A sign at the main entrance to Frank Sisson’s Silver Dollar Casino announces to patrons that the sprawling 80,000-sq.-ft. entertainment centre is under renovations.

Indeed, the Vegas-style lights get brighter, the slot machines sing louder and the spotlights in the showroom glow brighter.

Yet, while the family-operated casino gets a facelift, one thing never changes.

David Lazarowych, Business Edge
Silver Dollar Casino honcho Frank Sisson has promoted everything from boxing and VLTs to Las Vegas entertainers.

The proprietor. Frank Sisson.

The 64-year-old founder and owner of the Silver Dollar is still shooting the breeze in his folksy manner with longtime customers in the coffee shop, personally warming coffee cups for guests to his ‘home away from home’ and telling anyone who’ll listen that he’s just the janitorial custodian.

Suddenly, Sisson vanishes. Perhaps, he’s in his office firing off a congratulatory note to a one-time Silver Dollar marquee name, comedienne Phyllis Diller, who has just announced her retirement. Or, perhaps finalizing plans for an upcoming Pam Tillis or George Fox show.

Take a seat, pardner, and listen to the extraordinary story of a man who went from setting pins at the Gayety Bowling Lanes a half-century ago to becoming one of Alberta’s most influential and outspoken players in the entertainment industry.

1. What was your boyhood dream?

“I just wanted to be in business. When I was a kid, somebody from a newspaper asked me what I wanted to do, and I said I wanted to build a sports empire. But I’d be lying if I said I planned it to be 80,000 sq. ft. My dad (Gabe) was a welder and a truck driver. He set the example of hard work for me early.”

2. What was your first job?

“I started out in the 1950s at the Gayety on 17th Avenue (S.W.) setting pins. I got a nickel a game. While going to Western Canada High School, I was running that bowling centre. Then, I went with the CPR for four or five months and I got transferred to Edmonton, but I found out it was costing me more to court my wife (Lorraine, who was in Calgary) than I was making. I got back in the bowling business and, in ’64, I got a piece of the action in Triangle Bowl. And then I bought out my partners in ’71, and that business became the Silver Dollar.”

3. Can you tell the yarn about how the Silver Dollar was named?

“I rode a steer in Bassano way back in ’52 on July 1, and anybody who rode in the event got a silver dollar. So I carried that silver dollar for 30 years before somebody stole it.”

4. What have you learned about customer service in the entertainment industry?

“We got one shot at ’em (customers). If people come in and we look after ’em, they’ll come back. That’s the idea. That’s why we’re bringing in someone like Pam Tillis. When we opened up in ’61, the Stampeders band used to sleep in our building, and they were the opening act. We’d give ’em (Stampeders) the money so they could go across Canada for the first gold record. When we had a dance marathon in ’64, we had 10 different bands. Yeah, I got trouble big time for that. We got fined $75 (for breaking the city’s midnight curfew), and the judge said: ‘See ya next year, Frank.’ ”

5. Does it pay to promote big-name acts as opposed to no-name acts?

“I started to promote local bands in the early ’80s. I hired a local band and they started working about three other locations a day. So by the second night, they couldn’t sing and I couldn’t charge anybody. It was ridiculous. I said: ‘OK, if I’m going to get screwed like this, I’m going to put in big-name acts.’ Ray Stevens was our first big one and then we had people like Tammy Wynette, Billy Ray Cyrus and Garth Brooks.”

6. What’s the key to your success?

“We’ve got some great staff, and we try to treat the customers like family. You can’t please everybody, but we try to. And I think if you’re honest with people, if you don’t double-cross anybody, and you give ’em a fair deal, they appreciate it. Even today, when we do a concert, we try to make it economical. It’s not like going to a (NHL) hockey game. A normal fan can’t do a $90 ticket. In Vegas, it’s gotten astronomical. It’s $100 American to go to a decent show down there. I haven’t had a $50 ticket yet, but we’re going to bring in a couple of heavyweights pretty quick who will be in that range, like Pam Tillis – she’s $35 – and George Fox, and I’m dealing with people like George Jones. The room will hold only 350 people, so there’s not a bad seat in the house.”

7. You have a reputation for blazing trails for the entertainment and bar industry. How important has that been to your business?

“In ’71, I put the first liquor licence into a bowling centre (in Calgary) and it took me 15 years to get that approved, and now you can drink on the concourse. Yeah, we started that as well. Sometimes, it costs you a lot of money. When I came here (current location) in ’73, it cost me $100,000 to put a wall up because of the rules that said you had to have floor-to-ceiling height to serve liquor. So it costs you money to be a leader. It’s the old story: It’s better to be a has-been than a never-was.”

8. Who’s your favourite celebrity of those who have played Silver Dollar?

“I think (superstar country singer) Garth Brooks certainly has to be the one because he still keeps in touch with us. He’s just a down-to-earth person. He came here in ’91 and performed without a contract. Last year, Garth made $50 million, so he doesn’t need to keep in touch with Frank Sisson. But when he’s here, he always calls us. That’s pretty cool.”

9. Who taught you the ropes of the entertainment business?

“I started out with a man (one-time Calgary businessman) called Jack Chertkow. One of the things he taught me was he used to fire me every night and then phone my mother and ask where I was the next day. But we’d learn a lot. You try and learn from people. I admire guys like (Calgary entrepreneurs) Leo Sheftel and Phil Libin. People like that have done so much for charity.”

