Law of Attractions

June 2007 Special Sections

Keno, slot machines, video poker, blackjack. If it has bells and lights and pays out cash, it’s a casino attraction. Or if it has four suits and face cards and pays out cash, it’s a casino attraction.

But gambling isn’t the only feature that makes a casino attraction, well, a casino attraction. Minnesota’s legalized gaming establishments are finding new ways to keep the cash customers on their doorstep—with or maybe even without dropping so much as a ten spot in the gaming halls.

It works for the casinos. And it works for Aric Dols. Last fall, Dols, who lives in Rogers, discovered good reasons to spend time around a casino—seventy of them, actually. Do the math: Fifty-two for every card in the deck of cards at Dols’ private poker table at Jackpot Junction Casino Hotel in Morton, plus eighteen more—one for every hole at the nearby, highly regarded Dacotah Ridge Golf Club.

Dols and seven of his friends loaded up their cars and spent a late-August weekend at the southwestern Minnesota casino, which is located 110 miles west of Minneapolis. The group played two rounds of golf and participated in its very own Texas Hold ’Em poker tournament—all part of the Golf and Getaway Poker Packages offered at Jackpot Junction Casino Hotel/Dacotah Ridge, which the casino started last year. The packages became so popular that Jackpot Junction decided to offer expanded ones to customers this year.

And Jackpot Junction is not alone when it comes to offering new attractions—Minnesota casinos prove that there is more to gaming operations than gambling. From new spas to world-class theaters, casinos up the ante to draw people to their locations.

Jackpot Junction Casino Hotel
Two days of top-notch golf book ended a successful session at the casino for Dols and his friends. Dols says he broke even, and his group probably came out ahead overall on its Golf and Getaway weekend.

The centerpiece of the package is Dacotah Ridge Golf Club. The course’s design, conceived by noted golf architect Rees Jones, reflects its Minnesota-prairie setting, and the course itself is ranked by Golfweek magazine as the third-best public course in Minnesota. Dols called the golf course one of the top five he has played, and he praised the Dacotah Ridge staff for helping set up closest-to-the-pin and other contests for his golf-and-poker group.

Dacotah Ridge golf professional Peter Kurvers came up with the original idea for the golf-and-poker getaways. He says the packages are geared toward groups of eight to sixteen and vary in cost from $244 per person for the weekday Golf and Poker Getaway to $341 per person for the Perfect Golf Weekend Getaway, which includes three days of golf, two nights’ lodging, and five meals. Another new option is the Women’s Getaway Weekend package, which includes golf, shopping in downtown Morton, and a tour and wine-tasting at Fieldstone Vineyard.

At the gaming tables, Jackpot Junction set up a private Texas Hold ’Em tournament for Dols’s group, which included a personal, club-provided dealer and a $40 buy-in with all of the money going toward the payout. They were so impressed with the weekend that they plan to do a repeat trip this year. “We loved it,” he says. “They were very accommodating for us.”

Fortune Bay Resort Casino
Location, location, location. Maybe it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. Otherwise, how can you explain why one of Minnesota’s farther-removed casino complexes, at least from the Twin Cities’ point of view, is also one of its fastest growing?

Well, maybe it really is all about location.

“Our slogan is ‘A few miles north of ordinary,’ and for us that refers to our location,” says Bob Villebrun, marketing and communications director at Fortune Bay, located near the Iron Range town of Tower, which is 220 miles northeast of Minneapolis.

There is a duality to Fortune Bay that works to its advantage. Though it is a three-and-a half-hour drive from the Twin Cities, visitors are offered a sense of escape to the deep Northwoods on the shore of Lake Vermilion, which is one of the state’s classic recreational lakes.

