Tony Santo, CEO of Gateway Casinos, Has Passed Away; He Had Planned to Retire Before the Pandemic.
Tony Santo, the CEO of Canadian gaming operator Gateway Casinos, has sadly passed away at the age of 61. Gateway confirmed his death on Friday. Santo was a seasoned professional in the casino industry who started working for Gateway in 2013 as its president and CEO. He was also a part of the company's board since July 2017.
Details about Santo's death are not mentioned in the statement, but it calls his passing an "untimely" one.
Tolek Strukoff, the President of Gateway Casinos, said, "It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Tony Santo." Santo's mission was to make Gateway the top gaming and entertainment company in Canada. He often visited the sites and interacted with staff, talking about work, families, and life. He transformed a small regional gaming company into a major player in the country’s gaming industry.
Santo studied hospitality and gaming at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and in 2004, the UNLV William F. Harrah College of Hospitality honored him as their "Alumnus of the Year." He held executive positions in Las Vegas and supervised some well-known casinos like Bally's Grand (now known as Horseshoe Las Vegas), the Las Vegas Hilton (now the Westgate), and Paris. He later managed Caesars Entertainment's mid-south regional properties and became senior vice president of the entire company.
Then, he shifted his focus to Canada, where he helped Gateway grow into one of the leading gaming operators in the country. Gateway operates in Ontario, British Columbia, and Alberta, managing 14 properties, three in British Columbia, and two in Alberta.
Santo announced his retirement on December 30, 2019, but the COVID-19 pandemic forced him to put his retirement plans on hold. He stayed on to help the company navigate these tough times.
Gateway Casinos employs about 7,000 people and has close to 14,000 slot machines and 350 table games across its sites.
Recently, Gateway Casinos faced a cyberattack that led to its casinos in Ontario shutting down temporarily. In mid-April, when its IT department realized that the company's network had been hacked, they closed the gaming floors. The company initially claimed that the incident did not affect employee or customer data. However, in June, the company revealed that employee confidential information may have been stolen. No data relating to guests was taken.
Gateway has since been working on restoring its IT systems with the help of cybersecurity experts and is still investigating the potential consequences on personal information. In June, Gateway began offering free credit-monitoring services for its employees in Ontario.
The company's executives have faced criticism from employees and their union for not acting more quickly with credit monitoring and other measures. Cybersecurity expert Ritesh Kotak said that the stolen information is "out there forever" on the dark web.
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Source: www.casino.org
