Golden Nugget Hotels & Casinos is an American chain of luxury hotels and casinos. It currently operates five casino resorts in

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the 7th-most extensive, ...

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a U.S. state, state in the Deep South and South Central United States, South Central regions of the United States. It is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 20th-smal ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York (state), New York; on the ea ...

, and

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Mis ...

. The original location was the

Golden Nugget Las Vegas The Golden Nugget Las Vegas is a luxury hotel and casino located in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada on the Fremont Street Experience. The property is owned and operated by Landry's, Inc. It has 2,419 hotel rooms. History The Golden Nugget was ori ...

which opened in 1946. The company runs as a division of Landry's Hospitality within the

Fertitta Entertainment Fertitta Entertainment Inc. is a conglomerate and holding company that holds companies and investments owned by Tilman Fertitta. These include Landry's, Inc., the Houston Rockets, and the Golden Nugget casinos. Within the portfolio are many l ...

portfolio.

History

Original Golden Nugget

The

opened in 1946 in

Downtown Las Vegas Downtown Las Vegas (commonly abbreviated as DTLV) is the central business district and historic center of Las Vegas, Nevada. It is the original townsite, and the Downtown gaming area was the primary gambling district of Las Vegas prior to the S ...

. Over time, notable members of the ownership group featured

Jackie Gaughan John Davis Gaughan, Sr. (October 24, 1920 – March 12, 2014) was a casino owner and operator from the early 1950s in Las Vegas, Nevada. He had an ownership stake in many casinos throughout his career, but he is best known for his ownership of th ...

and

Steve Wynn Stephen Alan Wynn ('' né'' Weinberg; born January 27, 1942) is an American real estate developer and art collector. He is known for his involvement in the American luxury casino and hotel industry. Early in his career he oversaw the constructio ...

.Gaughan changeover leaves workers a little melancholy
''Las Vegas Sun'', March 25, 2004, accessed May 16, 2012. Wynn later became the majority stakeholder in 1973, making him the youngest casino owner in Las Vegas. Under Wynn, the casino brand expanded greatly. Once gaining the controlling sharehold, Wynn created ''Golden Nugget Companies Inc.'' The first hotel tower opened in 1977, which lead for the property to get awarded a four diamond rating from

Mobil Travel Guide Forbes Travel Guide (formerly known as Mobil Guide or Mobil Travel Guide) is a star rating service and online travel guide for hotels, restaurants and spas. In 2011, Forbes Travel Guide published its last set of guidebooks and on November 15, 201 ...

. In 1980, the company opened the

Golden Nugget Atlantic City Golden Nugget Atlantic City is a hotel, casino, and marina located in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Opened in 1985 as Trump's Castle, it was renamed Trump Marina in 1997. Landry's, Inc. purchased the casino from Trump Entertainment Resorts in Feb ...

(not to be confused with the current

) in

. The Las Vegas casino also expanded, with a second and third tower opened in 1984 and 1989, respectively, which included a showroom. The company's interest in Atlantic City did not last very long due to frustration with state gaming regulators, and in 1987, the property was sold to

Bally's Entertainment Bally Manufacturing, later renamed Bally Entertainment, was an American company that began as a pinball and slot machine manufacturer, and later expanded into casinos, video games, health clubs, and theme parks. It was acquired by Hilton Hotel ...

, and eventually became Bally's Grand Hotel and Casino. In 1989, the company acquired the Nevada Club casino in

Laughlin, Nevada Laughlin is an unincorporated resort town and census-designated place in Clark County, Nevada, United States. It is located on the Colorado River, directly across from the much larger Bullhead City, Arizona. Laughlin lies south of Las Vegas ...

, and re-branded it as the

Golden Nugget Laughlin The Golden Nugget Laughlin (formerly the Nevada Club) is a hotel and casino located on the banks of the Colorado River in Laughlin, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Landry's, Inc. It offers a number of restaurants, 300 guest rooms and suites, ...

Mirage Resorts (1989-1999)

The company expanded into the

Las Vegas Strip The Las Vegas Strip is a stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard South in Clark County, Nevada, that is known for its concentration of resort hotels and casinos. The Strip, as it is known, is about long, and is immediately south of the Las Vegas cit ...

in 1989, with the opening of

The Mirage The Mirage is a casino resort on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, United States. It is owned by Vici Properties and operated by Hard Rock International. The 65-acre property includes a casino and 3,044 rooms. Golden Nugget, Inc., led ...

. Following the completion, the company changed its name to Mirage Resorts. Financing the $630 million project largely with

high-yield bond In finance, a high-yield bond (non-investment-grade bond, speculative-grade bond, or junk bond) is a bond that is rated below investment grade by credit rating agencies. These bonds have a higher risk of default or other adverse credit event ...

s issued by

Michael Milken Michael Robert Milken (born July 4, 1946) is an American financier. He is known for his role in the development of the market for high-yield bonds ("junk bonds"), and his conviction and sentence following a guilty plea on felony charges for viol ...

