For those of you too young to remember, Telly Savalas was an American actor of Greek extraction, deep gravely voice, and bald head, who's best known for his 1970s role as TV cop Kojak. His trademarks, aside from the shaved head, were the line "Who loves ya, baby!" and a penchant for sucking lollipops, long before Holly Madison and Kim Kardashian were even born. He was also Jennifer Aniston's godfather.
In addition to his acting, one of Savalas’ loves was gambling. He actually produced a series of "how-to" videos and finished 21st in the Main Event at the 1992 World Series of Poker. To our knowledge, he was never a resident of Las Vegas, although he was a regular at the high-limit tables here. You're correct that a 1978 episode of "Kojak" called 60 Miles to Hell was filmed in Vegas and guest-starred Liberace, playing himself. Savalas also starred in the 1982 Las Vegas-based B-movie Nevada Heat (a.k.a. Fake-Out), alongside Pia Zadora.
Player's International, Inc. was the subject of the QoD for 4/14/2010. While Stupak's controversial Vegas VIP Vacation* packages basically consisted of ads and mailers that dangled free hotel stays combined with free-play, food vouchers, and souvenirs to encourage people to stay at his dubiously-located Vegas World, Player's Club was a third-party marketing entity that delivered solid middle-market customers to several different casinos that chose to work within its system. The club was essentially a hybrid combining the concepts of junkets and slot clubs, with the idea being to reward "low-rollers" with comps and deals that were previously out of their reach. In reality, the closest thing to the Players Club model is Las Vegas Advisor membership, and Anthony Curtis has acknowledged the similarities.
Founded in 1984 by brothers Ed and David Fishman, Players International started out as an entertainment company, before becoming more and more involved in the casino-gambling business. Players Club was a membership program that middle-income players could join for $125/year in order to receive discounts on rooms, flights, food, drinks, and entertainment at casinos in Nevada and Atlantic City, plus riverboats and Caribbean cruise liners. In 1986 Savalas was hired as the celebrity face of the company, which at one time boasted 100,000 members and revenues of over $16 million.
By 1992, however, Players was in the red, the victim of a recession, unsuccessful efforts at diversification into other areas of the casino business, and increased pressure from newly competing gaming markets. This led the Fishmans to sell the club, and focus entirely on the burgeoning riverboat-gambling market, purchasing their first property in Illinois in 1993. Eventually, Players International sold to Harrah's for $425 million in 1999.
Savalas, meanwhile, died of complications from cancer of the bladder on January 22, 1994, at the age of 72, at the Sheraton-Universal Hotel in Universal City, California. You can click the link to see one of his early TV ads for Players Club on YouTube, featuring the then-new Riviera.
*To read more about Bob "the Polish Maverick" Stupak and his controversial marketing techniques, check out No Limit by John L. Smith.
