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Every Day is Earth Day at Barona

Posted in Community, Environment, General Barona Info, Uncategorized with tags , , , , , , , on April 22, 2010 by thebaronacasino

by Jay Bart, Director of Safety, Health and Environment

Today, billions of people will commemorate Earth Day – the one day a year designated to inspire awareness and appreciation for the environment across the globe.  There are fairs, walks and observances of all kinds and the impact has been inspirational.  We’ve really taken the sustainable message to heart and are working hard to make every day Earth Day here at Barona Resort & Casino. Barona Resort & Casino

What, you may ask, does a casino resort known for its blackjack tables and slot machines know about the environment?  As it turns out…quite a bit!

Barona Resort & Casino and the Barona Band of Mission Indians have long been committed to the environment.

Several years ago, this commitment was formalized as the Barona Valley Environmental Sustainability Program. The program includes a state-of-the-art water reclamation plant, innovative water recovery program, landscaping and wildlife preservation, golf course turf reduction, an environmental scholarship program, resort conservation efforts – carpooling, recycling and energy efficient practices – and community outreach to increase awareness of eco-friendly events and awards.

Of course, it’s all well and good for us to talk about how great these programs are but other organizations that we respect and admire talk about them too.  And, we’ve even received awards for our environmental programs from the following groups: Audubon International; California Hotel & Lodging Association; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; SANDAG Diamond Award; San Diego Earth Works; Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA) / Golf Digest; and Energy Star: 2009 Energy Star for Superior Energy Efficiency by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

And just last week, we announced that Barona Resort & Casino achieved Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) through their Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Existing Buildings (LEED™-EB) rating system. Barona is the first Tribal resort in the nation to earn the internationally recognized certification for the design and operation of high performance green buildings.     Barona Garden

Adding to the accolades, the new government building, the site where all government-to-government relations are conducted by elected members of the Barona Tribe, was also just awarded LEED™-NC Silver level certification by the USGBC.

Coming back full circle, we are very proud of our environmental achievements here at Barona and hope to continue to lead the gaming industry in this area.

I’ll be back soon to share details about some of these key programs.   In the meantime, I’d like to know how you celebrate Earth Day or what you do to live green.  Maybe you’ll have even more ideas for us!

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The Blackjack Hall of Fame

Posted in Blackjack, Events, General Barona Info with tags , , , , on April 15, 2010 by thebaronacasino

By Max Rubin, curator of Barona’s Blackjack Hall of Fame

Hello, everyone. I’m Max Rubin and I’m the official curator of the Blackjack Hall of Fame located in Barona Resort & Casino (San Diego, CA).  Welcome to Barona's Blackjack Hall of Fame

At the Blackjack Hall of Fame we honor those who have shown the public how to master the game of blackjack.    We also proudly present the world’s largest public display of devices (some legal and most not) that were all once used to exploit all sorts of casino games including blackjack.

In weeks to come, I’m going to show you how to play a perfect game of blackjack and then tell you some amazing tales of casino prestidigitation and show you photos along with descriptions and the history of some of the most amazing gear ever assembled that helped those who played on “the dark side” to liberate chips from casinos.

Barona's Blackjack Hall of FameFor example, you’ll learn how Hall of Famers such as Frank Schipani once won a casino in France simply by keeping track of all the cards dealt from a six deck shoe and making big bets when the good cards were coming his way; how Keith Taft invented the first personal computer back in 1971, which he strapped to his belly, and then typed in all of the cards with his toes and then ran wires to red, green and amber LED lights hidden in  his eye glasses so that he could see colored signals which told him when to bet and where to cut the cards and you’ll even learn how I was (and still am) barred from playing blackjack on an entire continent!

Along with stories of casino adventures and piracy, I’ll also throw the doors open to you on this blog so that you can “Ask Max” any question about any gambling subject and then I’ll gladly give you a clever, sketchy, humorous or snarky answer, depending on how clever, sketchy, humorous or snarky your question might be.

I look forward to hearing from you!

Max Rubin

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The Legend of Barona’s Loose Troop

Posted in Casino Management, General Barona Info, Slots with tags , , , , , on April 5, 2010 by thebaronacasino

by Chuck Hickey, Vice President of Slots

If you watch TV at all or read a newspaper or print of any kind, then you know about Barona’s Loose Troop. If you don’t know about them – then let me fill you in on why, what and who they are.

Why the Loose Troop? Every casino talks about their loose slots so all the talk gets lost in the clutter. What is loose? Is one casino’s loose another casino’s tight? Who says the slots are loose and what does it all mean, anyway? Barona has always been pretty proud of our reputation for being a loose casino. After all we offer the loosest table games rules anywhere, so why wouldn’t our slots be the same? Our goal at Barona was to expose some of the mystery of how slot machines are set. So we created the Barona Loose Troop to clear up some of the mystery. We also wanted to do something totally different than our competitors during these difficult economic times. Something totally OUTRAGEOUS. So, while some casino companies are asking manufacturers to create even tighter slot machines – Barona decided to zig while those guys were zagging and loosen up our already loose games. “Prove it!”, you might say. So the Barona Loose Troop was born.

