As Boyd Gaming spokesman and in-house historian David Strow says, Jokers Wild had "a colorful early history. Basically, it took three tries to get it open." It was built in 1987 as The Cattle Baron but its developer, Meyer Blinder, couldn’t get a gaming license, due to what the Henderson Home News reported as "penny stock fraud charges."
In 1988, it was damaged by an explosion" at Pacific Engineering & Production Co. of Nevada (PEPCON). The developer of rocket-booster fuel went up with the force of a tactical nuke on May 4 of that year, killing two people and injuring 372 more. "It caused an enormous amount [$100 million] of damage in the eastern part of the valley," reports Strow.
The damage was eventually repaired and the idle casino was finally opened in 1991, under the ownership of Walter Development Corp. But it lasted only four months. During that time it enjoyed the distinction of having Henderson’s first escalator. Sam Boyd Jr. briefly ran it under Walter Development’s aegis.
Boyd affiliate El Dorado Inc. bought The Cattle Baron for $3.5 million in mid-November 1992, then put another $4.5 million into fixing it up. Boyd began a refurbishment, finally reopening it as Jokers Wild on April Fool’s Day, 1993 with 450 slots and 12 tables. (Then-General Manager Joe Fuscaldo now runs Suncoast.) A subsequent expansion enabled Jokers Wild to field 530 slot machines. Sitting out on the fringe of suburbia, Jokers Wild is unlikely to expand again until the frontiers of development push past and enlarge its customer base.
