Harrah’s Ak-Chin Hands the Floor to Its Marketing Chief

Samantha Gulick now runs marketing and the full gaming floor at Harrah’s Ak-Chin Casino in Maricopa. The July 24, 2024 realignment also made Nathan Kinstlinger director of hospitality, handing him the hotel, spa, restaurants and retail while Gulick kept advertising and took slots, tables, bingo and the sportsbook.

Michael Kintner, the senior vice president and general manager, called it a realignment of responsibilities, not a pair of isolated raises. He used to sit in a marketing-and-operations chair himself before the GM job. The property has been promoting that way for years.

Marketing and the Floor Now Share One Desk

Harrah’s Ak-Chin is owned by the Ak-Chin Indian Community and run by Caesars Entertainment, the state’s only tribal casino with an outside international manager. On July 24, 2024, the property said two long-term team members would split the house in a new way.

Gulick, a Chandler native, was named Director of Marketing and Operations. She kept advertising, public relations and outreach, and added the games. Kinstlinger, then director of food and beverage, became director of hospitality, adding hotel and spa work to food, banquets and retail.

THE 2024 SPLIT OF THE HOUSE

Kintner put the theory in one sentence. The property, he said, prioritizes internal growth, and the new titles were meant to show that Sam and Nate already had the leadership the place wanted.

At Harrah’s Ak-Chin, we prioritize internal growth and development. These promotions and realignment of responsibilities underscore our dedication to nurturing talent from within and highlight both Sam and Nate’s exceptional leadership qualities.

Michael Kintner, senior vice president and general manager, Harrah’s Ak-Chin

Gulick had been with Caesars for more than 10 years. Kinstlinger had been with the company for more than 12. A Chandler Chamber listing dated May 9, 2026 still carried both titles, so the chart held.

She Started as a Direct Mail Associate in Baltimore

The dual seat did not arrive out of nowhere. Gulick has been walked up the same property in public steps, each one adding a piece of the house she now runs.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Bellevue University in Nebraska and sits on the Chandler Chamber of Commerce board. She also works the company’s HERO volunteer program, the staff-and-family project Caesars uses for local giving.

GULICK’S STEPS AT CAESARS

1. 2014: Joins Caesars as a direct mail associate at the Harrah’s Horseshoe Baltimore property.
2. Later 2010s: Serves as marketing campaign manager for Harrah’s and Horseshoe Council Bluffs in Iowa and Harrah’s North Kansas City in Missouri, running outbound digital and direct mail.
3. October 2019: Arrives at Harrah’s Ak-Chin as database marketing and advertising manager.
4. October 2021: Promoted to director of marketing, adding events, promotions, player development, the loyalty card, transportation and audio-visual.
5. October 7, 2022: Named director of marketing and hotel operations, adding hotel, spa and pool to the marketing brief.
6. July 24, 2024: Named director of marketing and operations, adding slots, table games, bingo and the sportsbook. Hotel and spa move to Kinstlinger.

That 2022 round also lifted Kinstlinger from food and beverage manager to director of food and beverage operations, with retail attached, and named Cody Hansen food and beverage operations manager. The 2024 memo was a second pass at the same two people, not a new cast.

Hospitality Lands With Kinstlinger and a New Sportsbar

Kinstlinger’s 2024 title gathered the stay-and-eat side of the resort. Food, banquets, retail, hotel and spa now report through one hospitality director, while Gulick’s desk faces the games and the ads that fill them.

The dining list in a May 21, 2026 property announcement included Copper Cactus Grill, Chop, Block & Brew, Oak & Fork, Agave’s Restaurant, Dunkin’ and the new Caesars Sportsbar in Maricopa. The bar sits steps from the sportsbook, in the former Laural Lounge, as the first piece of a 10-month renovation.

Kintner said the property had added a small sports book when Arizona legalized sports betting, and that it worked. He wanted another room where guests could sit down, watch games and eat. “We needed another restaurant and wanted to enhance the overall experience for all guests,” he said. “Caesars Sportsbar complements everything else we do here.”

That is the hospitality half of the 2024 bet: one person on rooms and restaurants, one person on traffic and the floor, both already on the payroll.

The Same Seat Kintner Used to Hold

Kintner has been with Harrah’s a little over 19 years, by his own count in January 2025, and still called himself a rookie next to staff who opened the doors. He has been general manager since 2020. Before that he was director of marketing and operations, the combined job Gulick now holds.

He is a University of Arizona graduate who worked at Santa Anita Park in California before Harrah’s. He likes to tell new hires that getting in was the hard part.

The hardest part with this company is getting in. I joke with our new hires, when I talk to them, every time I tell them congratulations. You know, they did the hard part, and then we like to promote from within.

Michael Kintner, senior vice president and general manager

He started at manager level, moved to director, then took the GM job. Twelve employees have been there since opening day. Others have 20-year runs. The 2024 titles fit that habit: grow the next director on the Maricopa floor instead of flying one in.

As of that January 2025 conversation, women held 66% of the executive leadership team and 45% of mid-level leader jobs. Gulick’s path is part of that count, not a one-off press release.

What the Maricopa Floor Puts on That Title

The games now on Gulick’s list are the whole public reason people drive to 15406 North Maricopa Road. The property’s casino page lists 40,000 square feet of gaming, 21 table games, and 1,163 slots and video poker, plus an expansive bingo hall and a Caesars Sportsbook with staffed windows and 24-hour kiosks.

