He sat down late last month with the Las Vegas Review-Journal to discuss the COVID-19 pandemic, his casino, his philosophies and how the business has changed over the years. Gaughan expects to bring back another 120 or so employees when he opens up the property’s showroom, box office and convention space. He has 2,300 employees working at the property, nearly all of whom he brought back after the COVID-19 shutdown last March, he said. Gaughan, 78, now owns South Point and the Las Vegas Airport Slot Concession. in 2004, before splitting off from the company in 2006. Michael Gaughan merged his Coast Casinos company with Boyd Gaming Corp. He is the son of the late casino owner Jackie Gaughan, who owned the El Cortez and ownership stakes in many other properties. He’s built and owned some of the more recognizable properties in the Las Vegas Valley including the Barbary Coast (now The Cromwell), Gold Coast, Suncoast, The Orleans and South Point.īorn in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1943, Gaughan moved to Las Vegas in 1952 and later graduated from Bishop Gorman High School in 1961. Johnson was president, and Clark County’s population was about 211,000 (about 100,000 people fewer than Henderson nowadays) when Michael Gaughan first became an owner of the El Cortez in 1965.įew, if any, have held a gaming license in Nevada for longer than Gaughan.

(Ellen Schmidt/Las Vegas Review-Journal) cost an average of 30 cents per gallon, Lyndon B.