PITTSBURGH — Bud Green started his career as a financial analyst at a casino in St. Louis. After years of working at various establishments, he went on to become vice president of operations at the Des Plaines, Illinois Rivers Casino before being tapped as the assistant general manager of Rivers Casino Pittsburgh on the North Shore in 2011. Ten years later, he dropped the assistant from his title, becoming the casino’s general manager. In this role, he oversees approximately 1,400 employees and all aspects of the increasingly diverse entertainment destination, which opened its connected hotel property, The Landing Hotel, in 2022.
The Rivers is ultimately so much more than just gambling, especially in this day and age. Do you view the games as the heartbeat of the casino?
In the past, I would say yes. When it opened in August of 2009, it was purely slot machines, so then the slots were the heart of it. As time went on, we continued to reinvest dollars into the property not just on the gaming floor, but outside of it. On our second floor we used to have a buffet, and we had a lot of guests that would have considered that the heartbeat of the casino. Now, we have event space up there, which could host weddings, concerts, trade shows, you name it. But really, the heartbeat of a casino is the team members and the guests.
Where do you look to to draw inspiration?
It’s always all about the team. Over 1,400 people work here, and we’ve all worked at different places before, in hospitality, entertainment, whatever it may be. One example is when we celebrated our 16-year anniversary this past August, we had a whole programming set, and I was talking to one of our bartenders and she said we should have a ‘Sweet 16’ party for the casino. We were probably like four weeks out from the anniversary, and I was like, that’s a great idea. We pulled it off just because of having a conversation with a bartender one night. So inspiration comes from everywhere when you’re working in casinos, especially because it’s always changing.
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