Harrah's is the only company in any industry that achieved a Top Five rating in Computerworld's survey for each of the past three years. The survey, now in its ninth year, is conducted annually among companies that excel at finding and keeping IT talent.

Harrah's second-place ranking in this year's survey follows a fourth place for the Company in 2000 and a second place in 1999. This year's Top 10 Best Places to Work in IT include Home Depot, Harrah's Entertainment, Nationwide Insurance, Avon Products, International Truck and Engine Corp., Vanguard Group of Investment Cos., Avnett, FleetBoston Financial, USAA and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

"I'm very proud that our efforts to create an exciting and rewarding work environment for our IT team have once again been recognized by Computerworld,'' said Phil Satre, Harrah's Entertainment Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. ``Our evolving IT capabilities have enabled us to leverage the customer- relationship marketing expertise that has helped drive strong revenue growth over the past three years.''

"Sophisticated information systems require robust technology solutions to drive competitive advantage,'' said John Boushy, Senior Vice President of Operations Products and Services and Chief Information Officer for Harrah's Entertainment. "A prerequisite to delivering our business strategy is having talented, motivated employees -- both IT and business professionals -- who are instrumental in creating value for Harrah's.

"The execution of our leading employee practices and diligent nurturing of our work environment consistently enables us to attract, motivate and retain high-caliber employees to enhance our leadership position in the gaming industry,'' Boushy said. "We are very honored to be ranked in Computerworld's Top Five for the third year in a row.''

The Top 100 rankings are based on criteria that prospective employees find most important, including diversity, training, career development, benefits, hot projects and retention, Computerworld said.

"Keeping IT staff excited and challenged in a slowing economy is one of the difficult challenges our top companies are dealing with this year,'' said David Weldon, feature editor of IT Careers for Computerworld.

"Companies that are succeeding in today's marketplace are integrating technology and management functions and creating diverse career tracks for employees, making it easier to move from technology to business management positions, and vice versa,'' said Maryfran Johnson, editor in chief of Computerworld.

The newspaper surveyed executives at Fortune 1000 and major high-tech consulting firms to create the Top 100 list. Computerworld found three common characteristics among winners: Information technology was central to their success, management took an active role in employee careers from Day One, and there were no barriers between IT and business.

Based in Framingham, Mass., Computerworld, Inc. is a complete information services company for the IT Leader community, providing print and online publications, books, conferences and research services. News and resources for the IT Leader community are available at www.computerworld.com.

Founded more than 60 years ago, Harrah's Entertainment, Inc. is the most recognized and respected name in the casino entertainment industry, operating 21 casinos in 17 markets in the United States under the Harrah's, Showboat, Rio and Players brand names. With a combined database of more than 23 million players, Harrah's is focused on building loyalty and value with its targeted customers through a unique combination of great service, excellent products, unsurpassed distribution, operational excellence and technology leadership.