Face of Gaming
Saracen Development LLC & Saracen Casino Resort
Carlton Saffa, Chief Market Officer
Owned by the Quapaw Nation of Oklahoma, Saracen is something unique: It is the first purpose-built licensed casino in Arkansas history and the state’s first Las Vegas-style experience. Quapaw leadership along with lobbyist Don Tilton worked to make the case locally for a gaming license. In the end, others seeking the Jefferson County license chose not to swim upriver, and instead focused on Russellville.
Carlton Saffa, the Chief Market Officer at Saracen Casino Resort, was the first employee of the organization, hired in June 2019. Saffa is a graduate of the University of Arkansas. He and his wife, Kristen, live in Little Rock with their young children, Stella and Charlie. Less than two years later, Saracen Casino Resort is open and employs nearly 900.
“I am most proud of the jobs we’ve created in Jefferson County,” Saffa says. “These jobs were created without government subsidy, and our gaming taxes have allowed for long-needed local first responder pay raises.”
Saffa has often been called an “action-junkie.”
He says, “The draw of a $300 million project with such a high profile, coupled with the complexities of the gaming business, was irresistible.”
Saracen Development LLC & Saracen Casino Resort • 870.686.9001 • saracenresort.com
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