“Justin Timberlake was invited by The Cordish Company to attend the VIP party and grand opening of the Indiana Live! Casino on Friday, March 13. An RSVP was received for Mr. Timberlake that he and his guest would attend the festivities.” -Sherry Amos, Marketing Executive with The Cordish Company
Indiana Live Casino may have put on an excellent opening of their new Shelbyville casino, however, many audience are upset after the grand opening festivities.
The grand opening was supposed to feature 2 of the top stars in Hollywood: the actor-singer Justin Timberlake and actress-model Jessica Biel.
The Ads were run promoting their appearance at the opening ceremonies. Unfortunately, neither of the stars showed up!
So was it a dupe to pull large crowds to the opening? As the Mayor of Shebyville, Scott Furgeson stated, “I guarantee it was not a dupe, and I thought he was going to be there".
Also the Mayor said that the President of Baltimore-based Cordish Company who runs the casino is Justin Timberlake's friend had pledged to attend but had not signed a contract.
Guest Marian Flemming says, “It was ridiculous. They promised us that Justin and Jessica were going to be here, so we came down to check out the new casino and had hoped to see the two stars. When they did not show up, we simply felt cheated.”
On the contrary, Justin Timberlake's publicist told the Cordish Company that the Justin never planned to attend the event. The day after the actor-singer publicist said Timberlake never agreed to attend Friday's ribbon-cutting ceremony for Indiana Live! Casino, the only business that's talking was the casino's local public relations firm.
The stars then added to the speculation when they failed to deliver a scheduled promotional appearance at the launch of an Indiana Live Casino in Shelbyville, Indiana on March 13. The 2 Hollywood stars absence infuriated many members of the 8,000-strong audience.
The new $200 million Indiana Live Casino will feature over 200,000 square feet of gaming and dining. The casino and horsetrack are located only 15 miles southeast of Indianapolis on I-74.
As the promotion ads stated, Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel will be on hand for the 6:00 p.m. ribbon cutting ceremony. Following that, the doors open to the public at 6:30 p.m.
But unfortunately, on that night, no Justin Timberlake and Jessice Biel's appearance in the casino!
The Indiana Gaming Commission is investigating whether a casino broke rules with promotions claiming that pop star singer and actor Justin Timberlake and the actress model Jessica Biel would appear at its grand opening.
Ernie Yelton, a Gaming Commission Director told the Indianapolis Business Journal he's not accusing Indiana Live of any misconduct, but he wants to make sure the casino followed regulations, and if the Indiana Live Casino is found to have a violated commission rules, the casino could face reprimand, fines and even its license
revoked.
What do you think? Is this a marketing tactic of Indiana Live! Casino?
Your thoughts..