"They just told us (last) Thursday," she said early this week. "We were a little worried, but it seems like it will be a good thing."
Hurt, a North Dakota native who was hired as a blackjack dealer at the Gardnerville landmark more than 36 years ago, said she remembers vividly when the casino's former owner Milos "Sharkey" Begovich sold out to current owner Holder Hospitality Group in late 2001, just months before his death. Now that the group's owner, Harold Holder, has announced that Sharkey's and 12 other Nevada casinos he controls are officially in play, she and other workers are hoping history repeats itself, they said.
"There weren't really too many changes after Sharkey left," office manager Rhonda Ferguson said. "Mr. Holder did some repainting and other work in the conference area, and we now have about 200 slot machines where we once had 75. Things got moved around, but nearly all of the employees stayed. It would be nice if that happened again."
Holder, a 75-year-old former Marine, met with substantial success working at companies such as Sears Roebuck & Co., Rahall Communication Corp., and American Agronomics Corp. before he began investing in casinos in 1999.
His holdings include the Silver Club in Sparks, El Capitan in Hawthorne and The Stockmen's Casino in Elko, all of which will be sold as soon as the company can find "financially stable buyers," which will likely take at least nine months, Sharkey's General Manager Bernie Curtis said. Holder is reportedly seeking about $200 million for all 13 properties, although no buyer was announced and it was not clear if the properties would be sold as a unit.
"I've never seen a casino more openly for sale," said Curtis, who has also served as a Douglas County commissioner and as undersheriff in Douglas and Elko counties. "There isn't a lot of fear (among employees) because of the length of time involved."
Holder's office announced his intentions -- to retire to Florida and spend more time with his 4-year-old son -- in an open e-mail to his employees, a gesture virtually unprecedented in the secretive world of casino investment. Holder has also established a $15 million fund to keep his nearly 1,500 employees on the job until a sale is made.
Though Holder aims to pull out of business interests in Nevada, he still holds gaming rights in Ghana, Africa, and reportedly plans to build a $15 million hotel-casino there, he told the Reno Gazette-Journal last week. He also has exclusive rights to install slot machines in the main airport there and may build another African casino in the future, he said.
As for Sharkey's, it is likely to remain a casino, Curtis said. He declined to discuss specifics, but he noted several other casino groups had expressed interest in Sharkey's in the past and would likely still be interested. He expressed confidence that the casino would remain largely unchanged, staff and all.
Loyal staff
"To me, it doesn't make sense to do too much with it," he said. "This is a casino, and you're looking at a group of workers who are already established in the community and have been bringing customers in for years. Trying to recruit new people would be a big issue in the current market."
Curtis described the Holder group as "more a family than a corporation."
"I've really enjoyed working here," he said. "Since we're essentially running a bar, restaurant, casino, banquet area, parking lot and security service at the same time, it's a new challenge every day. Everybody helps each other out. If I need to make a call (to the main office at the Silver Club) to get something fixed, somebody comes right out. I don't know that that would happen in every organization."
Hurt echoed Curtis' sentiments.
"It's always been a family-type place, since Sharkey was running things," she said. "Our regulars don't like change too much -- we've had the same person making our prime rib for 30 years."
By most accounts, the Holder group had a tough act to follow in Sharkey Begovich. The former owner was locally famous for his generosity, throwing annual Serbian Christmas dinners where he would feed thousands of people for free. Since he lived in a complex of rooms upstairs from the gaming floor, he could usually be found double-checking operations and chatting up guests. He also would frequently invite virtual strangers and friends alike to visit his ranch in Plymouth, Calif., for a meal, Ferguson said.
"He was definitely good for the town," she said. "He was always helping people with gas money or food, whether they were passing through or if they lived here. No one went hungry at Sharkey's place."
He was also a good boss who rewarded loyal employees, Hurt said.
"If you did your job and minded your own business, he was really good to work for," she said.
Top entertainment
When Begovich opened the casino on Main Street (U.S. 395) more than 35 years ago, it was the largest establishment for miles, encompassing three attached buildings, Hurt said. The casino drew performers such as Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard and held nationally promoted boxing matches in a nearby ballpark. The so-called "cow pasture" bouts attracted as many visitors as Hurt had ever seen in town, she said.
"There would be people from all over," she said. "It was just wall-to-wall."
Begovich also decorated the casino with one of the area's best collections of Western and sports memorabilia, one which regulars sorely missed after most items departed with their owner or were sold at auction in 2002, Hurt said.
Overall, though, Sharkey's has done well under Holder, workers said. Curtis, a longtime friend and employee of both owners, said Holder and Begovich have some similar traits.
"(Holder) is a participatory owner, but he doesn't micromanage," he said. "He really tries to make sure everyone's getting along. So for me, since I deal with the corporate people as well as the local ones, I sort of have two families right there."
Under both owners, the backbone of the casino's business has been its regular customers, Hurt said. She and Ferguson recalled one occasion when all employees were instructed to address customers as "Mr." or "Mrs." -- even if they had known them for years.
"The locals didn't like that at all," Ferguson said. "They're a first name sort of crowd. They liked it better when we had nicknames for each other."
Several years ago, the staff christened one woman "Dixie Train" after she was the first local to hit the jackpot on a new slot machine called Penny Train. Once she heard the nickname, she refused to be called anything else, Ferguson said.
The fact that many such regular customers and friends of Begovich's have continued to frequent Sharkey's even after its namesake's death in 2002 is a major vote of approval for the Holder group's management, Ferguson said.
"A bunch of Sharkey's old cronies still come into the restaurant seven days a week to 'jaw,' as they put it," she said. Sometimes they get breakfast and sometimes they just drink coffee, but they're at the same spot every day."
Link to RGJ.com: Sharkey's owner looking for a buyer of landmark business
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