An unassuming family man working in an atmosphere of bells and whistles and bright, blinking lights, Mike Couch may seem to be an anomaly.
In a setting where flash and style often trumps substance, this Desert Storm veteran, husband and father of two daughters has quietly gone about building a solid career in the gaming industry.
“I approach it as a business,” said Gulfstream Park’s Slots Operations Director. “People are here to have a good time and I take that seriously.”
Mr. Couch arrived here last March -- coming from Iowa with his wife, Dana, and two daughters, Hadley, 9, and Braylan, 7 -- with no real idea of what he was getting into.
“I knew Gulfstream Park was a racetrack and that it was owned by Magna Entertainment, and I knew I would be getting an introduction to the racing end of the (gaming) business,” he said. “It was great fun and my family, especially my eldest daughter, really loves the horses.”
The native of the tiny town of Huntingdon, Pa. (pop. 6,918), located near Penn State’s campus at State College, entered the Air Force in 1989, about a year before the Gulf War broke out. Mr. Couch rose to the rank of Senior Airman, maintaining EF-111s, jets whose job it was to jam enemy radar, paving the way for attacks on those radar installations, which in turn paved the way for larger planes to attack larger targets.
According to the Air Force, those who hold the rank of Senior Airman “must, at all times, present the image of competence, integrity, and pride.”
“And that’s exactly what we saw when we hired Mike last spring,” said Gulfstream Park President and General Manager Bill Murphy. “Those three values are indispensable elements to Gulfstream Park’s future success.”
After leaving the service in 1993, Mr. Couch had to decide between offers from a copier-repair company and from the Par-A-Dice Casino in East Peoria, Ill., his future wife’s home state.
“It didn’t take long to decide which was the more interesting offer,” he said.
Mr. Couch began a 12-year stay in 1994 (the year before he and Dana were married) as a slot technician, rose to a shift manager, became a repair manager and eventually a slot analyst. The casino started out small but by the end of Mr. Couch’s tenure it had acquired 1,200 games and was acquired by industry giant Boyd Gaming.
Prior to his arrival at Gulfstream, Mr. Couch helped open the Wild Rose Casino in Emmetsburg, Iowa. The general manager of that property had a contact with the Florida Department of Business & Professional Regulation, and that led him to Gulfstream Park.
He credits the writings of Steven Covey with helping him develop a managerial philosophy. One of Dr. Covey’s tenets is “Seek first to understand, then to be understood.”
“I’ve found that to be a very useful quote to live by,” he said. “Along those lines, I place a great deal of importance on making sure all managers are listening to and talking to our front-line employees. Knowing that we are behind them, and that they can talk to us, helps them give the best service possible.”