After just a year, the Valley Forge Casino Resort is folding on short-lived chief executive James A. Rigot and dealing a new CEO for its promising future.

Hailing from Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut, the largest resort casino on the continent, Eric Pearson has been charged with leading the King of Prussia destination toward a bold new frontier.

“Valley Forge Casino Resort made the decision to go in a different direction with its leadership,” the resort announced in a Philadelphia Business Journal report by Kenneth Hilario. “We appreciate Jim’s efforts to support our success, and we wish him the very best in his future endeavors.”

Pearson, on the other hand, will leverage his experience in “operational and financial oversight of gaming operations, arcade operations, and strategic and loyalty marketing” to enhance loyalty, differentiate Valley Forge Casino Resort, and prepare it for the impact of the Internet.

“You don’t want to be the last mover online,” said Wesley S. Roehl, a Tourism Management professor at Temple. “If legislation eventually passes … you want to be ready to hit the ground running.

For [Valley Forge Casino Resort’s] board of directors, this is due diligence. They have to be mindful of the Internet as potentially being a major way to interact with their players, so putting more emphasis on that makes sense.”

Read more about the leadership switch in the Philadelphia Business Journal here.