Veteran gaming executive Dan Lee was named president of the Palms Casino Hotel in Las Vegas, replacing Joseph Magliarditi.
Lee was president and CEO of Pinnacle Entertainment from 2002 to 2009. He resigned after a heated dispute with a St. Louis County, Missouri official after the council voted to rezone a parcel of land for casinos, potentially competing with Pinnacle’s developments in the region.
Lee will operate a revamped property that has seen many upgrades under Magliarditi’s tenure. Magliarditi resigned just a week after the highly touted sports bar Heraea closed just seven months after opening. The venue, a partnership between the Palms and the One Group, was heavily marketed, but failed to garner a following.
Lee began his career as a Wall Street analyst but was lured away to become the CFO of Steve Wynn’s Mirage Resorts. His departure from Pinnacle was messy, and he later led a group that purchased a former Pinnacle development, Mojito Point adjacent to the L’Auberge casino, that he developed during his tenure. He was able to obtain one of the final gaming licenses in Louisiana for the property and later sold it to Ameristar Casinos prior to development.
