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Connecticut's
Foxwoods Casino Starts
Promotional Show
As reported by The Day
 Mashantucket,
Conn.--Foxwoods
Resort Casino has launched a glitzy show called WIN-TV to
promote casinoamenities to guests at the Mashantucket Pequots'
five hotels.The Creative Arts Department is developing and producin
the Wampum Insider Network, which involves employees from throughout
the casino as well as big-name entertainers who perform at Foxwoods.
WIN-TV airs 24 hours a day on televisions at the three on-site
hotels as well as the Mystic Hilton and Norwich Inn & Spa.
It
is Foxwoods' second venture into television programming. Foxwoods
News Network, a show geared toward the 12,000 employees who
work at the world's largest casino, has been on the air in the
back of the house at Foxwoods for five years.
The debut
show features segments on the casino's new mid-week matinee
performances and a recent "Murder Mystery Slot Tournament,"
a special event for loyal slot machine customers. Entertainers
David Copperfield, Bill Cosby, Dennis Miller, Wayne Brady and
country singer Jo Dee Messina make guest appearances. The co-hosts
and reporters repeatedly extol the benefits of the Wampum program,
in which customers use their cards every time they gamble and
accrue points that can be used at casino stores, hotels and
restaurants.
Tom Cantone,
vice president of entertainment, said he realized some time
ago that Foxwoods
had a TV station on its in-house network that was not being
used. At the same time, the casino's marketing department was
embarking on an effort to "rebrand" its Wampum players
card. The card is now being promoted as a rewards program rather
than a club membership.
"The
timing was good," Cantone said. "We set out five years
ago to be more innovative with how we communicate to our employees.
FNN was created. Since then we've learned a lot about our capabilities
to use television. When we saw another opportunity to use it,
this time on the consumer side, we were ready from a technology
and knowledge perspective."
Cantone
said his longtime friend Bill Cosby wanted to do more than just
make a brief appearance on WIN-TV. Cosby insisted on producing
a segment in the Stargazer Casino, a high-roller area on the
25th floor of the Grand Pequot Tower. Cosby worked "off
the top of his head," Cantone said, overseeing a three-camera
shoot involving 10-12 people called "Don't Touch the Cards."
It will air in January.
WIN-TV is
probably the first show of its kind for a casino, Cantone said.
When Foxwoods
first started airing FNN five years ago, a team from Canada's
Casino
Windsor visited for a week to learn how the show was produced.
"Word
spread to Las Vegas, and the word we got was that one or two
casinos out there were doing the same thing," he said.
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Las
Vegas--Executive
Producer Craig Piligian, of "American Chopper"
fame has chosen