Lumpy Lambert, a member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, is retiring as general manager of the Harrah’s Cherokee Valley River Casino after 29 years of service to Harrah’s Cherokee Casinos. (SCOTT MCKIE B.P./One Feather photo)
By SCOTT MCKIE B.P.
One Feather Asst. Editor
CHEROKEE, N.C. – What started as a visit to a job fair ended with an almost 30-year very illustrious career in the gaming industry of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI). Lumpy Lambert, an EBCI tribal member, is retiring from Harrah’s Cherokee Casinos with 29 years of service.
“It’s been a great ride,” he said. “I’ve been very fortunate to have the support and the team and team members that we’ve had at all levels – from the executive to Tribal Council to our boards, both our board, the TCGE board and Tribal Gaming Commission. A lot of butting heads back in the early days, but it’s expected. Both sides are just trying to do what they felt was necessary for the operation. Those relationships and those partnerships have just gotten stronger as we’ve developed with more entities.”
The ride started with the job fair in 1997, held in Cherokee at the old Barclay Building. “I just decided I would at least go and check it out, just out of curiosity, and see what some of these positions were and what was being offered. So, I did. Luckily, one of the people there was a casino manager and he pointed me to operations. So, I went over to operations, and I was one of three enrolled members that were hired as an operations supervisor with no gaming experience, mind you.”
At Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort in Cherokee, he worked his way up to games manager and later entered the Cherokee Development Program for management training. Lambert was always up for a new challenge.
“Obviously, it was a little challenging at first…then, I just kind of put my head down and went to work. As some of these programs were made available, and certainly as promotional opportunities came about, I put my name in the pot and was able to move from an operations supervisor to the managers. We had two levels – we had an assistant manager which we called games managers back then, and we had casino managers that were kind of overseeing the shift throughout the property.”
After a stint in casino marketing, Lambert accepted the position of vice president of operations – a job he held for 12 years.
“I came back to operations at a really neat time because we started talking about this transition from electronic table games…so we introduced live tables, brought the table games, did the $650 million expansion. That was the first infusion of capital into the resort to truly make it a resort. That was pretty exciting to be a part of that. We introduced alcohol about the same time, in 2010.”
In 2012, he moved into the position of assistant general manager over gaming, and two years later Lambert accepted the position of general manager over the Harrah’s Cherokee Valley River Casino in Murphy, N.C.
“I came over a year before the project (Harrah’s Cherokee Valley River Casino) to work with the board, liaison with the board, boots on the ground for the board, working directly with the contractor on this development. Then a year later, in 2015, we opened this facility.”
When asked what he is most proud of regarding his career, Lambert noted, “In a simplest form, just being able to provide the jobs. This property, we really focused on being able to offer jobs. So, the job creation was huge, a huge component. When we were coming down to the communities and talking about what this operation could bring to this area, not only to the tribe but to these communities. So, I think the job creation and the success there for those individuals. A lot of those team members that were hired on initially are still with us.”
Lambert is always encouraging his staff. “I tell this to our new-hire class all the time – there’s opportunities in this business. Just be open to them as opposed to just saying, ‘well, maybe this is not a good fit for me’, maybe you need to just go in and try it first.
So, I think just trying to make sure that the team members get the training that they need and the proper development and support that they need. Those are all key. It starts with employees. You’ve got to build your business around the employees. A more engaged employee is going to be a more productive employee.”
Over the almost three decades in the industry, Lambert has seen many changes. “I’d say the biggest change is just some of the regulatory changes and technology changes. Back when we started this business we had coins, there were hoppers in machines…going from that process to tickets was a huge improvement both for the employees – not having to haul all that coin around the gaming floor – to our customers and guests not having to tote those buckets of coins to the cage.”
So, what is next?
“I’m just going to try to figure it out, sort it out. I’ve got a few little projects to do. I want to improve my golf game a little bit, be able to play a little more golf and just be able to do some of those things. Get back into the gym and do some things, kind of create a new schedule as opposed to the normal schedule that I’ve been exposed to for the last 29 years.”
He added, “We’ll just kind of play it by ear and see what happens.”
