The company previously managed the now-closed Riviera on the Las Vegas Strip, as well as several small Canadian casinos and Parq Vancouver, which is considered Western Canada’s largest gaming property. Paragon currently operates the casinos at Westgate Resort Las Vegas and Oyo Hotel Las Vegas (formerly Hooters Hotel Las Vegas). She joined the casino industry not as a protégé of her famous father, working instead to make her own mark.
Relatively new to the Northern Nevada market as a casino owner – Paragon acquired the Hard Rock Lake Tahoe in November 2016 – Bennett’s words echoed with the rural community’s business leaders. I interviewed her onstage about her gaming career and any advice she could offer business executives during an hour-long discussion. Last month, Bennett was the keynote speaker at the Business Council of Douglas County’s Critical Issues Conference at the Carson Valley Inn in Minden, Nevada. William and Diana Bennett are the only father-daughter duo who are members of the American Gaming Association’s Gaming Hall of Fame – William was inducted in 1990 and Diana in 2017. “Tahoe is a good example of those practices.” “My dad taught Scott (Paragon CEO and cousin Scott Menke) and I some good common business sense: learn your clientele and understand your market,” Diana Bennett said.
