Station Casinos Founder Frank Fertitta Jr. Dies At Age Seventy

Station Casinos has been hard by the current economic crisis in the US. The company is on the verge of bankruptcy, and is in discussions to sell some of their assets, possibly to Boyd Gaming.

Despite the current economical trouble, Station Casinos founder Frank Fertitta Jr., is known as a pioneer in the casino gambling industry. Fertitta died on Friday at the age of seventy.

At a time when most casinos were being built on the Las Vegas Strip back in the seventies, Fertitta bucked the trend. He opened a casino off the Strip in 1976 and set out to prove that a casino could survive anywhere in Nevada as long as the people had a reason to come.

"At the time, everyone thought he was crazy for building off the Strip," said his son, Lorenzo Fertilla, to the AP in 2001. Even though many did not see his vision, Fertitta succeeded with his casino outside of the Vegas Strip.

In 1993, Fertitta retired from the family business. At that time, the company was taken public. In 2007, the company was once again brought private, with the family buying out shareholders.

It was not long, however, before the economy started to take its toll on the company. They have recently filed for bankruptcy, even though they had a chance to come out from under the debt by selling their assets to Boyd Gaming.

The family turned down Boyd's offer of $950 million. That may not have been the end of the negotiations, however. Boyd Gaming is still considered to be interested in acquiring Station Casinos' assets.

August 22, 2009
Posted By Tom Jones
Staff Editor, CasinoGamblingWeb.com
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