Yes, Mr. Gaughan is very much alive and approaching his 93rd birthday. As late as last October, he could still be seen playing poker every day at the El Cortez, and he continues to live in a penthouse at the venerable hotel-casino. His son Michael offered him a similar aerie atop South Point – and, before that, a place in Summerlin -- but Jackie wouldn’t hear of it.
Although Gaughan sold the El Cortez just before the Great Recession, his philosophy of "a good room, good food, and a good gamble" continues to hold sway, even as the casino changes subtly with the times. (There’s now a bar where DJs spin regularly.)
Gaughan’s helpfulness toward customers went well beyond just making change. In the late Seventies, when Michael Gaughan launched the Barbary Coast (now closed), Gaughan Sr. could sometimes be spotted cleaning up the coffee shop. Another time, he took a half-dozen waitresses out to dinner. When his "fun books" of coupons needed passing out, he would do it himself. If an employee died and his family couldn’t afford a funeral, Gaughan was known to pay the tab. "Jackie was never too big to pick up an empty glass or clean an ashtray," wrote Las Vegas Review-Journal columnist John L. Smith.
"All these other guys, some were sort of mean, they had this certain aura about them. But Jackie was just a wholesome, nice person," El Cortez CEO Kenny Epstein told Las Vegas Weekly. Added General Manager Mike Nolan, "Any customer, any employee could go up and talk to Gaughan anytime they wanted." Employees’ loyalty was reciprocated: Back in the Seventies, if male patrons got too grabby, cocktail server Liz Butler would haul off and sock them. That would get her fired at any non-Gaughan casino, but Jackie kept her on the payroll for decades afterward.
On a larger scale, Gaughan was known for the generosity of his pension plan and he even subsidized the continued operation of the unprofitable Western hotel-casino rather than put workers out on the street. His friends included Warren Buffet and Steve Wynn (who credits Gaughan, a former business partner, with helping him learn the ropes during Wynn’s early days at the Golden Nugget) but he was just as popular with the working man. "It's common for people to ask for pictures with him in the elevator," Epstein told the R-J. "He's really loved and adored here."
Tomorrow: Jackie Gaughan’s Omaha origins, his crazy bookmaking style, and his legacy of philanthropy in Las Vegas.