. The resort's high cost and emphasis on luxury meant that it was considered high risk at the time, though the project ended up being enormously lucrative. The hotel, with its erupting volcano and South Seas theme, ignited a $12 billion building boom on the Strip. Its construction is also considered noteworthy in that Wynn had set a new standard for Vegas resorts, and when it opened The Mirage was the first casino to use security cameras full-time on all table games. Known for its entertainment, the hotel became the exclusive venue for the ''

Siegfried & Roy Siegfried & Roy were a duo of German-American magicians and entertainers, best known for their appearances with white lions and white tigers. It was composed of Siegfried Fischbacher (June 13, 1939 – January 13, 2021) and Roy Horn (born Uwe ...

'' show in 1990, and in 1993 the hotel hosted the

Cirque du Soleil Cirque du Soleil (, ; "Circus of the Sun" or "Sun Circus") is a Canadian entertainment company and the largest contemporary circus producer in the world. Located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul on 16 ...

show ''

Nouvelle Expérience ''Nouvelle Expérience'' was Cirque du Soleil's fourth touring circus show, which premiered in 1990. Before the show's conception, Cirque du Soleil attempted to revive one of its previous shows, ''Le Cirque Réinventé''. The attempt was abandon ...

''. Afterwards Wynn decided to invite Cirque to create '' Mystère'' for the soon-to-be-built

Treasure Island ''Treasure Island'' (originally titled ''The Sea Cook: A Story for Boys''Hammond, J. R. 1984. "Treasure Island." In ''A Robert Louis Stevenson Companion'', Palgrave Macmillan Literary Companions. London: Palgrave Macmillan. .) is an adventure n ...

resort next door. The company would later open other notable projects such as the

Treasure Island Hotel and Casino Treasure Island Hotel and Casino (also known as Treasure Island Las Vegas and "TI") is a pirate-themed hotel and casino located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, USA. It includes 2,885 rooms and a casino. The resort is owned and operat ...

and the

Bellagio Bellagio may refer to: * Bellagio, Lombardy, an Italian town * Bellagio (resort) Bellagio is a resort, luxury hotel and casino on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. It is owned by The Blackstone Group and operated by MGM Resorts Interna ...

Acquisition by MGM Resorts

The company was acquired in 2000 by

MGM Grand Inc. MGM Resorts International is an American global hospitality and entertainment company operating destination resorts in Las Vegas, Massachusetts, Detroit, Mississippi, Maryland, and New Jersey, including Bellagio, Mandalay Bay, MGM Grand, and Pa ...

, which then changed its name to MGM Mirage, for $6.4 billion, including $2 billion in assumed debt, after an initial all-cash offer of $17 per share and a final offer of $21 per share. The company was majority owned by Wynn. Although the Golden Nugget was profitable, it was not part of the master expansion plan of the corporation which was focused on consolidating a long stretch of the Strip, so MGM looked to sell the Golden Nugget.

Poster Financial Group

Timothy Poster and Thomas Breitling, two young (mid-30s) entrepreneurs, formed Poster Financial Group as a private investment firm. When the company was founded, its initial investors included travelscape.com, an internet travel site. Tennis star

Andre Agassi Andre Kirk Agassi ( ; born April 29, 1970) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. He is an eight-time major champion and an Olympic gold medalist, as well as a runner-up in seven other majors. Agassi is the second of five men to ac ...

, a Las Vegas native, was also an investor. Poster and Breitling had no casino ownership experience before acquiring the Golden Nugget. They faced some difficulty in obtaining the necessary casino licenses because of their friendship with Rick Rizzolo, a

strip club A strip club is a venue where strippers provide adult entertainment, predominantly in the form of striptease or other erotic or exotic dances. Strip clubs typically adopt a nightclub or bar style, and can also adopt a theatre or cabaret-style. Am ...

owner being investigated by the

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...

and because of Poster's uncle who was denied a

gaming license A gaming control board (GCB), also called by various names including gambling control board, casino control board, gambling board, and gaming commission, is a government agency charged with regulating casino and other types of gaming in a defined ...

because of his alleged association with known illegal

bookmaker A bookmaker, bookie, or turf accountant is an organization or a person that accepts and pays off bets on sporting and other events at agreed-upon odds. History The first bookmaker, Ogden, stood at Newmarket in 1795. Range of events Book ...

s. The

Nevada Gaming Control Board The Nevada Gaming Control Board, also known as the State Gaming Control Board, is a Nevada state governmental agency involved in the regulation of gaming and law enforcement of Nevada gaming laws throughout the state, along with the Nevada Gaming ...

recommended that they be licensed for only one year. The board however, issued them four-year licenses, with an option to apply for permanent licenses in January 2005. The Poster Financial Group's ownership encountered some difficulties. The television series received ratings below expectations and was canceled after one season. In addition, the strategy of attracting higher level casino players created significant volatility in the first year of operations.

Acquisition of the Golden Nugget casinos

In January 2004 the company acquired the

and the

for approximately $215 million. When Poster and Breitling assumed control of the Golden Nugget, they began to upgrade the gambling operation, by installing new "cashless" slot machines and increasing the maximum bet at table games to $15,000. Their story became the basis for '' The Casino'', a television series on

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelv ...

