A month after taking over the beleaguered Tropicana, Kentucky-based Columbia Sussex Corp. has reduced the property's work force.

Columbia Sussex Chief Financial Officer Rich Fitzpatrick confirmed there were layoffs at the 1,880-room hotel-casino. He didn't say how many positions were eliminated.

Soon after Columbia's $2.75 billion buyout of Tropicana parent Aztar Corp. closed Jan. 3, Pietro's restaurant was closed.

"We're rightsizing the organization and eliminating underperforming assets," Fitzpatrick said. "Many of the cutbacks were at the middle manager level. We believe in managing customers, not other employees."

Columbia Sussex doesn't expect to break ground on a $2 billion expansion to the 34-acre site until October. During the construction, the company intends to keep the resort open.

Fitzpatrick said Columbia is making moves to enhance the Tropicana, such as adding ticket in-ticket out features to the casino's slot machines.

Southwest Airlines celebrated 25 years operating at McCarran International Airport last week and the growth has been staggering. The airline carrier started with five flights a day and now operates 225 daily flights.

Southwest said it captures more than 36 percent of McCarran's market share.

In the second quarter of 2006, Southwest Airlines transported 3 million McCarran customers. For the year that began in the third quarter of 2005 and ended in the second quarter of 2006, Southwest carried more than 11 million passengers.

Don't assume that banishing casino gaming from a Nevada resort is as big of a business gamble as it sounds.

Gambling, particularly in the form of table games, isn't so lucrative that it is irreplacable, especially where resort operators are chasing a trend toward boutique-style lodging.

One of the first moves by Loews Hotels when it took over the Hyatt Regency at Lake Las Vegas last month was to yank 160 slots and six tables from the Bakara ballroom.

Resort leaders say they are marketing an anti-Strip environment of calmness and serenity.

Jim Kilby, a professor of gaming at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, said the move suggests intense gambling isn't in the cards for a good business plan in the swanky Lake Las Vegas environment.

"I'd have to say, if it was worth the trouble they'd keep it in," Kilby said.

Former Gaming Control Board member Bobby Siller, who retired Dec. 31, came to the January commission meeting to say farewell. Commissioner Art Marshall presented him with the state seal. Control Board Chairman Dennis Neilander gave Siller his agency badge mounted on a plaque.

"All I really ever wanted was the title of chairman," Siller said.

The Inside Gaming column is compiled by Review-Journal gaming and tourism writers Howard Stutz, Benjamin Spillman and Arnold M. Knightly. Send your tips about the gaming and tourism industry to insidegaming@reviewjournal.com.