Pinnacle Entertainment Announces Additions to Management Team

LAS VEGAS, April 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Pinnacle Entertainment, Inc. today announced the addition of new corporate-level executives to help manage the company's growth and development pipeline.

Dan Boudreaux has been appointed to the newly created position of Chief Accounting Officer. Mr. Boudreaux, who joins Pinnacle from Harrah's Entertainment, Inc., will be responsible for the company's full array of internal and external financial accounting and reporting, including reports to the SEC, coordination with external auditors and related issues. Prior to joining Pinnacle, Mr. Boudreaux served in various accounting and finance positions at Harrah's operational, regional and corporate levels. Before joining Harrah's in 1999, Mr. Boudreaux served in various accounting and finance positions with Entergy Corporation, Campo Electronics, Appliances & Computers, Inc. and PricewaterhouseCoopers. Mr. Boudreaux, a Certified Public Accountant, holds a bachelor's degree in accounting from the University of New Orleans and a master's degree in business administration from Loyola University.

Ed Mulholland has joined Pinnacle as Associate General Counsel. Mr. Mulholland will help manage the legal issues for the Company's growing number of gaming properties, including contracts, employment issues, labor and regulatory matters. He joined Pinnacle after serving as Vice President and Associate Corporate Counsel for the Tropicana Resort and Casino in Las Vegas since 2000. In that position, he oversaw all aspects of the resort's legal matters, including risk management, human resources, labor relations, government and community relations and security. Prior to that, he served for nine years as an associate attorney with Schreck Brignone in Las Vegas, where he specialized in various aspects of commercial litigation. Mr. Mulholland received his bachelor's degree from Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska and his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Nebraska College of Law.

Suzanne Chabre has joined Pinnacle in the newly created position of Vice President-Brand Marketing. In that role, she will oversee all aspects of Pinnacle's brand management, including advertising. She also is a key member of the team developing the Company's new player-tracking database and marketing system. She joined the company from MGM Mirage, where she served as Vice President of Marketing, Residential Division for the $7 billion City Center project in Las Vegas. Previously, she served as a marketing integration team leader during and after Harrah's Entertainment Inc.'s acquisition of Caesars Entertainment. Prior to that transaction, she had served as Vice President of Corporate Marketing for Caesars, and held a variety of marketing positions with Bally's and Paris Las Vegas and Grand Casinos, Inc. Ms. Chabre holds a bachelor's degree in marketing and master's degree in business administration from Arizona State University.

Arthur Schleifer has been named Vice President of Real Estate Development. In that newly created role, Mr. Schleifer will be responsible for developing the company's non-gaming assets, such as retail and residential development, strategic partnerships and other projects and alliances that complement Pinnacle's core gaming business. He joins Pinnacle from Harrah's Entertainment where he most recently served as Director of New Business Development. Before joining Harrah's in 2001 as Director of Strategic Alliances, he served in various business development and marketing roles with Excite@Home and USA Networks Inc.'s Home Shopping Network. He began his career in retail management, working in successive positions at R.H. Macy's and Circuit City. Mr. Schleifer holds a bachelor's degree in history from Tufts University and a master's degree from the Harvard University Graduate School of Business Administration.

Win Person has been named Senior Director of Epicurean Operations. In that role, he will oversee all of the restaurants, lounges and other food and beverage operations at each of Pinnacle's properties. He joins Pinnacle from Pure Management Group, where he served as Vice President of Restaurant Development. In that role, he helped to extend Pure's business beyond its signature nightclubs to a variety of new restaurant concepts, including the Social House at Treasure Island in Las Vegas. Prior to that, Mr. Person was Vice President of Food and Beverage at Bellagio in Las Vegas. He oversaw all aspects of food and beverage at this AAA Five Diamond resort, which includes operations ranging from celebrity chef restaurants such as Michael Mina to catering. Previously, he held a range of positions with Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts properties in the U.S. and Mexico. Mr. Person is a graduate of the Hotel Management School of Lausanne and Professional Chef School in Montreux, Switzerland.

"We're excited to add executives of this caliber to our team," said Daniel R. Lee, Pinnacle's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "Dan Boudreaux will help us continue to manage our financial and accounting infrastructure as we continue our rapid growth. Ed Mulholland brings his legal skills to help manage our expanding network of regional gaming properties. Suzanne Chabre brings a wealth of experience to our marketing operations, which is a major focus of our growth plans. Arthur Schleifer's mix of development, retail and strategic partnership expertise will help the company create value out of its real estate and other non-gaming assets. Win Person's background as a trained chef, hotel-school graduate, luxury-resort executive and restaurant-concept developer brings Pinnacle a range of experience that will benefit its current and future properties. We look forward to having Dan, Ed, Suzanne, Arthur and Win join in building the Pinnacle of the future."

About Pinnacle Entertainment

Pinnacle Entertainment owns and operates casinos in Nevada, Louisiana, Indiana, Missouri, Argentina and The Bahamas; owns a hotel in Missouri; and has significant insurance claims related to a hurricane-damaged hotel and casino complex previously operated in Biloxi, Mississippi. Pinnacle also has two casino development projects under construction in the St. Louis, Missouri area, which are dependent upon final approval by the Missouri Gaming Commission. Pinnacle is currently developing the Company's second casino resort in Lake Charles, Louisiana, to be called Sugarcane Bay, and anticipates developing a casino in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, subject to various approvals. Additionally, Pinnacle owns a casino site at the heart of the famed Boardwalk in Atlantic City, N.J. on which it plans to build a major new casino resort.

All statements included in this press release, other than historical information or statements of historical fact, are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements, including statements regarding the Company's future growth, construction projects and budgets, new development opportunities, and pending acquisitions and divestitures, are based on management's current expectations and are subject to risks, uncertainties and changes in circumstances that could significantly affect future results. Accordingly, Pinnacle Entertainment cautions that the forward-looking statements contained herein are qualified by important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those reflected by such statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to: (a) our substantial funding needs in connection with our development projects, our current expansion projects and other capital-intensive projects will require us to raise substantial amounts of money from outside sources; (b) the risk that new projects, expansions, other capital intensive projects and lower than expected results from the opening of our new facilities could strain the Company's financial resources and might not provide for a sufficient return, if any; (c) many construction-related factors could prevent the Company from completing its construction and development projects within budget and on time; (d) development of our Atlantic City development site presents many risks, and we may not realize the financial and strategic goals that are contemplated from the development; (e) significant competition facing the Company in all of its markets; (f) because the Company has considerable leverage, future cash flows may not be sufficient to meet its financial obligations and the Company might have difficulty obtaining additional financing; (g) issues may arise with respect to the licenses associated with the Louisiana entities that we plan to utilize for our Sugarcane Bay and Baton Rouge projects; (h) damage and closures caused by Hurricane Katrina in the New Orleans area make our future operating results at Boomtown New Orleans less predictable; (i) issues with respect to our insurance policies could affect our recovery of further insurance proceeds associated with the 2005 hurricane damage and related business interruption; and (j) other risks, including those as may be detailed from time to time in Pinnacle Entertainment's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"). For more information on the potential factors that could affect the Company's financial results and business, review the Company's filings with the SEC, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K, its Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and its Current Reports on Form 8-K.

For further information At Pinnacle Entertainment - (702) 784-7777: Dan Lee, Chairman & CEO Wade Hundley, President Steve Capp, CFO Chris Plant or Lewis Fanger, Investor Relations