OXFORD — Black Bear Development announced Tuesday that it has hired a Las Vegas casino to run the day-to-day operations, restaurants and security at its casino being built on Route 26.

Silverton Casino of Las Vegas will be the gaming operator at Oxford and be involved in hiring the executives and managers for the gambling enterprise, which is scheduled to open next spring.

“Silverton is going to be leading the search for the general management and the chief financial officers,” Scott Smith, community development director for Black Bear, said.

Both companies announced that executive recruitment will begin Wednesday, Sept. 21.

Silverton is owned by Edward Ruski, a real estate executive who co-owns the Los Angeles Lakers and the Los Angeles Kings.

Dennis Bailey, head of the CasinosNo! anti-casino group, said he’d like to know the financial terms of the deal and whether any profits will go to Silverton.

“No casino from Las Vegas is going to come in without taking a substantial bite of the apple,” Bailey said. “That means most of the money spent there by Maine people will be heading out of state and won’t be benefiting the local economy.”

Smith said Silverton doesn’t have any ownership stake in the casino.

“They are consultants, and the Maine owners are fully involved in the project,” he said.

According to a Black Bear press release, Craig Cavileer, president of Silverton Casino, said he is pleased to bring his company’s expertise to Maine.

“We are privileged to have the opportunity to work with Black Bear,” Cavileer said in the release. “As the only casino in Las Vegas that was designed to replicate the look and feel of a true New England lodge, we believe that our Silverton team is uniquely positioned to make this exciting Maine project a resounding success.”

Smith said Silverton’s lodge theme matches Black Bear’s ambitions. “The atmosphere of their casino is consistent with the Maine lodge feel that we’re looking to achieve.”

The Silverton Casino has 2,000 slot machines, 30 table games, a 300-room hotel and a 117,000-gallon aquarium. The hotel is in southwest Las Vegas, several miles off the Las Vegas Strip.

Construction workers at the casino site have begun pouring a concrete slab and Smith said Black Bear expects the steel frame to begin going up by mid-November. In recent months, excavators have been leveling the land and digging storm water ponds.

The first phase of the casino, including a 65,000-square-foot gaming floor with a lounge and dining area, is scheduled to be complete in the first quarter of 2012.

With a gaming partner established, Black Bear also submitted its casino operator application to the Maine Gambling Control Board, Smith said.

The casino was approved by voters through referendum in November 2010 and is expected to open next spring.

On Nov. 8, two ballot questions will ask Maine voters to allow casinos in Lewiston, Biddeford and Washington County.

treaves@sunjournal.com

Copy the Story Link