Former Mohegan Gaming executive to return
Soper named MGE’s international president
— Bobby Soper, the former Mohegan Gaming & Entertainment executive who resigned in 2017 and paid a $60,000 fine for failing to properly disclose his ownership interest in companies that did business with an MGE casino, has been named MGE’s international president.
In the newly created position, Soper, a member of the Mohegan Tribe, will oversee all aspects of MGE’s ongoing development of an integrated resort in South Korea, as well as its bid for an integrated resort license in Nagasaki, Japan, according to an MGE news release.
Soper’s appointment follows the announcement last week that Mario Kontomerkos, MGE’s president and chief executive officer, will resign at the end of the month.
Kontomerkos succeeded Soper as president and CEO several months after Soper’s resignation in February 2017.
“Having served the Mohegan
Tribe and MGE for many years, we are confident in Bobby’s experience and capabilities to guide our efforts on the ground in Asia,” James Gessner Jr., the Mohegan tribal chairman, said in a statement. “Bobby’s leadership and presence representing MGE will serve as a catalyst and result in significant progress with both of these important international project commitments.”
MGE’s release made no mention of the circumstances surrounding Soper’s 2017 resignation.
At the time he resigned, Soper said he was leaving on good terms. MGE — then known as the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority — also revealed at the time that Pennsylvania gaming regulators were looking into financial irregularities at Mohegan Sun Pocono, MGE’s racetrack casino in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. The review grew out of an investigation of the theft of more than $400,000 from the casino that resulted in the indictments and convictions of three people, including a former casino vice president.
The incident occurred well after Soper, who served as Mohegan Sun Pocono’s president and chief executive officer from 2005 to 2012, had moved on to Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, where he assumed the same position.
As part of a settlement with the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, Soper agreed in November 2017 to pay the
“Bobby’s leadership and presence representing MGE will serve as a catalyst and result in significant progress with both of these important international project commitments.”
JAMES GESSNER JR., MOHEGAN TRIBAL CHAIRMAN
$60,000 fine for failing to properly disclose his ownership interests in 10 companies, including two that did business with Mohegan Sun Pocono.
In December 2017, Pennsylvania regulators levied $1 million in fines against Mohegan Sun Pocono following a yearslong probe of the casino’s financial procedures.
After leaving MGE, Soper moved to Sunrise, Fla., and founded his own company, Sun Gaming & Hospitality.
Born in Atlanta, Soper holds a law degree from the University of Georgia and first went to work for the tribe in 1997. He began his gaming career at Mohegan Sun in 2001, serving as chief legal officer and senior vice president of administration.