Mohegan authority has job opening at Pennsylvania casino
It could take weeks for the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority to fill the top post at its racetrack casino in Pennsylvania, the authority’s chief operating officer said Monday, a week after Mike Bean, president and general manager of Mohegan Sun Pocono in Wilkes-Barre, announced he was leaving at the end of the month.
“Subsequently, we started a search internally and externally,” Tom Burke, the COO, said. “It’s probably going to take several weeks. And once we identify someone, they have to go through a licensing process.”
Burke, who holds a Pennsylvania gaming license, said he will travel regularly to Wilkes-Barre to help oversee the casino in the interim.
Bean, 51, a Norwich native, told Mohegan Sun Pocono employees he was leaving the company to pursue an opportunity he has declined to disclose. He has been at the Wilkes-Barre facility since 2005, becoming assistant general manager in 2010. Two years later, he succeeded Bobby Soper as president and general manager when Soper was named president and chief executive officer of Mohegan Sun in Uncasville.
Soper has since become president and CEO of the authority.
Burke said the authority would look to fill Bean’s position with a member of the Mohegan Tribe, if possible. Several months ago, Mohegan Sun Pocono’s previous assistant general manager, tribal member Kara Fox-LaRose, was named general manager of a La Center, Wash., casino being built by the Cowlitz Indian Tribe, a Mohegan partner.
Under Bean, Mohegan Sun Pocono has been one of Pennsylvania’s most successful casinos. It added a $50 million hotel in 2013.
Early this year, state police charged a former Mohegan Sun Pocono vice president, a cocktail waitress at the casino and a casino patron in a scam that allegedly netted them more than $400,000. Their cases are pending.
Burke said Bean’s departure is not related to the incident.
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