{"id":8555,"date":"2015-01-21T21:22:09","date_gmt":"2015-01-21T21:22:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/2015\/01\/21\/old-school-takeover-of-stardust-an-easy-call-for-bill-boyd\/"},"modified":"2015-01-21T21:22:09","modified_gmt":"2015-01-21T21:22:09","slug":"old-school-takeover-of-stardust-an-easy-call-for-bill-boyd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/2015\/01\/21\/old-school-takeover-of-stardust-an-easy-call-for-bill-boyd\/","title":{"rendered":"Old school: Takeover of Stardust an easy call for Bill Boyd"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n\"\"
\n\tBill Boyd, executive chairman of Boyd Gaming, speaks with employees during the grand opening of California Noodle House, at the California Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas on Friday, Jan., 16, 2015. The California Hotel and Casino will celebrate its 40th anniversary this year.<\/span><\/p>\n

\tBy Howard Stutz, Las Vegas Review-Journal<\/p>\n

\tBill Boyd said a 1983 decision to take over management of the troubled Stardust was an easy choice.<\/p>\n

\tHe worried that 2,000 workers would lose their jobs if Boyd Gaming Corp. didn\u2019t step in after state gaming regulators filed an emergency order of closure against the failing Strip hotel-casino.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cWe thought it was the right thing for us to do,\u201d Boyd, 83, said last week.<\/p>\n

\tIt was also an old school Las Vegas decision, one made with a handshake and without hesitation.<\/p>\n

\tAt the time, Boyd and his father, Sam Boyd, operated three casinos: the downtown California Hotel, Sam\u2019s Town on the Boulder Highway, and the Eldorado in Henderson.<\/p>\n

\tAssuming the Stardust\u2019s operations \u2014 including the Fremont in downtown \u2014 became the catalyst that transformed Boyd Gaming into more than just a family-owned business.<\/p>\n

\tToday, Boyd Gaming is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange, operates 22 hotel-casinos in eight states and employs more 24,000 workers nationwide.<\/p>\n

\tBut in many ways, Boyd Gaming \u2014 which celebrates its 40th anniversary this month \u2014 still has the feel of a family-run business. The Boyd family still owns more than 30 percent of the company.<\/p>\n

\tBill Boyd gave up the company\u2019s CEO title in 2008. But he stepped up his role as an ambassador of Boyd Gaming, taking on the title of executive chairman. His children, Marianne Boyd Johnson and William R. Boyd, have been on the company\u2019s board since 1990. His son also held various administrative and operations positions.<\/p>\n

\tKeith Smith, Boyd\u2019s CEO since 2008, has been in corporate level roles since 1990. Executive Vice President Bob Boughner joined Boyd Gaming in 1976.<\/p>\n

\tAll were in attendance Friday afternoon when Boyd Gaming celebrated the opening of California Noodle House, a new Pacific Rim-themed restaurant inside the California. The eatery is part of several new features planned for the casino, which will always hold a special place for Bill Boyd. It\u2019s place where the company began.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cIt was much smaller when we first started out, and we\u2019ve added to it three or four different times,\u201d Boyd said, following a ribbon cutting that was preceded by a traditional Hawaiian blessing. \u201cThis is just another way to freshen up the property.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tUpward of 90 percent of the California\u2019s business comes from Hawaii and from Hawaiian transplants living in Las Vegas and the West Coast, a niche market Boyd credited his father with creating.<\/p>\n

\tAlong with the Fremont and Main Street Station, Boyd Gaming has maintained its downtown roots, even as the company expanded into regional markets in the South, Midwest and Atlantic City through the 2003 opening of the Borgata.<\/p>\n

\tBill Boyd, along with then Golden Nugget owner Steve Wynn, were the driving forces behind the development of the Fremont Street Experience, which opened in 1995.<\/p>\n

\tWynn, the Binion family and other downtown casino owners have vanished from Fremont Street. Bill Boyd is impressed by the new breed of downtown Las Vegas developers, including Landry\u2019s, which owns the Golden Nugget, and Derek Stevens, who operates the D Las Vegas and Golden Gate.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cIt\u2019s a much different place than the Strip, it has a different feel,\u201d Boyd said. \u201cThe new guys see that aspect and have embraced the idea. Landry\u2019s is building Golden Nuggets around the country (Lake Charles, La.; Biloxi, Miss.; Atlantic City) and that\u2019s good for downtown.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tBoyd was successful on the Strip with the Stardust.<\/p>\n

\tPatty Becker, who was a member of the Gaming Control Board when the Stardust faced closure, said Boyd stepped up after many of the larger casino operators at the time, including Harrah\u2019s and Del Webb, turned down the chance to manage the casino.<\/p>\n

\tShe remembered Boyd and his chief adviser, Chuck Ruthe, coming to a meeting with the Control Board. They took all of a few minutes to say yes to the idea.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cIt was a relief to the board that they were willing to step up,\u201d Becker said.<\/p>\n

\tThat was part of the \u201cold-school Las Vegas\u201d way of doing business. Boyd knew Becker apart from gaming; her father, Bill Becker, operated the Children\u2019s Bootery on the corner of Bonneville Avenue and Maryland Parkway. It was the store where Bill Boyd bought all his kids\u2019 shoes.<\/p>\n

\tA year after taking over as manager of the Stardust, Boyd was approached by the property\u2019s lenders to purchase the resort and the Fremont. There was one catch; Boyd had to personally guarantee the loan.<\/p>\n

\tHe agreed and three years later, the banks removed the qualification.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cAfter a few years, they were convinced we would make it,\u201d Boyd said with a smile.<\/p>\n

\tBoyd doesn\u2019t regret the company shutting down the Echelon development in 2008, just as the recession began to grip the gaming industry. The project, which was planned to replace the imploded Stardust, was never restarted. The site was sold in 2013 to Malaysia-based Genting Berhad.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cWe made the right decision,\u201d Boyd said. \u201cWe made up our minds we weren\u2019t going to fail.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tThe company\u2019s 40th anniversary party will be a simple affair.<\/p>\n

\tOn Jan. 31, Boyd, his family, company officials, close friends and Mayor Carolyn Goodman will celebrate on the top floor of the California with a giant cake and a few words.<\/p>\n

\tThat\u2019s the old school way of doing things.<\/p>\n

\n

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Bill Boyd, executive chairman of Boyd Gaming, speaks with employees during the grand opening of California Noodle House, at the California Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas on Friday, Jan., 16, 2015. The California Hotel and Casino will celebrate its…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest-casino-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8555"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8555\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}