10. And so have you, right?

“I think you just want to be able to hold your head up and say that you’ve contributed back to the city. My daughter Rhonda (a Silver Dollar employee) started up this program of giving boots to kids. This year, we provided 900 boots . . . for under-privileged children through the schools. The kids don’t know we’re doing it. You’ve got to give something back. That’s what it’s all about.”

11. You’ve promoted numerous events from closed-circuit boxing to live pro wrestling to car shows. Is there anything you haven’t promoted?

“You know, I did a male strip joint one time and that was it. I didn’t like that particularly, so I got out of the nonsense. We’ll do most of the things that are legal.”

12. Do you regret putting up such a vocal fight against anti-VLT (video lottery terminal) groups?

“If I hadn’t led the VLT battle and shut up about it, I probably would have been better off because the machines would go to the casinos. But it’s a matter of principle.

“The owners of the lounges hadn’t done anything wrong. I figured that the do-gooders, (prominent oilman) Jim Gray and them, by trying to change the rules, could bankrupt some of the lounges. The VLT battle is on a holding pattern, but it will never be over.”

13. What’s your view of the issue of gambling addiction?

“What is an addict? If I read newspapers six days a week, does that mean I’m addicted to newspapers? They just did a survey in Las Vegas that showed that out of 260 suicides in that city last year, only one of them committed suicide over a gambling problem. But your opponents exaggerate that stuff. In six years that we’ve had gambling here, we have told three people to quit. We’ve banned them. Nobody in the industry wants an addict.”

14. What’s the hot issue now?

“Now, they (city hall) are trying to ban smoking from our places. That’s stupid. If it’s that bad for people, then get rid of it (cigarettes) altogether.” 15. How important is staffing in this business?

“We’ve got some great staff. It’s my name on that letterhead, but it’s the staff that make it happen, and we get a lot of help from the family (wife Lorraine, daughters Rhonda and Michele and son Allan are all involved in Silver Dollar). We get rid of the ones that don’t work. That sounds awful hard but the fact is we want ’em looking after the public. I keep tellin’ ’em, the only thing I do is (take) the money to the bank. But it’s the public that puts the money there.”

16. When you reflect on your business career, are there any regrets?

“I coulda done without gettin’ shot (Sisson was shot in his left knee and right Achilles tendon in an armed robbery in a parking lot en route to make a bank deposit five years ago). My leg will never be the same. But a lot of it, I’d probably just do it all again.”

17. How did that incident change your perspective on life?

“The thing it did is it showed us how many friends we had. I was an inch-and-a- half and two minutes from dying. While I was in the hospital, I replied to 350 cards. That support really helped the family through it. Never mind me. You start appreciating people a lot. I phoned from the hospital and had more handicap stalls installed, in the street and in the bathroom.”

18. What do you like to do when you’re not working 80-hour weeks?

“We like to go to Vegas and just relax. I like seeing the rodeo (Sisson has volunteered as a security hand in the infield at the Stampede rodeo for 27 years), reading books and we went to Australia a year ago and I dove with the sharks. The largest shark was 26 feet and, when you’re under water and you realize that thing could swallow you – whew! But that was always a dream.”

19. Why do you continue to put in the long hours?

“You know what? I enjoy people. Somebody said: ‘When are you going to retire?’ I say: ‘The day it stops bein’ fun.’ Retirement? I figure retirement is like practising to die.”

20. Will you continue to expand the Silver Dollar?

“Yes. I’d like to get my showroom at least up to 1,000 seats. I think this is the most exciting time to be in this business. I could sell it next week. But I’m not interested. We fought too many battles to get here. This is a game, and it’s no different here than in Las Vegas. It’s forever changing, and you have to keep it fresh. And we might have a hotel here eventually because it’s a natural.”

IN PROFILE: Frank Sisson

* Born/raised/age: Edinburgh, Scotland; Duchess, AB, Calgary; 64.

* Title: Owner/president, Frank Sisson's Silver Dollar Casino.

* Education: Grade 12, Western Canada High.

* Family: Wife Lorraine, daughters Rhonda and Michele, son Allan.

* Career: Sisson began working in the bowling business as a teenager at Gayety Bowling Lanes and later managed Calgary Centre Lanes. He made his first investment in the business in 1964, becoming a part owner of the Triangle. Eventually, he bought out his partners and changed the name to the Silver Dollar.

* Passions: Swimming with sharks, Vegas vacations, reading, Chinese food.

THE COMPANY: Frank Sisson's Silver Dollar Casino

* Brass: Frank Sisson, president.

* Profile: The Silver Dollar is a multi-faceted entertainment centre of 80,000 sq. ft., featuring 368 slot machines, table games, Sega horse racing, 48 bowling lanes (five-pin and 10-pin), three lounges with giant screens, a showroom and restaurant.

* Claim to fame: The Silver Dollar has showcased big-name acts including Phyllis Diller, The Stampeders band, Garth Brooks, Billy Ray Cyrus and Tanya Tucker.

* Address: 1010 42nd Ave. S.E., Calgary, AB.

* Phone/Fax: 403-287-1183, 403-243-3166.