The video poker slots return 99 percent, compared with about 96 or 97 percent on the Strip, according to Curtis. The South Point caters to cost-conscious gamers seeking “cheap food, good odds,” he said. “His management style is a carryover from the old days.” “Michael is one of the last of the Mohicans,” said Anthony Curtis, a publisher of books on Las Vegas and the gaming industry.

Some consider him a close comparison to Gaughan.īut Ruffin, Meruelo and Stevens did not come from a gaming background or make their fortune in the industry.

But Ruffin bought Treasure Island from MGM while Meruelo bought the SLS Las Vegas from an investment fund.ĭerek Stevens, the majority owner of the downtown D Las Vegas and Golden Gate, is building a 777-room hotel-casino with his brother. Phil Ruffin and Alex Meruelo are the only two individual casino owners on the Strip. Today an individual looking to build a hotel-casino the size of the South Point would need a net worth close to $1 billion, if not more.

Gaughan is one of the few remaining individual casino owners who essentially built his own sprawling Las Vegas property from scratch. cement their hold of the Strip.īut single owners like Gaughan, whose family roots in Las Vegas go back to the early 1950s, are also disappearing as consolidation again grips the gaming industry. Once as common a feature of Strip casinos as lounge acts, free parking and blackjack with such favorable odds have been phased out as corporations like MGM Resorts International and Caesars Entertainment Corp. “If my father knew, he would say I am wasting my money,” Gaughan said in his office inside the 2,163-room casino seven miles from the Strip. Gaughan, one of few remaining “old-school” (as industry followers call him) Las Vegas casino operators, has bought billboard space along Interstate 15 to let those arriving from California know his casino has free parking and 3:2 blackjack. South Point owner Michael Gaughan says his late father, Las Vegas casino pioneer Jackie Gaughan, would be baffled by his marketing strategy.

Duane Prokopīullfighter Eulalio “Zotoluco” Lopez fighting 480kgs Conquistador during Don Bull Productions presents Bullfighting, no blood at South Point hotel-casino, Monday, September 14, 2009. Bullfighter Eulalio 'Zotoluco' Lopez fights the 480kgs bull named Conquistador during the Don Bull Productions bloodless Bullfighting event at South Point hotel-casino, Monday, September 14, 2009, in Las Vegas.

South point casino gun show