Having spectacularly blown it last year with its ill-advised election of Clifford Perlman to the Gaming Hall of Fame, the American Gaming Association did a good deal better this time around. It chose Bernard Goldstein, an important transitional figure in the casino industry.

Let's get the obvious out of the way: Goldstein's Isle of Capri Casinos didn't keep pace with the times (eventually earning the company the nickname "Pile of Debris"); ventures into international waters -- including a truly baffling run at the Singapore market -- were an outright flop; and Goldstein and his executive team were too slow to relinquish power.

Bernard Goldstein, pioneer

But credit Goldstein with having the grace to step aside in favor a strong successor, James Perry. The latter brought Argosy Gaming to the forefront of the "second wave" of Midwestern riverboat casinos, capitalizing on the markets Goldstein was instrumental in expanding, taking the product to the next level.

Midwestern casinos used to be pretty rudimentary (some probably still are) and Isle made its reputation on its amenities and decorative flourishes -- including the ubiquitous water features that came to define "Isle style'. It also spotlit them in marketing campaigns that made Isle one of the stronger brand identities of the Nineties.

What makes this more impressive still is that Goldstein did this starting at the same AARP-ready age at which Aztar Corp.'s top honchos were looking for a cushy payout en route to the golf course (leaving the company in hands that would prove its ruination). The former scrap-metal dealer parlayed a Bettendorf, Iowa riverboat into a 17-year career as a casino mogul. Few of us will be so enterprising at age 62, I daresay.

As for the other inductees, one of the poster children of the post-Mirage wave of "affordable elegance" was Emeril Lagasse. Since the Nineties' reinvention of Las Vegas can't be discussed without mentioning Emeril's name, he was a natural choice. Not being a student of the sweet science, I will leave the merits of Bob Arum and Don King elections to others better versed in the subject.

If mob ties are no barrier to admission to the AGA's HoF, then why not induct the recently deceased Allard Roen? At least he did good things (like help desegregate the Strip) and his influence on Las Vegas' development extended well beyond Las Vegas Boulevard, something that could not be said for casino moguls more famous than he.