Fortune Bay’s new attraction comes in the form of a $13 million expansion: It features the addition of fifty-eight hotel rooms including high-end suites and renovation throughout the property; are all scheduled to be completed this month. The project was helpful for Fortune Bay, which experienced 10,657 lost room nights based on the number of people turned away from the hotel during peak season according to a consulting firm’s report in 2004.
As with Jackpot Junction, golf has been a major draw for Fortune Bay. The Wilderness at Fortune Bay opened to rave reviews in 2004 and continues to rake in awards such as Best New Upscale Public Course (Golf Digest, 2006) and Best Course You Can Play in 2007 (Golfweek). The course is the third within a thirty-mile radius designed by Jeff D. Brauer giving the Texas-based architect the Triple Crown jewels of northeastern Minnesota Golf: The Wilderness, plus The Legend and The Quarry courses at Giants Ridge near Biwabik.

Villebrun says The Wilderness’ golf getaway packages, which start at $191.60 for a one-night play and stay, makes Fortune Bay Resort Casino a location worth considering for a nice weekend away.Shooting Star Casino, Hotel & Event Center
Got sore muscles from raking in slot-machine payoffs and hauling in Brink’s truck–sized stacks of silver dollars to the payout window? (Hey, it’s called hyperbole—exaggeration for effect. Your actual gaming results might vary.) Relaxation and relief can be found at Serenity Spa, part of the Shooting Star complex in Mahnomen, which is four-and-a-half hours northwest of the Twin Cities.

Shooting Star converted space in one of its lounges into Serenity Spa, which opened in May. The spa offers a full-service day spa with full amenities, including licensed massage therapists, day-spa providers, and a full line of Serenity-brand lotions and spa products. “We wanted to be an industry leader,” says Romyn Hanks, advertising manager at Shooting Star, about the spa. “We’re one of the first in the state to offer this—certainly the first around the northwestern Minnesota region.”

Serenity is hoping to cater to the casino’s female clientele. “We could do a ‘girls night,’ where they could gamble and then come to the spa,” says Alan Thomas, hospitality administrative assistant at Shooting Star.

Or if gaming isn’t, um, in the cards, casino and hotel visitors can just visit Serenity for relaxation’s sake. “Instead of liveliness and entertainment, you might just want to kick back and take it easy for a night,” Thomas says. “It’ll be an all-around relaxing atmosphere.”

Mystic Lake Casino Hotel
The day after Taylor Hicks performed at Mystic Lake, Randy Carter had reason to be excited. Hicks, the American Idol champion from the fifth season, played to a sold-out crowd on March 25 at the Prior Lake casino. Carter, the casino’s vice president of marketing, was, of course, extremely pleased with the turnout—and perhaps just as enthused with what Mystic Lake will be able to offer its entertainers and concertgoers late this summer.

Mystic Lake Showroom, a classic performance venue is scheduled to open in late August or September. “I would think it’ll be one of the most plush theaters or showrooms in the Midwest,” Carter says.

More than plush, the 2,100-seat showroom is certain to be expansive, alluring, and highly functional. The stage will be ninety-five feet wide and fifty feet deep allowing Mystic Lake to attract cirque-type performing acts.

“It’ll have an absolute unique character,” he says. “The core is going to be very upscale, and the visual impact will be fabulous because there are no blind seats.”

Entertainment, says Carter, is a key marketing element for Mystic Lake. The casino will feature major headliners this summer including The Doobie Brothers. All of the acts, says Carter, bring both current clients and new clients to the property.

Treasure Island Resort & Casino
Treasure Island’s new look is hard to miss. One step inside the casino leads the eye to pillars draped with Italian separation curtains and stunning Maria Theresa chandeliers. Both of these are part of the Red Wing casino’s new greeting card—the Parlay Lounge—a feature that was added through an upscale renovation completed in June 2006.

Parlay features an illuminated bar with fine wine selections, ten 42-inch plasma LCD flat-screen TVs, and a 640-square-foot stage that hosts live music Friday through Sunday. Perhaps “upscale versatility” would be an appropriate description.

“Parlay serves as another entertainment venue,” says Bryan Prettyman, Treasure Island’s director of marketing. “Now, at Treasure Island you can see free live entertainment every weekend in two different venues.”