Who are the members of the Barona Loose Troop? Well – they are the people you see in the ads and on TV, really! They are a group of our expert slot technicians and auditing staff that don’t sneak around the casino – they actually advertise themselves on the casino floor by wearing the snazzy Barona Loose Troop vests, push the Barona Loose Troop cart around and even ring a bell when they head out to the casino floor to loosen the hold percentage of our slot machines. You can even watch if you have an interest. Afterward, they put up a sign on the loosened slot, date it and sign their initials indicating who did the task. The TV commercial with the cute little old lady stealing a sticker off the slot machines actually comes from a real life incident when we first started this program. We actually witnessed a guest who literally ripped off a sticker so no one would know that her favorite machine had been loosened so she would be the only one to know about it (we put one back on the game so you can still find it). But even if her game is taken it isn’t hard to find the loosened games on the casino floor because they are clearly marked and frankly, they are EVERYWHERE.


What started out as a fun way to give something back to our guests has taken on a life of its own and while we started just adjusting nickel slot machines, we have continued to include a variety of denominations and games. We already had the certified loosest poker machines around, so we didn’t need to look there for candidates, but we did move through every denomination, including our already famously loose Dollar machines. You can read all about it in Casino Enterprise Management Magazine.

Have you seen the Loose Troop on the casino floor? Tell us about it!

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Barona’s Billboard Contest

Posted in Casino Management, Community, General Barona Info with tags , , , , on March 17, 2010 by thebaronacasino

By Linda Devine, Senior V.P. Marketing

Barona Billboard When we launched our Vanity Plate Contest a few weeks ago, we never anticipated the amazing response we would have from our guests, staff and fellow San Diegans who had seen our Barona Casino billboards on Interstate 8. It seems there are thousands of aspiring copywriters driving the freeways of San Diego. Who knew?

Literally within 24 hours of launching the contest we had more than 2,500 creative entries. As of this blog post, we have more than 15,000! And, there are still two weeks until the contest deadline.

The contest was actually born out of a cool concept developed by Barona’s marketing team.  We knew that thousands of our guests drive the I-8 every day to and from work and on their way to Barona to play slots, poker or blackjack… So, we wanted a fun way to capture their attention with billboards that stand out from the pack.

We began with a series of billboards my team brainstormed internally with a number of other staff members here at Barona Casino. We found that the more we talked about the billboards the more input we received. Everyone was really getting into it:  BARONA. MORWNNRS. CHA CHING.  Barona Billboard Contest

It turns out you can say a lot about a business and convey a strong message with words on a license plate…and in only 8 letters!  These simple letters, abbreviations and plays on words were more powerful and engaging for our guest than we could have imagined.

This first series of billboards generated such an enthusiastic response from guests and passersby we thought we’d put it out there and see what was on the minds of other locals.

Last year about this time, we launched another creative contest – The Barona Video Contest. That contest also generated hundreds of submissions and shed a lot of light on how our customers feel about Barona. Who needs focus groups when you can go straight to the people? The insight, creativity and enthusiasm have been invaluable and inspiring. I think it’s safe to say that guests have become an important part of Barona’s creative process.  Barona Billboard Contest

We love that you are telling us what you want to see and expect from Barona. And, we are really listening. Soon you’ll see what your friends and neighbors want to see on our future billboards.

If you have ideas for our billboard, go to www.barona.com/billboard and submit your idea. Winners receive up to $1000 and their own billboard! You have until March 31st.

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Welcome to the Barona Resort & Casino Blog!

Posted in Blackjack, Casino Management, Community, General Barona Info, Poker, Restaurants, Slots with tags , , , , on March 5, 2010 by thebaronacasino

By Rick Salinas, General Manager

As one of California’s leading resort casinos, we are very excited to offer our guests an opportunity to explore beyond the casino floor.  Find out how we create the Barona Moments that we have become known for and that have helped us build a strong bond with our loyal guests and the greater San Diego community.

Barona Casino - San DiegoWhy are we blogging? Based on feedback from our guests, we’ve discovered that there are many people interested in knowing what goes into operating an entire casino, resort and golf course.  So, here we’ll take you beyond what you see in our advertising, in the headlines and on our web site.

Here you’ll get to know some of the key staff that develop our exciting games, create the food in our restaurants, manage our environmental programs, deliver our renowned customer service and help us raise awareness for the charities we contribute to.

What’s the story behind the wave you get when you drive up to Barona Casino?  What goes into the development of our slot machines and table games?  How does our culinary team create the mouthwatering dishes served in our restaurants?  Who are some of the key staff members that deliver amazing customer service? What are some of the innovative programs Barona has implemented to protect and preserve our environment?  Most importantly, what actually goes in to operating one of the most successful casinos in the United States?

That last question is really the first chapter in our story.

The reality is these Barona  Moments don’t just happen.  They are the result of the vision and strategy of our owners, the Barona Band of Mission Indians, and hundreds of creative and talented staff members.  At Barona, we are always generating ideas from far above the 30,000 foot level.

Barona Casino iTable Chipless GamingOur plan to deliver the ultimate gaming experience is comprehensive, detailed and continually evolving.  That’s why we believe that everything you see, touch, smell, hear and taste at Barona is superior to any other casino out there.  And, our customers think so too as demonstrated in our hundreds of awards, including our second   J.D. Power & Associates award.  For two consecutive years, the prestigious organization has ranked us “Highest in Satisfaction in the Southern California Indian Casino Gaming Experience” based on feedback from casino customers from across Southern California.  We are humbled by this honor and encouraged to raise the bar even higher.

And, most of the strategy and operations are happening behind the scenes. The reality is there are many more behind the scenes stories at Barona that are never told but our guests want to know more about.  This blog provides a forum for us to share them!

This is just a starting point.  If there’s something you really want to know more about at Barona, please let us know.  We invite your comments and ideas.

We appreciate your feedback as it makes us a better business and a better partner.

For everyone at Barona, our blog is an exciting new way for us to get to know each other better.

Let’s get started!

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