Jason Guyot
Foxwoods, the casino resort owned and operated by the Mashantucket Pequot tribe, has had some interesting leaders over the years, not the least of whom is the current one, Jason Guyot. He’s the first member of the tribe to take the CEO position, as well as the youngest, and explains why that means so much to him and to other tribal members. Guyot talks about the recent expansion at the property, which always seems to be adding amenities. He spoke with GGB Publisher Roger Gros in the media room at Foxwoods in Connecticut in July. To hear a full version as a GGB Podcast, visit the podcast article here.
GGB: You’re the youngest CEO ever to lead Foxwoods, but you’ve been here more than 20 years. Tell us how you saw the casino change over the years.
Guyot: It’s been an amazing journey that we’ve had here at Foxwoods. I’ve been here going on 22 years now. The property from day one was obviously something special. Nothing like it had ever existed. And since that time we’ve evolved now to this fully integrated resort destination with over 9 million square feet. We have a little bit of something for everyone, and we’re continuing to grow and add new amenities. So it’s an extremely exciting time.
I was here when it was just a bingo hall run by Mickey Brown. He showed me the conduits in the floor where the slots would be even before they were approved. Was there ever a master plan how to develop this property?
No, there wasn’t one. We were just so busy. The expansions were done for speed but very well planned. Over the years there have been a lot of master plans. Some of them have worked well, some of them haven’t, but you have to have a plan going into any expansion. I think for us in this competitive environment, we really took a hard look, over the past seven or eight years, at what this landscape would look like—and then taking a look at what our advantages are. One of the obvious advantages is all of our square footage, both inside the property and surrounding the property—how to leverage that. And so we’ve really been focused on it. We’ve been very creative over the past few years, giving ourself an opportunity to add more meeting space with the Expo Center.
You’ve also added another casino recently, correct?
We’ve added another casino in the heart of the property. We’ve also looked at bars and restaurants, and we’re trying to make sure that not only were we filling gaps in our programming, but we’re also filling gaps in programming throughout the region. We’re on the fourth or fifth phase of the master plan that was started back in 2020. And we have some exciting things still to come.
One of the restaurants you added was Gordon Ramsay’s Hell’s Kitchen, which has been a success wherever it’s been. How did you convince Gordon Ramsay to come here?
It is an interesting story. When we were contemplating a development in the center of the property where the Woodlands Casino is now, there were a lot of discussions on what to do. I really wanted to get a well-known celebrity chef. And I really wanted to start at the top, and that that brings you to Gordon Ramsay. We brought the CEO of Gordon Ramsay North America out to the property in 2021. And timing is everything. He had never been to the property, so I laid out the vision of how this Hell’s Kitchen would anchor that section of the property and really got a buy-in from him. One thing led to another opportunity where we were able to convince Gordon and the team to allow us the license agreement to open Hell’s Kitchen.
And it got even more interesting, right?
Yes, we just finished filming two seasons of the TV show Hell’s Kitchen, seasons 23 and 24, in the studio here on property. We had to convince Fox that we were the right destination to do it. And it went unbelievably well, so I can’t wait for this to hit Fox in the fall. And it’s going be not only a celebration of Gordon’s hit show, but really a celebration of all we have to offer here at Foxwoods and in southeastern Connecticut.
