There are two ways of looking at this question. One, which casinos are still owned by individuals and/or which ones are one-off Vegas investments by larger corporations? For one instance, Affinity Gaming owns a cross-country chain of casinos but only has one (Silver Sevens) in Las Vegas. For another, the Plaza Hotel downtown is the lone Vegas casino still owned by Lichtenstein-based conglomerate Tamares Group, which used to own the Vegas Club, the Gold Spike (no longer operating as a casino), and the defunct Western, along with a couple of slot routes.
However, there's still plenty of room in Las Vegas for the maverick casino operator. The biggest of them all is Sheldon Adelson. True, the Venetian/Palazzo complex is just part of publicly traded Las Vegas Sands, but Adelson is the majority shareholder in the company, effectively making them his private property. (Depending on whether or not you count Elaine Wynn's shares, which have to be voted in tandem with her ex-husband's, Steve Wynn doesn't even have a plurality of Wynn Resorts stock.)
Also doing things their own way are Michael Gaughan, owner of South Point, and Margaret Elardi at Casino Royale. In fact, Gaughan so chafed under the publicly held atmosphere of Boyd Gaming that he bought South Point back from Boyd when he decided to go private again, thereby retaining its signature equestrian center. Slightly up the road from Gaughan is another solo owner, Ed Roski Jr., whose Silverton Casino is his alone.
A newcomer to the fold is David Siegel, who turned the former International/Las Vegas Hilton into Westgate Las Vegas, although Siegel has not adapted to the Las Vegas market as smoothly as most. For example, an Evis Presley exhibit – presented in tandem with Graceland – lasted less than a year and collapsed under mutual acrimony. (A large-scale "Elvis Experience" production show evaporated even faster and there's been a general revolving door of regarding their incoherent entertainment program, although substantial upgrades have been made to the property itself, notably the race and sports SuperBook.)
Derek Stevens has been madly consolidating downtown casinos under his banner while another maverick, Tilman Fertitta, continues to chart a solo course at the Golden Nugget, which has gone from one success to another under his ownership. By contrast, Fifth Street Gaming has been trimming amenities and recalibrating its strategy at the Downtown Grand, a casino that's two blocks off Fremont Street but might as well be a mile away. Urban casino patrons have been loath to change their traffic patterns.
Another less-happy one-casino owner is Stockbridge Real Estate, which has been pumping tens of millions of dollars into struggling SLS Las Vegas. It will soon have a neighbor, in late December, when Andrew Fonfa opens the Lucky Dragon Casino, next door to the Golden Steer restaurant and targeted at gamblers from Asia.
Stockbridge is one of several private equity firms that have tried their hand at running Las Vegas casinos, with a very mixed track record. While The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas could never turn a profit while owned by Deutsche Bank, Wall Street's Blackstone Group acquired it at a steep discount ($1.7 billion for a $3.9 billion megaresort) and has been consistently profitable ever since. Another private-equity firm, Brookfield Asset Management, has had a bumpy ride at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, but Warner Gaming has been successful at keeping it out of the headlines since taking over from luckless Morgans Hotel Group, which had generated more bad publicity than money.
Speaking of Chinese players, they're also the coveted demographic of Resorts World Las Vegas. While the in-progress megaresort is the property of mammoth Genting Group, it will be Genting's only foothold in the Vegas market. Genting has talked about spending as much as $7 billion on Resorts World LV, which would make it the most expensive megaresort ever built in this country, although recent estimates and some vague and rare official statements indicate a substantial down-sizing of the original grandiose project to a figure more in the $4 billion-or-less range.
Having cashed out of the Las Vegas Strip with his sale of the New Frontier (since demolished), Kansas-based billionaire Phil Ruffin dealt himself back into the game with his 2009 purchase of Treasure Island from then-MGM Mirage for $775 million. Although Ruffin has recently made noises (by way of Donald Trump) about building a small casino next to Trump International, so far it's just loose talk. Another former MGM property, the small Railroad Pass Casino outside Boulder City was spun off to local real estate broker Joseph DeSimone, who promises to bring the property up to date and has already introduced upgrades, including a new steakhouse.
New York-based Trinity Hotel Investors own the Hooters-branded casino just off the Strip on Tropicana Avenue. After an agonizingly long period of mulling a rebranding of the casino as something else, ownership was either unable to find a new franchisee or simply decided to stand pat, keeping the Hooters owl in his perch.
Although Ellis Island Casino owner Gary Ellis and Tuscany Suites & Casino owner Charles M. Heers planned to merge their operations, there was a litigious falling-out in 2004. Consequently, the two continue to operate solo casinos, around the corner from one another on Flamingo Road.
Some of the lower-hanging fruit on the solo-owner tree would also include Club Fortune Casino, property of Nevada Gold Casinos (which only owns one casino in Nevada) and Jerry's Nugget in North Las Vegas. The latter hasn't changed hands since it opened in 1964. The ensuing half-century has seen three major expansions that grew it from an 80-by-80-foot hole in the wall to a 96,650-square foot property, sprawling over 15 acres. It remained in the Stamis family and is symbolic of the many hardy little casino operations scattered among a Nevada casino industry that hasn't gone completely corporate, even in the latter-day, Wall Street-dominated era of gaming.
