Pinnacle Entertainment Names Vincent Zahn Vice President of Finance and Investor Relations

LAS VEGAS, Oct. 20, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Pinnacle Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE: PNK) announced today the appointment of Vincent Zahn, as Vice President of Finance and Investor Relations, effective immediately. Mr. Zahn will report directly to Carlos Ruisanchez, Chief Financial Officer of Pinnacle Entertainment.

As Vice President of Finance and Investor Relations, Mr. Zahn will assist in corporate finance matters, including investor relations, treasury, capital market transactions and strategic development. He will also be responsible for the oversight and management of the Company's shareholder communications efforts, including its ongoing outreach to institutional investors, analysts, and the financial media to further expand awareness of Pinnacle Entertainment within the investment community. Mr. Zahn brings to Pinnacle over seven years of financial experience in the public capital markets with a focus over the last five years on the gaming, lodging and hospitality industries as part of a research team that was ranked third in Institutional Investor magazine's All-America Research Team poll in both 2010 and 2011.

Commenting on the appointment, Carlos Ruisanchez said, "Vince is the ideal candidate to serve as Pinnacle's point of contact with the investment community as he brings a strong understanding of the Company's current operations and growth opportunities, in-depth knowledge of the domestic and international gaming industry and a range of industry and Wall Street relationships developed during his tenure as a member of one of the top ranked research teams covering the gaming sector. We are confident that Vince's informed perspective of Pinnacle and the gaming industry, and his familiarity with the needs of industry analysts and institutional investors will be beneficial to our finance and investor relations teams."

Vince Zahn added, "Having analyzed Pinnacle's existing operations and growth and expansion opportunities, I have been impressed with the pace of the Company's execution across the organization. I am very pleased to join Anthony Sanfilippo, Carlos Ruisanchez and the entire Pinnacle team to expand on their progress in creating new, sustainable value for shareholders and helping drive the next leg of growth for the company."

Prior to joining Pinnacle Entertainment, Mr. Zahn served as an equity analyst at Bank of America/Merrill Lynch since 2006 recently covering the gaming industry with lead responsibilities on the company's coverage of the gaming technology space and associate analyst responsibilities on the core gaming operator space. From 2004-2006, Mr. Zahn was an associate analyst at Prudential Equity Group covering the computer service and IT consulting industry. Prior to his career as an equity analyst, Mr. Zahn held positions as a financial analyst in American International Group's Global Energy division and as a Senior Business Analyst at CrossBorder Solutions, a New York based international corporate tax consulting firm.  He holds a degree in Finance and Economics from Fordham University and is a CFA Charterholder.

About Pinnacle Entertainment

Pinnacle Entertainment, Inc. owns and operates seven casinos, located in Louisiana, Missouri, Indiana and Nevada, and a racetrack in Ohio. Pinnacle is also developing L'Auberge Casino & Hotel Baton Rouge. In August 2011, Pinnacle acquired a 26% ownership stake in Asian Coast Development (Canada) Ltd. (ACDL), an international development and real estate company currently developing Vietnam's first large-scale integrated resort.

SOURCE Pinnacle Entertainment, Inc.