THE FLOOR UNDER THE NEW TITLE

• Gaming space: 40,000 square feet, with bingo, craps, sports betting, slots, video poker, video keno, statewide progressives and blackjack.
• Tables and machines: 21 table games and 1,163 slots and video poker, open 24 hours.
• Hotel: 529 resort and tower guestrooms, with a spa, fitness center, events space and a pool with a swim-up bar.
• Loyalty hook: the only Arizona casino on Caesars Rewards, usable across the Caesars family.

Slot denominations on the property run from a penny to $25. Tables include blackjack and craps. The 2024 memo put all of that, and the ads that sell it, on one director.

Guests Still Drive Past Three Other Casinos

Sixteen Arizona nations operate 27 Class III casinos, per the Arizona Indian Gaming Association roster as of Sept. 1, 2026. Ten of those floors sit in the Phoenix valley. Gulick’s competitive problem is geographic, and she said so without dressing it up.

You can play. You earn. You can go to 50-plus properties all over the country and go play there. To get here, you have to drive past three casinos, depending on what way you’re going. So, Caesars Rewards is what really defines us over our competitors.

Samantha Gulick, director of marketing and operations, Harrah’s Ak-Chin

On Sept. 24, 2026, a public vote of Arizona readers ranked Harrah’s Ak-Chin fourth among the state’s casinos, behind Gila River Resorts & Casinos’ Wild Horse Pass, Talking Stick Resort and Desert Diamond Casino West Valley. The property is not the biggest floor in the state. It is the one that can send a Maricopa regular to 50-plus Caesars houses on the same card.

That is why a marketing chief on the games is not a novelty org chart. The person who writes the mailer now owns the slots, the bingo hall and the sportsbook those mailers are trying to fill, in a market where three other casinos sit on the drive in.

The public feed still looks like a marketing department. Jackpot clips, comedy spots and an August 2026 billboard shoot are what the property pushes. Two years after operations moved onto Gulick’s desk, the voice out front is still the campaign, which is the job she never put down.

Only 28 Ak-Chin Members Work the Property

The hidden party in a Caesars-managed tribal casino is the community that owns the building. Kintner said casino revenue goes back into Ak-Chin Circle, homes, preschools, elder centers and medical facilities. The management bench is still mostly a Caesars bench.

Through the Harrah’s Development System, running since 1997, Ak-Chin members can rotate through departments, then pick a lane. Gulick described it as a tryout. “It’s actually giving them the opportunity to go work in different areas of the casino for a little bit. So, they can test each one out, see which one they like the best, and then when they get done, they can actually pick where they want to go,” she said.

WHO THE PARTNERSHIP EMPLOYS

• Community staff: The casino employed 28 Ak-Chin Indian Community members as of January 2025.
• HDS alumni: 83 community members have finished the training since 1997, and Kintner said some later show up in tribal government.
• Long tenure: 12 employees have been there since Dec. 27, 1994, the day the doors opened.
• HERO cash in 2024: more than $33,000 in in-kind gifts and more than $59,000 in cash, plus $30,000 in anniversary checks to local nonprofits, with ticket-out NRT donations adding more than $15,000.

Gulick said the cash-out kiosks usually feature three charities at a time, one national and two local. A June 2025 Ak-Chin newsletter still called her director of marketing and operations when it quoted her on the casino’s blood program, which has hosted 88 blood drives since 2000, registered 1,986 donors, collected 1,582 donations and, by the property’s count, reached more than 4,746 people.

The 2024 realignment did not freeze the chart. On May 21, 2026, Harrah’s Ak-Chin named Robert Rutter Casino Operations Manager for slots and responsible gaming chair. He already had more than a decade with Caesars, including slot performance manager and hotel operations manager on this property, and a hotel and restaurant management degree from Northern Arizona University.

Rutter’s job is a specialist layer under the 2024 dual title, not a rewrite of it. Gulick still has marketing and operations. Kinstlinger still has hospitality. The May 2026 announcement said the resort was approaching its 32nd anniversary, with Caesars still on the door.

The pattern holds. Harrah’s Ak-Chin keeps handing bigger pieces of a 40,000-square-foot, 529-room house to people who already know the drive past those three other casinos. Gulick’s desk is where that habit and the gaming floor now meet.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who Owns Harrah’s Ak-Chin Casino and Who Operates It?

The Ak-Chin Indian Community owns the casino. Caesars Entertainment has managed it since opening day, and the National Indian Gaming Commission approved a seven-year management agreement on Jan. 17, 2018. The Community Council adopted an amended gaming ordinance on Nov. 18, 2025 (Resolution A-250-25), which the NIGC approved in a Jan. 12, 2026 letter to Chairman Gabriel Lopez.

When Did Harrah’s Ak-Chin Casino Open?

The casino opened on Dec. 27, 1994. Table games such as poker and blackjack arrived in February 2003, and bingo moved into a dedicated hall in June 2003, which the 2018 management announcement called the only bingo hall in the Caesars organization at the time.

What Is the Harrah’s Development System at Ak-Chin?

HDS, started in 1997, lets Ak-Chin Indian Community members train inside the casino by rotating through departments before choosing a job. Kintner said people the property now deals with in tribal government still bring up those HDS years, because the program puts community members inside a large company without leaving the reservation.

Is Harrah’s Ak-Chin the Only Caesars Casino in Arizona?

Yes. Property announcements still call it Arizona’s first and only tribal casino with an international management partner, and the only casino in the state on Caesars Rewards. That worldwide card is the pitch Gulick uses against larger tribal floors that guests pass on the way to Maricopa.

How Did Harrah’s Ak-Chin Get to 529 Hotel Rooms?

A 2011 expansion added a 152-room tower. A later 2018 project added a 12-story tower with 200 more rooms, bringing the resort to 529 guestrooms, the figure the property still used in both the 2024 promotions memo and the May 2026 Rutter announcement.