Question of the Day - 03 November 2019

The El Cortez opened in 1942. 

Jackie Gaughan bought the El Cortez in 1963. He and business partner Mel Exber co-owned several downtown casinos between then and when Exber died in 2002. 

In 2005, Jackie sold off his real-estate holdings, including four casinos and two slot-route locations. Conspicuously absent from the sale was the El Cortez, which Gaughan hung onto, partially no doubt for sentimental reasons, partially because he lived there in the penthouse suite, and probably, in part, because he didn't want to displace his long-time partners in the hotel-casino and its employees.  

Three years later in 2008, Jackie sold the EC to Kenny Epstein. Though Epstein’s ownership group didn't and doesn't include any members of the Gaughan family, Epstein was Gaughan’s business associate since the 1950s. Epstein and El Cortez General Manager Mike Nolan both describe Jackie Gaughan as a "father figure." 

That's all background to the ostensible answer to this question.

The El Cortez is the second oldest operating casino in the U.S. at 79 years old. The first is Railroad Pass on the way to Hoover Dam; it's two years older, having opened in 1931 with Nevada gambling license number 4. But Railroad Pass has changed hands numerous times and has had several different corporate owners. That takes care of the "oldest" part of the equation.

Meanwhile, Kenny Epstein's son Lawrence is the president of IKE Gaming, Inc., the legal entity that owns the El Cortez. His sister Katie Epstein is director of guest relations; his other sister Alex Epstein is executive manager. So that satisfies the "family-owned" part of the equation.

And we strongly suspect that Jackie Gaughan considered every one of them his own "family" members.