Pala Casino Replaces CEO

There's an article in the San Diego Union Tribune that I will post some excerpts of.  Please go to the link to read the full article.

San Diego Union Tribune Amid fierce casino competition, Pala replaces its CEO

By Michele Parente

January 10, 2019

Excerpts:

Pala Casino Spa & Resort, which has been showing signs of struggling in the ultra-competitive San Diego-area casino market, has replaced its CEO.

Fred A. Buro, a casino executive and gaming consultant, was brought on at the start of the new year, taking over for longtime former CEO Bill Bembenek.

In March, Bembenek acknowledged to the Union -Tribune that an unspecified number of layoffs — coming amid its planned $170 million expansion — was due in part to the economic pressures from “an increasingly competitive Southern California casino resort market.”

Then in July, Pala’s VP for hotel operations said the casino had deferred construction of a new 349-room luxury hotel tower — the cornerstone of its development project — attributing it to a duo of mega-expansions at Pechanga Resort & Casino and San Manuel Casino, costing a combined $850 million.

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Besides Bembenek, Pala’s longtime PR director is also no longer employed by the casino, but reports that Pala had terminated several other high-level members of its executive team and had cancelled its annual Christmas bonus to employees could not be confirmed.

Agua Caliente Tribe of Cupeno v. Michael Black (BIA)

The Pala Band Is In A Legal Fight With Big Pharma Over Opioid Crisis

Thanks to Original Pechanga's Blog for bringing this to my attention.

So far it has been hard to find anything online.   Pala supposedly issued a press release but I have not been able to find it yet.

Law360 is listing the case:  Pala Band of Mission Indians v. Purdue Pharma L.P. et al

I did manage to find one news article:

abc10 News San Diego - Pala Band of Mission Indians files lawsuit against opioid manufacturers, distributors

You can read the full article at the link above.

Here is an excerpt:
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In a press release, Pala Tribal Chairman Robert Smith said, “The opioid epidemic has had devastating impacts on our tribe. Big Pharma’s aggressive promotion of OxyContin and other prescription opiates have caused increasing incidences of addiction, disability and family dysfunction.”
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Reality has completely gone Orwellian.