Danny Wimmer Presents continues to expand its DWP Talent Services division and has partnered with veteran casino talent buying firms Houston Productions and NJM Productions, bringing in decades of highly specialized experience and adding a varied roster of venues to an already-established network of mostly tribal properties across the country.
(This story is part of Pollstar’s 2025 casino special, which includes charts and other features, as part of the latest August 2025 issue.)
“We’re basically making a big statement within the industry,” says Del Williams, head of global talent for DWP Talent Services, which got into the casino space in 2021. “These are respected talent buyers, and Kell (Houston) in particular has been one of the most revered casino buyers in the business for decades. We really admire what he has done and feel like, in addition to the clients that he has, he represents the philosophy and the strategy that we have as a company.”
Houston Productions is led by casino and fair entertainment veteran Kell Houston, and NJM Productions is led by relative upstart Nick Miller, who started his own casino-buying firm after spending close to a decade on the agency side.
The partnerships will add resources to the two independent firms’ operations, which Houston says will allow him to pursue further opportunities and develop business in what is still a very fragmented venue landscape with dozens of independent operators who are under-served on the booking side.
“We found some real common ground so that I can still maintain my existing Houston Productions business of my clients but we’re creating a second, kind of a hybrid agreement or partnership with DWP so that we can go after the tribal casino market,” says Houston, who says he’s known Williams for a long time and had been in talks over the past few years about a potential partnership. “We’ve got a couple other people coming on board and we’re going to work on developing a strategy and approach for some of the bigger acts for these amphitheaters and larger venues in the tribal gaming network across the country. Tribal gaming right now is scattered with a whole lot of smaller businesses all around the country working in their regions. This will give us much more of a national profile and I think it’s got a lot of potential.”
NJM Productions is a relative newcomer in the market with an aggressive growth trajectory and experience from the agency side, leading to momentum in the highly specialized tribal casino space. He says his success has come from being inclusive and transparent with tribal properties, who often distrust outside operators and aren’t often involved in the booking and entertainment operations directly.
“There has been a lot of shadiness in the casino space and in the past 20 years with entertainment, and it hasn’t always been the case that the right hand knows what the left hand is doing,” says Miller, who is based in Cincinnati and started NJM Productions toward the end of the pandemic. “I got into it to help connect the dots. I invite all my casinos to IEBA and any of the conventions because I want them to meet the agents and meet the managers, meet other buyers and talk, as opposed to making them feel isolated. That’s part of the Danny Wimmer thing; what they’re so good at is connecting the dots and looking for opportunities where we can all benefit.”
DWP seems to have found a great fit with casino properties, which often complement gaming with full resort amenities and modern, standalone concert facilities, and continues to diversify its operations which includes not only major festival production but hospitality service.
“We look at these casinos that we work with as being our buildings,” says DWP’s Williams, having gained active concert venues in markets including New Mexico; Arizona, Northern California, Minnesota and others. “We don’t have our own arenas and amphitheaters and clubs competing against each other. We are completely committed to these casino clients in these markets.”
As head of global talent for DWP, Williams oversees and handles much of the talent buying for the company’s flagship music festivals, such as Bourbon and Beyond in Louisville, Welcome To Rockville in Daytona Beach and Aftershock in California, four-day events that can attract into the 60,000-per-day mark. He says he’s learned a lot about the intricacies of casino buying thanks to casino veteran colleagues like DWP Talent Services President Billy Brill and Senior National Casino Talent Buyer Joe Moellempour and continues to learn.
“The main thing that I’ve learned and continue to learn is about the people involved with the casinos, the Indian gaming culture, and I’ve enjoyed getting to know people on a much more personal level,” says Williams. “It’s about really digging into their history as well their families and how important everything is from a cultural perspective.”
DWP Talent Services Casino Clients:
- SUQUAMISH CLEARWATER CASINO – Suquamish, WA
- TULALIP RESORT CASINO – Tulalip, WA
- LUCKY EAGLE CASINO – Rochester, WA
- LEGENDS CASINO – Toppenish, WA
- KO-KWEL RESORT CASINO (fka: THE MILL CASINO) – North Bend, OR
- CLEARWATER RIVER CASINO – Lewiston, ID
- PARADISE CASINO – Yuma, AZ
- QUECHAN – Winterhaven, CA
- CASINO DEL SOL – Tucson, AZ
- ROLLING HILLS CASINO – Corning, CA
- UTE MOUNTAIN CASINO – Towaoc, CO
- SANDIA – Albuquerque, NM
- SKY CITY – Acoma, NM
- LITTLE RIVER CASINO RESORT – Manistee, MI
- OJIBWA CASINO – Marquette, MI
- OAKLAWN RACETRACK/CASINO – Hot Springs, AR
- SUGAR CREEK – Hinton, OK
- JACKPOT JUNCTION – Morton, MN
- LAKESIDE CASINO – Osceola, IA
- WILDHORSE RESORT CASINO – Pendleton, OR
- 7 CEDARS CASINO – Sequim, WA
- Isleta Resort and Casino
- Black Bear Casino Resort
- Gila River Resorts and Casinos
- Agua Caliente Casino Resort Spa – Rancho Mirage, CA
- Agua Caliente Casino – Palm Springs, CA
- Agua Caliente Casino – Cathedral City, CA
- Foxwoods Resort Casino – Mashantucket, CT
- Lucky Eagle Casino & Hotel- Rochester, WA
- Pearl River Resort – Philadelphia, MS/Choctaw, MS
- Seneca Niagara Resort & Casino – Niagara Falls, NY
- Seneca Allegany Resort & Casino – Salamanca, NY
- Spirit Mountain Casino – Grand Ronde, OR
- Thunder Valley Casino Resort – Lincoln, CA
