A Fine Time

Everyone has at least one pivot point in their lives—one of those moments when you meet someone who will change your life, or you make a momentous decision, or some event impacts your life. I’ve thankfully had several pivot points in my life, but I want to talk about someone who I met early in my career who truly changed my life.

Glenn Fine was a deeply flawed individual, and that contributed mightily to the end of his life. But when I met him, he was full of the entrepreneurial spirit that also lived inside of me.

He had been a dealer, as I was at the time, at Resorts casino in Atlantic City. While there, he had an idea to start a publication that would be read by casino employees, and would help to teach them about the casino industry, as well as publicize things that they might enjoy, like bars and restaurants, special events… whatever the Atlantic City region had to offer.

I was a dealer down the Boardwalk at Caesars at the time, and I saw Casino Journal floating through the employee lounge, and I was intrigued. You see, I already knew that I wouldn’t remain dealing my entire life. I hated it, and the procedures that it forced me to follow.

So I had signed up for a writing course at nearby Stockton College that was taught by Professor Bernie Sless. Bernie was a kindly old soul who saw some hope in my word salads. Glenn had already contacted him to inquire about writers for Casino Journal because Glenn couldn’t write himself out of a paper bag.

So it was kind of a match made in heaven, and I began writing for him even when I was recruited to deal baccarat for Steve Wynn’s Golden Nugget, even further down the Boardwalk.

Later, when Wynn exited Atlantic City, I followed some former Nugget executives to open the Showboat casino. That job was torture, and four months in, I decided to quit and work for Casino Journal full-time as editor.

But the casinos were a little leery of Casino Journal. They were worried it might become connected to a union and try to organize workers who weren’t already in a union. So our turning point came when the dealers at the Claridge casino were approached by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW).

Glenn insisted that we cover this, as it was a big story, but do it fairly. So I interviewed Claridge execs—Bob Renneisen, Roger Wagner and Glenn Lillie at that time—and I also talked to the leaders of the IBEW. We allowed each side to state their case, and when the dealers voted down the union, Casino Journal was fully established.

Then Glenn had another idea after meeting with the owners of Players Club, Ed and David Fishman, who later got into the casino business as Players International. Us older folks will remember commercials featuring Telly Savalas touting the club.

So we started The Player magazine, which we soon changed to Casino Player. Using the list of Players Club and later of Lyle Berman’s Grand Casinos, Casino Player quickly became the most important B2C publication in the business. It still operates today under Lisa Robertson, who was our graphic artist in those days—the longest running B2C publication in gaming.

While I loved talking to players, my true love at the time was spreading the word about gaming, which itself was spreading across the country and around the world. Our competing publication, International Gaming & Wagering Business magazine (IGWB), was truly more important than the upstart Casino Journal, and also ran the industry’s largest trade show, World Gaming Congress. They cut the newly formed American Gaming Association in for a sliver of equity, but as the show grew, the AGA wanted more and thus started their own trade show, which we all know today as G2E.

At that point, IGWB bought Casino Journal—and me—from Glenn to prevent the AGA from promoting G2E in either magazine.

I had some experience dealing with IGWB folks and decided I didn’t want to work for them, so I quit before the sale was final with no job prospects—another pivot point.

Frank Fahrenkopf, the AGA CEO at that time, later hired me to help produce the G2E conference program, and after the first year, asked me if I’d be interested in starting another magazine where they could promote G2E. And the rest, as they say, is history.

From there, Glenn Fine started spiraling downward. I won’t go into specifics, but his entrepreneurial spirit evaporated and his final years were rough. But I will always be grateful to him for allowing me to become an entrepreneur and demonstrate that I could be successful as a publisher and an editor.

RIP Glenn Fine.