Nevada Gaming Control Board recommends first executive license for new Hard Rock casino

The Nevada Gaming Control Board recommended Wednesday approval of the licensing of a key executive for Hard Rock Las Vegas. The license is the first among several anticipated as the shuttered Mirage transitions to the new Strip resort.

Vincent Zahn, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Seminole Hard Rock International and its subsidiaries, was recommended for licensing after a half-hour suitability hearing in Carson City, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. Final approval of licensing is expected by the Nevada Gaming Commission on November 21.

Zahn, a former Nevada resident who moved to Florida to join Hard Rock, told board members he aspired to be a Wall Street investment banker when he lived in northern New Jersey and attended New York’s Fordham University.

He worked with Merrill Lynch covering gaming industry companies and eventually went to work for Pinnacle Entertainment and Wynn Resorts before being recruited by Hard Rock, which bought The Mirage from MGM Resorts International for $1.07 billion in December 2022.

The Mirage, which opened in November of 1989 under casino mogul Steve Wynn, will be replaced by the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Las Vegas and Guitar Hotel Las Vegas. Hard Rock, owned by the Seminole Indian tribe of Florida, closed The Mirage on July 17 after 34 years in business and announced it would expand the property with a guitar-shaped hotel tower replacing the iconic Mirage volcano. 

Zahn said he oversees 120 Hard Rock employees and makes frequent trips to Las Vegas as the transition occurs toward a planned opening in 2027. Board members praised Zahn’s background and unanimously recommended licensing to the Gaming Commission.
 
“Leading up to the reopening of Hard Rock Las Vegas, we’ll have to go through a pretty comprehensive financing process, so I’ll be visiting the site, the location, taking our potential financial partners through the financing plans and visiting for that, but as part of ongoing operations two to four times a year,” Zahn told board members, as per the Review-Journal.