When you think of Las Vegas, one of the first hotel chains that pops into mind is Caesars Palace. That is apparently what Harrah’s Entertainment also thought. Harrah’s Board of Directors agreed that the company would be better off known as Caesars Entertainment Corporation.
In 2005, Harrah’s first obtained Caesars Entertainment through a merger, but opted to keep Harrah’s Entertainment as their primary name. With the poker boom in recent years, both nationally and internationally, the Board of Directors believed that the name change would bring more recognition to the casino. While the main casinos will still be named Harrah’s, the addition of the name Caesars Entertainment will hopefully help with the expansion contingency plans that are all over Las Vegas right now.
Many people believe that Harrah’s should have done this in 2005 after the buy-out of Caesars. The main problem with this was assuring their employees and customers that the Harrah’s brand wasn’t changing, rather it was just a name change to gain more recognition. CEO Gary Loveman stated that “Our employees will remain dedicated to the innovation, customer-service excellence and corporate citizenship that have been hallmarks of our company for decades. But this re-branding of the corporate name can open exciting new opportunities for us in the future.”
Bill Harrah started Harrah’s over 70 years ago in Reno, NV. Since that time it has become more of a middle-market gaming name. The addition of the Caesars Entertainment Coorporation should help Harrah’s become a top-notch company. In Las Vegas alone, Harrah’s operates Caesars Palace, Bally’s, Paris Las Vegas, Flamingo, Harrah’s Las Vegas, Imperial Palace, Bills Gamblin’ Hall and the Rio. It owns more than 50 Casinos worldwide.
It is currently unknown if the name change will be applied before the start of this years WSOP or not because it needs approval from each casino location. Three years too late or not, the switch from a strong name in Harrah’s Entertainment to Caesars Entertainment Corporation shows us all just how important poker has become worldwide in the last couple of years.