Paul Szydelko
Third-generation casino employee Alex Dixon became CEO of Genting Berhad's Resorts World Las Vegas on Jan. 16, part of a new board of directors appointed after it reported its worst quarterly results in two years in the third quarter of 2024 -- a slump the company blamed on an abormally hot summer in the city as well as it being a presidential election year. Dixon, a Las Vegas native, was previously CEO at Q Casino & Resort and the Dubuque Racing Association in Iowa. He has more than 20 years of gaming, hospitality, entertainment, real estate and banking experience in businesses that include MGM Resorts International (including a stint as president and CEO of Circus Circus in Las Vegas), Caesars Entertainment Corp. and Goldman Sachs & Co.
My recent conversation with Dixon was edited for length and clarity:
Q: You grew up in Las Vegas, so this is a bit of homecoming.
A: Yes, I was born and raised in Las Vegas, a third-generation casino employee. My grandmother came here in the mid-1950s, and she was a housekeeper and worked up and down the Strip. My dad was stationed here at Nellis Air Force Base, and he was a barback and a bartender and went to UNLV. … So you can imagine, I pinch myself every time I walk into the building, because it's nothing short of amazing.
Q: There aren't many Black CEOs in the industry. Describe the sense of accomplishment you have or the responsibility to increase diversity.
A: We are always looking for the best talent to make sure that we're able to provide the best offering. It is important that we recognize that talent comes from every walk of life -- old, young, Black, white, man, woman, whatever. So we have a solemn obligation as leaders to make sure that in the Entertainment Capital of the World, no matter where you come from, there is a place for you to not only support our industry but to help lead our industry. I've been very vocal of my advocacy for women to take on and grow roles within Las Vegas.
In Iowa, I was the "Las Vegas executive," and I joke and say, in Las Vegas, "I'm the Black executive." But the reality is ultimately we're people, and the human connection is what connects us all. So we are going to fight to ensure that we have the best talent in the marketplace. To do that, you look far and wide and you create avenues of opportunities so that people can grow and develop regardless of their background.
I'm very conscious that my grandmother, when she came here, she couldn't walk through the front door of a casino. We laid her to rest just last week, but if you heard her and heard the pride that she had in Las Vegas -- in our growth and development, her pride in me and the rest of our family -- I share that pride. There is a sense of responsibility. That responsibility here is for our 5,000 employees to make sure that we're opening doors of opportunity, regardless of people's backgrounds.
Q. What are the challenges and the opportunities at Resorts World?
A. I'm a glass-half-full type of person. Everything that may look like a challenge is an opportunity. Broadly, we say, "Bet on Resorts World Las Vegas!" With 40 acres of undeveloped land, with some underdeveloped, let's call it, retail spaces within our facility, this provides a great platform to develop and explore and collaborate with people who want to dream big.
As we continue to grow our database, that is yet another opportunity to tap into a core gaming customer at every level: at the high-end, where we welcome people in Crockfords; or premium in Conrad; or the core Hilton customer. So I don't see, let's say, our multiple brands as challenges. I see them as opportunities, because we have the ability to be hypertargeted and welcome people from up and down the economic spectrum to have approachable luxury. We call ourselves new-money luxury.
The tapestry that we're weaving is like … imagine us being the "Hamilton" of the Las Vegas Strip. We're able to take a core product but deliver it in a unique way, that really takes a phenomenal capital that only like a Disney can deploy but bring it to the main stage. Bring it to life where everyone of all different walks of life can be able to explore approachable and new-money luxury.
Resorts World Las Vegas, which opened in 2021, has more than 3,500 rooms and suites. Photo Credit: Resorts World
Q: What's top of mind for the executive team?
A: Our core gaming customer: people who are here, who love and enjoy where Las Vegas has gone, meaning to be able to experience the shows, be able to experience our great hospitality product. We want to make sure that those gaming customers who love the well-rounded hospitality experience that we have to offer, that they think of us top of mind, so that you don't have to make the choice of a great gaming offer and a great hospitality experience.
Q: What are you most excited about?
A: We're excited about the great restaurant offerings; [one by chef] Jeremy Ford is going to be opening soon. Janet Jackson is performing. Carrie Underwood is coming back. We got NBA Summer League, Kevin Hart weekend. I'm sitting in Eight Lounge, which is the best cigar lounge in Las Vegas. So we've got all the right things. We've got great steak, now we need to add a little sizzle. That's the exciting and sexy part about what we have ahead of us.
Q: And longer term?
A: We have a tremendous amount of land that we have access to. We have a beautiful asset that's 3,500 hotel rooms, but we are entitled that on this space we could have a master plan that can incorporate up to 10,000 hotel rooms. So we've got to be focused on the long-term development opportunity.
We can hustle in a way to be able to take advantage of this new emerging part of the Strip, to bring people to this area and expose them. During the two weeks that NBA Summer League is here, you're going to see us more active. There's an activation with MrBeast [the YouTube mega-influencer]. Leveraging multimedia partnerships that we have on Netflix [and others], we can use Las Vegas and Resorts World as a backdrop to help brands launch, whether it's their new products or tell their stories.
There's room for more convention space. There's room for more outdoor entertainment. There's room for more hotel rooms and condos, and so we have a master plan. We are going to continue to refine that.