TheBuzz
TheBuzz
StarrPR, the public relations division of Honolulu-based Starr Seigle Communications Inc., was selected by Ameristar Casinos Inc. to help launch its new facility in St. Charles, Mo. Hawaii-based PR
agency hits the jackpotIt beat out more than 30 other PR companies to win the job, the value of which was not disclosed.
"It's a nice contract," is all the detail Starr Seigle Chairman and CEO Jack Bates would provide, explaining he was not at liberty to divulge its client's budget.
Ameristar is based in Las Vegas and is publicly traded. Among other gambling and hotel venues the company has operated Missouri's first riverboat gambling facility since May 1994; offering "a floating, two-story, 50,000-square-foot gaming, dining and entertainment facility," according to its Web site at ameristarcasinos.com.
However the StarrPR contract is for the launch of the new permanent, or ground-based facility, Bates said.
The new gambling area will measure 165,000 square feet, Bates said.
Plans for the facility also included Ameristar's signature dining venues; including a steakhouse, buffet and specialty restaurant as well as a cabaret lounge, an oyster bar, arcade and gift shop.
It does not have a lodging component, as do other Ameristar locations in Nevada, Iowa and Mississippi.
StarrPR is to establish promotional and media relations activities as well as the special events aspect of the new St. Charles facility's grand opening under the leadership of New York-based President Terry Klewan.
Support will come from Starr Seigle's Las Vegas PR Director Howard Stutz and his staff, who have experience in handling gambling industry accounts.
The work will primarily be done from New York, Bates said, because that is home to the bulk of the media companies the office will deal with.
However, because StarrPR doesn't have a ground staff in Missouri the company will subcontract with a local agency to do some of the footwork "during the opening itself," Bates said.
"This is our first really significant piece of gaming business," Bates said.
It's not the company's first experience with a gambling industry client, however.
"Totally separate from that," he said, is StarrPR's work for Bahamas-based Sun International Resorts.
StarrPR Hawaii President Jim Boersema has represented Sun's efforts to set foot in Hawaii.
Earlier this year it had proposed construction of a $1 billion resort and casino at Ko Olina.
Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin.
Call 529-4302, fax 529-4750 or write to Erika Engle,
Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210,
Honolulu, HI 96813. She can also be reached
at: eengle@starbulletin.com