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talking points Crowd problem building at airport Soon, every day may be the day before Thanksgiving at McCarran International by Richard N. Velotta C CO GU LU ES M T N ongratulations! You made it through another harried Thanksgiving weekend of travel. Traditionally, this is the busiest time of year for travelers, with flights packed the Wednesday before the holiday. According to the U.S. Travel Association, that soon could become the norm at airports — including McCarran International Airport — on the other 364 days of the year. A study by Cambridge Systematics placed McCarran near the top of 30 U.S. airports with the worst prognosis for Thanksgiving-level crowds. One day a week here already is as crowded as the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, Cambridge reported, 20131202_VI06_F.indd 6 But any solution takes money. The Eno Center for Transportation suggests that the federal Airport Improvement Program be restructured to direct money to projects with the greatest national benefit — which wouldn't sit well with small communities. It also suggested modifying federal restrictions to let airports to collect higher passenger fees, which are locked in at a maximum of $4.50 per departure and arrival. But higher passenger fees mean higher ticket prices, and airlines usually fight against such increases. It's a tough issue. But if we do nothing, we'll almost surely see transportation bog down our tourism economy. "Travel has been one of the leading sectors of the economic recovery, but that success won't be sustainable unless our infrastructure keeps pace." — USTA CEO Roger Dow Acquisition by Bally Technologies is an exciting new beginning for innovative firm he end will come sometime between now and Dec. 31. So, too, will the beginning. Shfl entertainment, formerly known as Shuffle Master, will cease as an independent entity — after 30 years, about 2,000 employees and more than $1 billion in revenue. Bally Technologies, the slot and systems juggernaut, announced the $1.3 billion acquisition in July. Life comes down to a few moments, as Charlie Sheen said in "Wall Street," and one of those moments for me occurred April 19, 2000, when an executive named Brooke Dunn offered me the job of running Shuffle Master's table games division. I didn't care much at first for the business or the people — nor they for me, I suppose — but as the days turned into months and the months turned into years, they became something I couldn't imagine living without. But my start at Shfl (pronounced "shuffle") came well after its birth in 6 "The rest of the world sees this. But the sad news is we're behind the rest of the world, and we're falling further behind." How do we fix the airport dilemma? Some airports already have added runways or are planning to add them. McCarran doesn't have the space to do that, so instead has looked into building a new airport south of Las Vegas. McCarran officials also have tried to incentivize private aircraft to use Henderson Executive Airport and North Las Vegas Airport by selling fuel there cheaper than at McCarran. Another potential fix is to build an air traffic control system that would enable less spacing between landings. An end to Shfl entertainment by Roger Snow T and that is expected to rise to two days a week by 2016 and every day by 2025. The report was delivered during the recent Connecting America Through Transportation conference in Washington. At the same event, the American Public Transportation Association issued a report about how trains that connect airports to centers of commerce can enrich communities. Several Southern Nevada tourism leaders attended the conference. "Travel has been one of the leading sectors of the economic recovery, but that success won't be sustainable unless our infrastructure keeps pace," USTA President and CEO Roger Dow said. 1983. To understand the full story, you have to go back in time, which is fitting because its origin was an anachronism, a relic of a bygone era when one man and one dream could transform an industry from the outside. Can you name the other billion-dollar gaming supplier started by a long-haul truck driver? Trick question. There isn't one. John Breeding, the founding father of our company, didn't come up with the idea for a card shuffler while standing behind a blackjack table; rather, he was sitting behind the wheel of a tractor trailer. He then scrounged up money from friends and family, scooped up a young, Romanian named Attila Grauzer to lead the development efforts, and set up shop in the basement of his home just outside Minneapolis. From the humblest beginnings, Shuffle Master evolved into an empire, with offices in Las Vegas, Vienna, Buenos Aires, Gibraltar, Sydney and Macau. The sun may be setting on our autonomy, but it shall never set on our legacy. We bow out as the worldwide leader in card shufflers, proprietary table games and electronic table games. We bow out as one of the fastest-growing slot machine companies in Australia and the fastest-growing in Asia. We bow out with a fledgling Internet business entered into with such enthusiasm that it prompted the name change. There are larger companies in gaming and more successful ones, but there has never been one more innovative and more committed to winning. And that will transfer to Bally. We will evolve from being part of a tremendous small organization to being part of a tremendous large organization. Bally is the second-largest publicly traded gaming supplier in the United States (behind IGT) with 3,400 employees and a market cap of $2.8 billion. Its preeminence in the realms of slot machines and casino systems is unquestioned and unparalleled. Gavin Isaacs, who before joining Shfl as CEO about 2 1/2 years ago was chief operating officer at Bally, has given us the skinny on that company's personnel and its ecosystem. We are joining a team of intelligent professionals and fierce competitors, he says, and we will learn as much from them as they learn from us. Probably more. As with anything new — first step, first date, first kiss — there is trepidation and uncertainty. But there is also anticipation, a percolating and tingling excitement about what the future holds. And as the end (and the beginning) draws closer, that excitement will only intensify. Besides, amid all that is unknown, of this there can be no doubt: Gavin is right. There are a lot of smart people over there. How could there not be? They agreed to buy us, right? Roger Snow is the chief product officer for Shfl entertainment. There are larger companies in gaming and more successful ones, but there has never been one more innovative and more committed to winning. | 2 DECEMBER 2013 | 11/27/13 12:41:49 PM

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