Vice President of Marketing Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort Hot Springs, AR
Born outside of Chicago, Illinois, Joan Botts is a Public Relations graduate of the University of Southern California. She grew up in Wilmington, Delaware and Memphis, Tennessee; lived in Los Angeles for eight years; then returned to Memphis and started a 15+ year career in the casino/gaming industry.
Botts has worked as a senior marketer in various gaming markets, including Mississippi, Missouri, Louisiana, and now Arkansas. Botts and her family moved from Shreveport, Louisiana (where she lived for 14 years) to Hot Springs last August when she joined Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort as the Vice President of Marketing.
She oversees all marketing initiatives for the racing, casino, and resort aspects of Oaklawn – advertising, signage, media relations, PR, social media, direct mail, promotions, events, VIP, player services, reserved seats (racing), gift shops/retail, entertainment, and sponsorships/partnerships/donations.
Since graduating college, Botts’ experience also includes working in the music industry, as well as handling marketing projects and events for the NBC-TV affiliate in Shreveport, Louisiana.
She has a daughter Chelsea who is a senior at LSU and a stepson Gage who is a high school junior in Shreveport. Her husband Wade also works at Oaklawn in the Race & Sports Book.
