.
Dover Downs was snapped up by Twin River after Delaware eased up on the high-profit sharing figure it had imposed during the 2009 budget crisis. The acquisition of publicly traded Dover Downs paved the way for Twin River to convert to a publicly-traded company.
In its most recent earnings report, the CEO of Twin River said Dover Downs posted a strong revenue performance. Overall earnings were down sharply due in part to tough competition in Twin River’s home state.
While it has bulked up through acquisitions Twin River still faces challenges.
Twin River’s relationship with the state of Rhode Island gaming regulators has been rocky and its two Rhode Island casinos face stiff competition that includes a new luxury Wynn casino in Boston.
In the meantime, Dover Downs is getting a Rhode island touch with the opening of Jerry Longo’s Meatballs and Martinis. Longo, who hailed from South Philadelphia, created a splash for a few years with a restaurant in Providence.
Longo brings his family recipes to the former Frankie’s location at Dover Downs. With its “Rat Pack” theme, Frankie’s appeared to get its name from the ‘Chairman of the Board,’ Frank Sinatra.
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