"I'm proud, honored and thrilled to be coming to the great City of Detroit and to the Greektown Casino team," said Mecca, whose career includes top management positions with Caesars World Resorts, Crown Casinos Ltd., and Circus Circus. "The eyes of the gaming world are fixed firmly on Detroit, and we will meet and exceed all expectations. Greektown Casino and Detroit will become the premier gaming and entertainment destination in the Midwest."

Mecca was recruited to Detroit by long-time friends Bill Paulos and Bill Wortman of Greektown Casino's Millennium Management Group. Paulos and Mecca worked together for Crown Casinos in Melbourne, Australia, and for Circus Circus in Las Vegas. Mecca and Wortman worked together at Caesars. When Paulos first approached Mecca about the Greektown job, Mecca was the vice president and general manager in charge of opening Mandalay Bay, Circus Circus' spectacular new $950 million resort.

"The opportunity to come to Detroit with a team of all star managers and owners was simply irresistible," said Mecca, who brings extensive experience in all areas of casino-hotel management, including domestic and international marketing, customer service, and strategic planning and financial controls. "Detroit is the next great gaming destination, so this is the career opportunity of a lifetime."

Greektown Casino owners welcomed Mecca to the team

"Mike Mecca was the best of a long list of exceptional candidates who were interested in becoming the top manager of Greektown Casino," said Bernard Bouschor, chairman of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, which owns 50 percent of Greektown Casino LLC.  "Mike has the perfect blend of experience, focus, commitment, vision and skills to lead Greektown Casino to success."

Mecca is a New Jersey native and a 1970 graduate of the University of Oklahoma, where he earned a bachelor's degree in foreign affairs. He taught in college and on Oklahoma's Shawnee Indian Reservation, where he worked with children with emotional difficulties. He then returned to Passaic, New Jersey to teach English literature and coach basketball and football.

His career shifted dramatically in the mid 1970s, when he became manager of hotels in Valencia, California and later Denver, Colorado. His first gaming industry job came in May 1977 as assistant general manager of the Kings 8 Hotel Casino in Las Vegas.

Two years later, he became president and general manager of Vegas World Hotel Casino. At Caesars World Resorts from 1981 to 1994, he was general manager-hotel of Caesars Palace Hotel, then senior vice president of Caesars Tahoe, and finally senior vice president of Caesars World Resorts.

In 1994, he joined the Crown Casinos team in Melbourne that opened Galleria Casino, which includes two hotels and the largest casino in the Southern Hemisphere. He worked with Circus Circus on the Mandalay Bay project from 1997 to January 1999.

Mecca and his wife, Sandy, will relocate to Detroit. He will soon begin the process of seeking a license from the Michigan Gaming Control Board.