Editors’ Note

Prior to becoming CEO of Harrah’s in January 2003, Gary Loveman served as president and COO for more than four years. Before that, he was an associate professor at Harvard Business School. A graduate of Wesleyan University, he earned his Ph.D. in economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Company Brief

Founded in 1937 and headquartered in Las Vegas, Harrah’s Entertainment, Inc. (www.harrahs.com), is the world’s second-largest gaming enterprise – employing some 41,000 people, and owning, operating, and/or managing nearly 40 casinos (under the Harrah’s, Harveys, Rio, and Showboat brands) in 11 U.S. states and one in Canada.

How would you best summarize what the state of Nevada has meant to Harrah’s, and what Harrah’s has meant to the state of Nevada?

Nevada is our company’s birthplace, and we have grown with the state. For the first half century of its history, Harrah’s operated only in Reno and Lake Tahoe. It wasn’t until 1988 that the company expanded into Southern Nevada by opening Harrah’s Laughlin. Four years later, the Holiday Casino in Las Vegas was converted to Harrah’s Las Vegas, becoming our first property on the Strip.

Today, 13 of our 50 owned or managed casinos are located in Nevada, including eight in Las Vegas. Our customers, employees, communities, shareholders and the state have all benefited greatly from our presence here. Through 2007’s first nine months, for example, those 13 Nevada properties generated about 39 percent of our total revenues, far more than any other region.

In 2006, we hosted a total of more than 11.8 million guests in Nevada. We paid our 37,454 Nevada employees $1.4 billion in wages and benefits that same year, spent millions with Nevada vendors and paid the state millions in taxes. And we plan $2.1 billion in capital spending in Nevada between now and 2012, evidence of our strong commitment to and confidence in the state’s future.

We are one of the state’s largest donors. We contributed $30 million to establish a hospitality education, research and training facility at the William F. Harrah School of Hotel Administration at UNLV. We donated $1.5 million to provide training for unemployed and under-employed Nevadans, another $1 million to Opportunity Village, $1 million to the Nevada Cancer Institute and $500,000 for mobile cancer screening statewide.

We’re committed to diversity and offer opportunities to minority groups, persons with disabilities, and other disadvantaged citizens. We provide “First Generation Scholarships” at UNLV, UNR, and other institutions and strongly support the NAACP Las Vegas, the Las Vegas Latin, Asian, and Urban Chambers of Commerce, the Las Vegas-Clark County Urban League, and the Organization of Chinese Americans, Las Vegas.

With eight highly acclaimed properties in Las Vegas, one in Reno, one in Laughlin, and three in Tahoe, what is Harrah’s looking to do in coming years to further enhance its prominence in Nevada?

We’ve spent nearly $1 billion to acquire significant acreage on or adjacent to the Las Vegas Strip for expansion. We’ve already announced a $1 billion expansion at Caesars Palace and announced plans to build a $500 million, 20,000-seat sports and entertainment arena near the Strip in a venture with AEG – at no cost to Nevada taxpayers. And as previously mentioned, we plan $2.1 billion in capital spending in Nevada between now and 2012.

In your 2004 interview with LEADERS, you said, “Our customer tends to be older, sometimes retired, with a significant amount of discretionary income. Of course, we have other customers, but our principal customer fits that profile.” How, if at all, has the profile of the Harrah’s customer changed in the past three years, and why?

In the three plus years since we have talked, our profile has changed. Through the “integrated resort” concept we now have attractions that appeal to an incredibly broad customer base. An integrated resort is one that offers a wide variety of amenities: a selection of restaurants to appeal to every price point; luxurious spas; lavish pools; world renown entertainers like Celine Dion, Bette Midler, Elton John, and Jerry Seinfeld; a casino; and an expansive retail component. With these large resorts, like the world famous Caesars Palace in Las Vegas or the beautiful Harrah’s Atlantic City, there is something for everyone.

In the past three years, Harrah’s has grown and now has 31 casinos in 11 U.S. states and one in Canada. What are your expectations for Harrah’s growth in coming years?

Actually, we have nearly 40 casinos in this country, one in Windsor, Canada as you mentioned, but we have also experienced significant growth internationally. We have a property in Punta del Este, Uruguay, one of the largest golf courses in all of Asia, through our London Clubs acquisition we also own and operate nine casinos in the United Kingdom, two in Egypt and one in South Africa. Harrah’s is aggressively pursuing international growth and we currently have a project in Cuidad Real, Spain and in the Bahamas that are being developed now.

We’re focusing our domestic growth opportunities in three states – Nevada, New Jersey and Mississippi – that offer the best tax and regulatory structures and strongest growth opportunities for gaming in the United States.