Question of the Day - 25 September 2024

Shelby Williams was a prominent figure in the Las Vegas casino industry, particularly known for his association with the Silver Slipper, as you note in the question.

Not much is known about him, actually; he died young after only a few years in Las Vegas and was overshadowed by his wife Claudine, about whom there's plenty of information.

Born Claudine Barbara Williams in 1921 in DeSoto Parish, Louisiana, her father was an itinerant oil worker who was long gone by the time Claudine arrived. She was raised by her mother and grandmother in nearby Logansport and Shreveport. She started working as a waitress at age 12 and when she was 15, she dropped out of high school to work as a dealer in an underground casino. It's believed Claudine was Louisiana's first female dealer. She later admitted that not finishing her education was her only regret in life. 

When she was barely 18, she and her mother moved to Houston, where she continued working at casinos. At one, she met a sports book ticket writer, Shelby Williams, whom she immediately started dating. Shelby served in the Navy during World War II; his whereabouts during the war are unknown, at least we couldn't them. In the meantime, Claudine opened a Houston supper club that doubled as a casino. At some point, the establishment closed and Claudine needed a job. A friend named Herman Williams (no relation to either Claudine or Shelby) called Benny Binion in Dallas, who not only employed her, but became her lifelong friend.

Back from the war, Shelby and Claudine rekindled their relationship and on Feb. 19, 1950, they got married -- and Claudine never had to change her last name.

In Texas, Claudine also worked for Jake Freedman, whom we wrote about a few years ago. Freedman was the original owner of the Sands, which Claudine and Shelby often visited. Finally, the couple moved to Las Vegas in 1964 and a year later bought the small Silver Slipper Casino, which we've also written about. On the heels of a big cheating scandal there, the Williamses turned the place around and in 1969, they sold it to Howard Hughes for $4 million. With that money, they bought a vacant lot across from Caesars Palace that was next to the Strip's original Holiday Inn and on July 2, 1973, opened the Holiday Casino.

Shelby died in 1977 after a long illness at the age of 66. He was buried in Houston. They had one son, Michael.

In 1983, Claudine sold the Holiday Casino to Holiday Inn, "driving a hard bargain with Holiday Chairman Mike Rose," according to Gary Loveman, future CEO of Harrah's Entertainment. Based on that negotiation, Rose appointed Williams chairwoman of the property. When Holiday Inns spun off its gaming operations under the Harrah’s brand, Williams remained chairwoman of Harrah’s Las Vegas, where she stayed active well into her 80s.

Loveman wrote, "Despite having only a ninth-grade education and competing in what was at the time an almost exclusively male-dominated industry, Claudine’s achievements were remarkable."

Those achievements included being the first woman owner of a Las Vegas casino and the first woman executive of a major casino, the first woman chairman of the board of a Nevada bank, the first woman to serve as president of the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, and the first woman inducted into the Gaming Hall of Fame. Williams also served on a couple dozen boards and commissions, including the UNLV Foundation (she was a founding member) and the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority.

She died in May 2009 at the age of 88. Gary Loveman eulogized her as "a beloved member of the Harrah’s Entertainment family and one of the leading figures in Nevada’s gaming history."