BY AVERY GOODSTINE for WEEKLY VOLCANO | 10/23/2026
When presented with the opportunity to come back and work in the area where he grew up, Richard Harp jumped at the opportunity. Raised in Portland, Oregon, from a young age, Harp said it was an easy “yes” for the Chief Marketing Officer position.
Harp is coming to the Emerald Queen Casino with nearly two decades of experience in the gaming industry, including a background in casino marketing, analytics, and customer loyalty.
Most recently, Harp was the vice president of marketing at Bally’s Chicago, a city he said was difficult to leave, but he was convinced because of all the great things he was told about EQC.
“While I was in Chicago, and I’ll tell you, I didn’t want to leave, but a good friend is a good friend of the president and CEO here, and he just said, ‘Rich, I know you’ve always wanted to come back home, here’s your chance,’” he said. “And he talked up the CEO so much, just said, ‘I promise you, you’re going to like him.’”
Before finding himself in the casino scene, Harp got his business degree from Portland State University. Then, he started as an intern for KeyBank of Oregon, which ultimately led him down the path of marketing. Harp worked for KeyBank for four years, and some of that time was spent in Alaska, where he landed the role of vice president in his 20s.
After some time in Alaska, he was presented with two options: the vice president of marketing in Oregon, or take on a corporate role at KeyCorp headquarters in Cleveland, Ohio. Despite his love for Portland, Harp chose the latter in order to get some corporate experience handling the country’s small business segment.
After transitioning to a career in e-trade for some time, Harp ultimately ended up at Station Casinos in Las Vegas after being recommended for the job from a previous KeyCorp boss.
“Station Casinos had hired him to consult,” Harp said. “They were saying, ‘We’re looking for somebody that fits this profile,’ and he goes, ‘I know the guy.’”
Harp was a vice president of relationship marketing for Station Casinos where he said he learned how the casino industry works and about effective loyalty programs.
“You start to learn why people come to casinos,” he said. “What they’re looking for, what’s interesting, what drives their behavior.”
Some of Harp’s other roles include vice president of data strategy at Boyd Gaming, and vice president of casino marketing at Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino before joining Bally’s Chicago in 2025.
As he begins his new role as CMO at Emerald Queen, Harp will lead marketing across the Tacoma and Fife locations, overseeing player loyalty, advertising, public relations, digital and social media, promotions, and entertainment.
Harp said he plans to lean heavily on analytics and data to provide optimal, individualized experiences for every EQC guest.
While he does have some ideas to make the company’s marketing more effective, Harp said he doesn’t want to rush into any changes. He reflected on some of his previous positions where he was too eager to make changes and forgot to take a step back and see the success that’s already happening.
One way Harp said he hopes to use that data is to provide tailored experiences for different types of customers. He specifically mentioned possibly changing current dining options or adding more, as well as possibly adding different kinds of widely popular games.
“As somebody coming in, your first reaction is, ‘Well, we don’t want you to change everything, we just want you to improve on it,’” he said. “And so, then that’s where I do kind of look at using more data, targeting specific groups, and trying to make sure that you are providing what it is that they’re looking for.”
Another way Harp wants to make EQC stand out from other casinos is by making sure guests are having good ol’ fun.
“There’s experiences we can give to people,” he said. “So the way that you roll out promotions, do people on the entire floor feel it, or is it just hidden in a corner somewhere?”
In the month that Harp’s been with EQC so far, he said he loves it. Right now he said he is focusing on getting to know everyone, both colleagues and casino guests.
“What’s most important to me is understanding the culture, and then how I can impact that culture as marketing,” he said
Outside of the casino world, Harp said everything revolves around his golden retriever dogs: Maggie, Sam, and Riley. One of his favorite pastimes is biking with his dogs being pulled along in a wagon behind him. Keep an eye out on EQC socials and you might just see them repping EQC as unofficial mascots.
Overall, Harp said he’s excited to make EQC the place people go for a good time.
He wants to change the assumption that casinos are smoker-filled rooms where people go to sit for hours and do nothing but press buttons on slot machines.
“I want people to have fun here, and I want people to talk about EQC in a way that it’s just like, ‘Guys, you gotta go there,’” he said. “When their families come to town or their friends come to town, it’s like, ‘Hey, it’s a really cool place. Let’s go check it out.’ I’m hoping in two to three years, if I’m able to achieve the things that I’m kind of hoping to, that’s what this place is going to be. It’s not just going to be a casino.”
EQC Tacoma is located at 1820 East 29th Street, Tacoma. EQC Fife is located at 5700 Pacific Highway East, Fife. Both locations are open 24/7.
