Wolf tapped for Southland Park President, GM role

Wolf tapped for Southland Park President, GM role

Meet the new face that runs the place

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There is a new ace at Southland Park Gaming & Racing. The Delaware North Corporation named David Wolf as the new President and General Manager last month.

Wolf has worked for the corporation for three years. The 36-year veteran in the gaming business is not new to the Mid-South. Wolf lived in Memphis when he worked for another operation in Tunica and that’s why he is back. Relationships are important to the new General Manager and he looks forward to renewing friendships and settling in for the rest of his career.

“We are really glad to be back in the Mid-South area,” said Wolf. “We’ve lived here and loved living here and enjoyed the rela- tionships. Hopefully this is where I’ll end my career.

That’s the plan.”

Reestablishing the relationships means moving back into Memphis.

“I’ll probably go across the river because our friends are there,” said Wolf. “We have a lot of friends here. My place of worship is there. Our network is there. Memphis is one our favorite places we’ve lived.”

Some aspects of Southland are new. While Wolf has worked places with live blackjack and poker, the 21 game is video-based here.

This is Wolf’s first time running a dog track.

“This is my first venture into the dog track park,” said Wolf. “I am used to a lot more live table games, roulette, craps. Blackjack is different because of the electronic version here.”

Vision for the future of Southland includes expansion. Just what that looks like is too early speculate.

Future development is being analyzed.

“I think there is agreement there will be expansion here,” said Wolf. “It’s in the cards, but we don’t know what that is. We don’t have a sufficient events center or functional multi-purpose room, something for 500 or maybe 2000 people, something for business groups, weddings.

It’s all speculative right now until we flesh it out.

There is a bright future for expansion here once we figure it out.”

Wolf holds some core business values which he is already talking up with staff and employees.

Whether its personal friendship or customer relations, he sees friendliness as the basis for extending the welcome and has already observed southern hospitality.

“Our guests sign the checks,” said Wolf. “We are in the service industry so we want to provide the best service for our guests.

We want to maintain a friendly environment and quality environment. Based on my short tenure here on the property, we do an excellent job. Right now this property rates very well in comparison to some of our sister properties.”

“I walk the talk,” said Wolf. “I treat everybody the same. I’ve had people say, ‘wow, you talking to me, you coming over here’ – it’s Customer Service 101. How we treat the staff trickles down to the customers.”

Following along behind hospitality Wolf said providing a clean, safe environment and great food are important Southland success.

“Our food quality is nothing but the best here,” said Wolf. “Our buffet is second to none as is our steak house. Sammy’s is one of the best sports venues and offers a quality experience.”

Staying on top of the slot machine offerings is important too.

“We’ll add 100 to 200 new slot machines this year,” he said.

Wolf sees a good track record for Southland in community relations and intends to continue the good corporate citizenship and friendly relations with good causes.

“Southland has always been engaged in the community,” said Wolf. “We’ll be a big part of the fabric of the community, We’ll maintain all that and go above and beyond, too.”

The new leader of the biggest revenue producer for the State of Arkansas in the tourism sector forecasted a strong future.

“We are going to be here for a long time and hopefully that translates into more jobs and revenue for the county and the city,” said Wolf. “Hopefully I’ll be a part of that for a long time to come.”

By John Rech