, which premiered on June 14, 2004. On November 10, 2004

Barrick Gaming Corporation Barrick Gaming Corporation is a private company that was founded by D.W. Barrick and Stephen Crystal. The company formerly operated several hotels and casinos in Las Vegas, Nevada. The company is currently based in Las Vegas. History In 1993, ...

, which owns casino/hotels in downtown Las Vegas including The Plaza, The Vegas Club,

The Western The Western Hotel and Casino was a hotel and casino in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada. The casino was owned and operated by the Barrick Gaming. The Western was the lowest rung of Jackie Gaughan's ''low-roller'' casino empire that included the Las ...

, and The Gold Spike, announced that it would acquire the Golden Nugget Laughlin for $31 million plus

working capital Working capital (WC) is a financial metric which represents operating liquidity available to a business, organisation, or other entity, including governmental entities. Along with fixed assets such as plant and equipment, working capital is consi ...

. As part of the purchase agreement, Poster Financial granted Barrick a two-year limited use of the ''Golden Nugget'' brand name, after which Barrick will be required to change the name of the property.

Acquisition by Fertitta Entertainment

On February 4, 2005,

Houston Houston (; ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in Texas, the Southern United States#Major cities, most populous city in the Southern United States, the List of United States cities by population, fourth-most pop ...

based

Landry's Restaurants, Inc. Landry's, Inc., is an American, privately owned, multi-brand dining, hospitality, entertainment and gaming corporation headquartered in Houston, Texas. Landry's, Inc. owns and operates more than 600 restaurants, hotels, casinos and entertainmen ...

, now a subsidiary of

, agreed to purchase the Golden Nugget Las Vegas for $140 million in cash plus the assumption of $155 million of debt. On May 31, 2005 the agreement for Barrick Gaming to acquire the Golden Nugget Laughlin expired without a final deal being reached. As a result, Landry's acquired the property as part of its agreement to purchase the Golden Nugget Las Vegas. There was no increase in the purchase price as a result of this change since the money from the sale would have been used to reduce the debt on the Las Vegas property; instead, Landry's assumed that debt as well. On September 27, 2005 Landry's completed the acquisition of Poster Financial for approximately $318 million. In 2022, Golden Nugget announced the acquisition of the ''Wildwood Casino and Hotel'' in

Cripple Creek, Colorado Cripple Creek is a statutory city that is the county seat of Teller County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 1,155 at the 2020 United States Census. Cripple Creek is a former gold mining camp located southwest of Colorado Spri ...

, with plans to rebrand it under the Golden Nugget brand. The same year, the company broke ground on a casino in

Danville, Illinois Danville is a city in and the county seat of Vermilion County, Illinois. As of the 2010 census, its population was 33,027. As of 2019, the population was an estimated 30,479. History The area that is now Danville was once home to the Miami, ...

in a partnership deal with Wilmot Gaming. The following year, Fertitta Entertainment agreed to buy the

Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Lake Tahoe Hard Rock Lake Tahoe (formerly Sahara Tahoe, High Sierra, Horizon Lake Tahoe and Park Tahoe) is a hotel and casino located in Stateline, Nevada. Also previously known as Sahara Tahoe and High Sierra resorts, it is one of four major casino hotels ...

, with plans to convert it to a Golden Nugget.

Properties

* Golden Nugget Biloxi * Golden Nugget Danville, IL *

Golden Nugget Lake Charles Golden Nugget Lake Charles is a 242-acre waterfront casino resort in Lake Charles, Louisiana, United States, owned and operated by Houston-based Landry's, Inc. The resort features 1038 guest rooms and suites housed in a 22-story tower, an 18-hole ...

(plans for conversion to Golden Nugget brand) *

* Golden Nugget Cripple Creek, CO (Future)

Other Ventures

Golden Nugget Online

The Golden Nugget first launched its online casino in

. It has since spun-off into its own publicly traded company with plans to expand. Golden Nugget's parent,

Landry's, Inc. Landry's, Inc., is an American, privately owned, multi-brand dining, hospitality, entertainment and gaming corporation headquartered in Houston, Texas. Landry's, Inc. owns and operates more than 600 restaurants, hotels, casinos and entertainme ...

, remains the largest stockholder of ''Golden Nugget Online''.

Golden Nugget Club

The

Toyota Center Toyota Center is an indoor arena located in Houston. It is named after the Japanese automobile manufacturer Toyota. The arena is home to the Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association (NBA), and it was once the home of the Houston ...

contains a Golden Nugget Club is a lounge and bar that bring the Golden Nugget theme to the arena.

References

External links

Barrick Gaming Corporation press release on acquisition of Golden Nugget Laughlin

Landry's Restaurants press release on acquisition of Golden Nugget Las Vegas
(Acrobat Reader format) Landry's Inc. Gambling companies of the United States Gambling companies established in 2004 Companies based in Las Vegas Privately held companies based in the Las Vegas Valley {{DEFAULTSORT:Golden Nugget Hotel and Casinos