Question of the Day - 28 February 2024

We couldn't find any inside details about how Michael Gaughan won the lucrative airport slot concession in 1985, but obviously, he applied for the license back then, when he was 42 years old, and it was awarded to him. He certainly had some juice, given who his father, Jackie Gaughan was, and having grown up in the casino business in Las Vegas. But that's as close as we can come to how he "got in on" the contract. 

There's no question that it's a been a lucrative deal for Gaughan. In November 2022, Michael Gaughan’s Airport Slot Concession, Inc., announced that the airport's machines had generated more than $1 billion in all-time revenue. There was plenty of coverage of the milestone, but again, nothing was written about the original deal in 1985 and trust us, we read all the news reports looking for something, anything.

Although the airport slot concession isn't a lifetime award, in Michael Gaughan’s case, it might as well be. He’s held it for 39 years, renewing it in 2008 and 2018.

At the time of the 2008 renewal, Gaughan agreed to pay Clark County at least $35 million a year or 86.5% of net revenues, whichever was greater. Gaughan was selected as the designated operator and it’s not clear from the minutes whether he had any competitors or not. The terms of Gaughan’s concession, down to the minutiae of slot specifications, were contained in a 59-page lease. It even includes pages of maps detailing exactly where the one-armed bandits were to go.

The 2018 renewal was contingent on Gaughan’s commitment to invest $3.8 million in upgrades to “modernize [Reid] slot machine operations with the most up-to-date and popular industry games and technology,” which gently implies that Gaughan hadn’t been keeping up with the times. In return, the concession would be extended for five years. It comes up for renewal again in September 2025 and we’re not taking bets against Jackie Gaughan’s son on this.

Only a few days ago, it was announced that casino-tech company Light & Wonder will be managing the IT for the 1,000-plus machines at the airport. So the expected upgrades have, ostensibly, begun. Gaughan's company also employs around 250 people to run the slot concession at Reid International.