THE FOLLOWING IS A NEWS-GAZETTE STORY BY JENNIFER BAILEY
ABOVE: Golden Nugget Casino Danville officials; including Jimmy Wilmot, middle, and GM Jahnae Erpenbach, left; pose for a photo with State Rep Brandun Schweizer (R-Danville), Danville mayor Rickey Williams, Jr; and Danville City Aldermen at a one year anniversary event at the casino Thursday evening. The city received the final $1 million of $3 million committed with the casino host agreement, which also saw $1 million for riverfront development and $1 million for the Boys and Girls Club, for city infrastructure and building development.
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DANVILLE — A hotel still remains part of the plans for the Golden Nugget Casino in Danville, but a sports book isn’t on the horizon.
Casino owners, city officials and other guests celebrated the casino’s one-year anniversary at an event Thursday with food and music under a huge tent in the casino’s parking lot.
Golden Nugget Casino Danville officials, including members of the Wilmot family and General Manager Jahnae Erpenbach, also presented the city of Danville with the final $1 million check for city building improvements. As part of the casino host community agreement, $3 million was committed to the community, with $1 million also going to riverfront development and $1 million to the Boys and Girls Club.
Club Executive Director Rob Gifford updated those in attendance on the planned teen center addition to the club’s building off Griffin Street, to be paid for with the casino money.
Gifford said youth violence is bad everywhere, and they had an ex-teen member who was shot recently who could use the public’s prayers.
“When you see something like that, it really gets you in the heart,” he said. “So, the opportunity to partner with the Wilmot family, with the Golden Nugget was something that we had looked for, for a long time.”
He said they have the teen center’s architectural drawing for a 4,000-square-foot open concept building. They will be able to add at least 100 teenagers, to get them off the street and into the club’s programs.
The club is hoping to start construction by the end of the year, beginning of spring. They are hoping by fall of 2025, it will be open.
First-year stats
Golden Nugget Danville President and Wilmorite’s Casino Development Division President Jimmy Wilmot gave an update on casino stats, and said the casino is lucky to have Erpenbach, who has been general manager almost a year now, since October 2023. She’s “completely changed the dynamic” of the property, he said.
Wilmot talked about “being grateful, proud and excited.”
He said they are grateful for the support for the casino by the community and greater Vermilion County, and this was the family’s most welcoming community they’ve developed in.
Wilmot said they’re proud of navigating the Illinois licensing process, building the project in a little more than 12 months, and also for the casino team.
He said they are excited that the casino has welcomed more than 450,000 guests since opening.
“Of those, almost half are coming in from out of state. We promised the state, we promised this town, that we’d bring Indiana dollars to Illinois, and that metric proves that we are,” Wilmot said.
Also, since opening, the casino has paid more than $25 million in jackpots.
The casino has made donations and charitable contributions to the local community of $3.2 million, Wilmot said.
It also has paid $2.8 million to the city of Danville in gaming taxes, $402,000 in sales tax, $45,000 in food and beverage tax, $350,000 in property taxes, more than $5.6 million in state gaming taxes, and sourced more than $420,000 in goods from Danville vendors and suppliers.
The casino has 250 employees, 55 percent are Danville residents, 57 percent are women and 31.5 percent are minority, and pays about $1 million a month in wages and benefits, Wilmot said.
He added that 11 of the 13 senior casino leaders relocated to the Danville area, “so we are excited to say in a small way we are adding to the population.”
Wilmot said they are proud of their partnership with Danville Area Community College in training table gaming staff.
Wilmot said they also are constantly talking to casino guests about what they’d like to see in the property.
“As we stand here today, we are stronger than we were a year ago, and it’s only going to get better from here,” he added.
He thanks the public for their continued support.
Danville Mayor Rickey Williams Jr. again thanked the Wilmot family for the investment made in Danville, and the casino employees for providing a great entertainment opportunity for the community.
In other recognitions, state Rep. Brandun Schweizer (R-Danville) presented casino officials with an Illinois General Assembly certificate.
Future
Erpenbach said the casino officials prior to her went through a lot of hard work to get the casino open and she had the pleasure of coming in after that.
“It’s still our first year, and there’s still a challenge. As we try to fine tune what we do and get our processes down, making sure that we understand what our customers want, need, and then try to identify that and shifting gears to give that to them; understanding our market of where our customers are coming from and understanding where they’re not coming from; and trying to get our arms wrapped around the best policies, procedures, operations, guest service. So, all that fine tuning is what I’ve been working on,” she said.
She said they’ve made a lot of progress. They’ve hired a lot of new people, including new marketing and finance directors, and they still have job openings. She feels really good about the casino’s future.
Erpenbach said they tried to prepare for the opening of the Terre Haute casino and hotel, which opened in April and May, respectively, and is about an hour’s drive from Danville.
“We tried to shore up some business that was maybe more proximate to Terre Haute, so that at least we got to touch them, talk to them. Then after Terre Haute would open, we would have them in our database and we would be able to compete,” she said.
At the same time, they built data collections and marketed to people who are more proximate to Danville, on the eastern side, Indianapolis, Lafayette, Ind. and other areas, including Champaign, to make sure of growth, she said.
“But when (Terre Haute) opened, obviously, there’s enough to go around,” Erpenbach said. “But we did feel an impact, obviously, we knew that.”
She too said when competition opens, it also isn’t necessarily long-term disruption. Folks start to get that gaming bug, they enjoy it and can come to Golden Nugget Danville to try it out, she added.
“It builds gambling, it builds gamers,” Erpenbach added. Now they are bouncing back from Terre Haute casino’s opening by building other markets.
For the future, a hotel is still in the forefront, Erpenbach said.
“We need to make sure we balance the demand in our ability to do that…,” she said. She said a hotel is still very much on the table, as is any growth initiative, as part of future casino development phases.
Regarding the often asked about sports book, their relationship with FanDuel is still there and strong, but it is the one that develops their sports book. FanDuel purchased the Golden Nugget’s sports book, but they were already in Illinois. To get into the state, there’s a $10 million licensing fee, she said.
“They’re not going to want to do that again,” Erpenbach said. “So, we’re with them and they’re still open to what might happen. And legislation, depending on how it develops, may change that relationship that we have with them. But, right now, they have to balance another $10 million licensing fee and they’re already in the state. So, it was something that was progressing as we were opening and their relationship with Golden Nugget was changing.”
Legislation could change and different developments could happen. Within iGaming and sports wagering, things can change. If that were to happen, the relationship with FanDuel is great, but not great at the moment, she said.
She said it’s a complicated issue, with conversations too about skins, which are branded websites or mobile apps to place bets online. However, the summary is that FanDuel already had a foothold they paid for in the state, and building with Golden Nugget Danville isn’t practical at this point, Erpenbach said.
Erpenbach added that the next year for the casino includes building a stronger, first-class customer service program; having a better guest feedback program; and expanding entertainment options with new games, tournament games, maybe bingo. They also will continue community involvements and donating back to local organizations.
One of the casino’s events was on Friday, a Dog Days of Summer community event, partnering with the Danville Humane Society.
Erpenbach said the community has a part to play in making the casino continue to grow and thrive. It comes from patronage, but also from voices, such as in recommendations and sharing positive experiences.
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