The state of the entertainment industry was bleak when
Dominic Ortiz took over as head of
Potawatomi Casino Hotel in July 2021.
Still reeling from the financial devastation of the COVID-19 pandemic, the casino in Milwaukee’s Menomonee Valley was a shadow of its former self: no table games, no valet service, carry-out dining only. More than half of its employees had been laid off the prior year and relief funding from the federal CARES Act and ARPA were keeping the business afloat.
Those circumstances provided a backdrop for early conversations between Ortiz and the Forest County Potawatomi Community leaders and elders who were eager to learn how the new executive – himself a member of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation of Kansas, with nearly two decades of experience leading tribal casino properties – planned to drive the business forward.
From those discussions – in which Ortiz made a point to do more listening than speaking, he said – emerged a three-year strategic plan that included a $100 million, multi-phase investment to upgrade and modernize portions of the casino, which originally opened as a bingo hall in 1991, and the launch of Milwaukee’s first sports betting operation, in an effort to sharpen Potawatomi’s competitive edge against the fast-growing sports gambling market.
“We had the opportunity coming out of COVID to … say, ‘If we’re going to really make a move and get ahead of the competition and make sure that we put a product in the market that is exciting and experiential, we’re going to have to bet big and bet bold,” said Ortiz, who is chief executive officer of Potawatomi Casino Hotel in Milwaukee and Carter.
They called it “Project First Strike,” a nod to one tribal tradition of setting spring ceremonies upon the first lightning strike of the season – a time to celebrate rebirth and new life coming out of winter’s darkness, Ortiz said. That vision for the project, now estimated at $190 million, has come to life over the past year.
In March, Potawatomi marked the opening of its retail sportsbook, housed currently in a temporary ground-floor space until the opening of its permanent location next year, in the former Northern Lights Theater. A few months later, Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley of the rock band KISS opened their restaurant, Rock & Brews, as part of a larger renovation of the casino’s second level. Unveiled in September, the 114,000-square-foot renovation project replaced ballroom space with two new gaming venues, a new VIP gaming lounge, known as the 1833 Club, and more than 300 new slot machines. Once complete in spring 2024, the opening of the permanent sportsbook location will mark the final phase of Project First Strike, which has created more than 350 jobs at the casino, said Ortiz.
In recognition of his bold vision for the future of gaming at Potawatomi as one of Milwaukee’s premier entertainment destinations, Dominic Ortiz is the BizTimes Milwaukee 2023 Best in Business CEO of the Year.
Ortiz’s first impression of Potawatomi in Milwaukee was not only the pandemic’s impact on operations, but also that the property, in its current format, had been underutilized as a gaming destination. Gaming operations at Potawatomi, under tribal gaming law, are limited to the casino building, built on land held in trust, but Ortiz quickly realized that not all of the facility, particularly the second floor, was being used for the kind of “experiential gaming” the market demands these days.
“When you look at these facilities, you have to come in and look at the highest and best use of the real estate,” he said. “And when you understand that and you’ve been in the business, you know what’s important for the casino is your VIPs, your guest service, the quality and the aesthetics and the brand of your dining experience, all of those pieces are super important.”
In the eyes of consumers, the casino experience in recent years has evolved into a hub for “fun and excitement,” said Ortiz, “the place you go to see a celebrity chef or to get wined and dined.” To that end, Ortiz early this year reopened Potawatomi’s high-end Dream Dance Steakhouse, for the first time since the pandemic, and the popular sushi bar at RuYi. In May, the casino unveiled its new food court-style Potawatomi Marketplace, with space for seven different quick-service concepts. What’s more, the newly renovated second level features Street Eatz, a new bar-restaurant serving up barbecue, brats and street tacos as well as slushy cocktails from a drink truck.
Ortiz points to a “dynamic approach to strategic planning” and experience working under some heavy-hitting CEOs-turned mentors as sources of his confidence and capabilities as a business leader. But as a tribal member and son of a former chairman of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, he’s also motivated by belief in a higher purpose.
“I’ve known every chairman of the Forest County and the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation for 30 years,” he said. “Listening and talking to them and sitting around our traditional ways and listening to the things that they say to us is what motivates and drives me, and what was part of this entire project.”
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