Seminole Gaming’s CEO Allen To Head AGA Board

Written By JR Duren on November 30, 2021
Jim Allen, CEO of Seminole Gaming named next AGA chairman

Jim Allen is leveling up.

The Seminole Gaming CEO and Hard Rock International chairman named the next chairman of the American Gaming Association‘s (AGA) board. He will replace Trevor Croker, whose two-year term ends in January.

“I’m thrilled to welcome Jim as AGA chairman,” AGA President and CEO Bill Miller said in a statement. “Jim brings decades of experience in commercial casino operations and tribal gaming—a perspective that will be invaluable as we work to set the industry’s agenda, accelerate gaming’s comeback and strengthen our value to communities across the country.”

Next, Allen will serve a two-year term starting in January.

Allen says he is “honored” to serve

Upon announcing his appointment, Allen, who has served on the AGA board of directors since 2015, noted that the gaming industry faces a critical moment in its history. Also, he paid homage to Croker.

“This is a pivotal juncture for the gaming industry and I’m honored to serve as the AGA’s next chairman,” said Allen. “The AGA has played an essential role in uniting the industry throughout the pandemic, and I’m thankful to Trevor and the AGA board of directors for entrusting me to help lead the industry’s continued recovery.”

Furthermore, Croker said he counted it a “privilege” to serve as the board chairman. He believes that Allen will help to “continue to lead the gaming industry forward.”

Pandemic recovery among top concerns for AGA

When Allen assumes his role in January, he’ll work with Miller to achieve the AGA’s priorities. Those priorities are, per the statement:

  • Helping the industry rebound from the pandemic, during which casinos across the country closed because of safety concerns
  • Winning over regulators and lawmakers to help modernize casino payments and foster other innovations
  • Growing the AGA’s responsible-gaming efforts
  • Boosting the gaming industry’s voice in Washington D.C. through communication and research

In addition to the AGA’s recent review of Q3 national gaming revenue.

As a result, the industry generated a quarterly record of $13.89 billion and is on pace to set the annual revenue record of $43.65 billion in 2019.

Allen looks to be the right person for the job

Allen’s resume seems to be a good fit for what the AGA hopes to accomplish.

He’s led the Seminole tribe’s gaming efforts for the past two decades. In that time, the tribe has built its iconic Hard Rock guitar hotel in Hollywood, Florida, and its Hard Rock property in Tampa.

In the state, the tribe operates six casinos. Not only but also, on Nov. 1, it launched sports betting in Florida after a whirlwind of negotiations with the state, approval from the Department of Interior, and a lawsuit from a South Florida gaming group.

While this may be true, the tribe navigated the road to sports betting well despite the legal and regulatory hurdles it faced.

Photo by PhuShutter / Shutterstock.com
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JR Duren

J.R. Duren has covered the gambling beats for more than a dozen states for Catena Media since 2015. His past reporting experience includes two years at the Villages Daily Sun, and he is a first-place winner at the Florida Press Club Excellence in Journalism Contest.

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