Sunday, March 16, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
Tony Atchley will never forget the painful days after Del Webb Corp. board members decided to get out of the gaming business.
But he agrees it was the right decision to make.
Atchley, now a general partner with the Las Vegas-based Atlantic City Boardwalk Associates, which is the landlord for the Claridge Hotel in Atlantic City, N.J., was the last president of the hotel division of Del Webb and spent the last two years of his career with the company disposing of properties accumulated over nearly 50 years.
"I remember a cocktail waitress at the Mint telling me that she no longer wanted to work because the Webb name was not going to be there anymore," Atchley said. "That's not a slap to the Binions, who took over the property. It was just a tribute to Del Webb."
Atchley said he stayed on with the demoralizing task of taking apart what the company had taken years to build because he knew the company would do it properly.
"It was an emotionally tough time," said Atchley, "but I knew it was going to be something that would be done with dignity."
Webb's board of directors decided to sell off its casino properties in order to focus resources on what was considered to be the new centerpiece of the company -- the Sun City retirement developments.
"It takes a tremendous amount of capital to maintain your edge in the gaming industry," Atchley explained. "When we bought the Sahara, it was a 500-room hotel and it was one of the biggest places in town. In order to stay competitive, you have to continue to upgrade, and that's costly. We just didn't have the resources to stay competitive in both gaming and home building. But the whole thing wasn't a no-brainer. There were a lot of decisions that led up to the determination to go the way we went."
Atchley notes that even today capital expenses are vital to maintain a competitive edge.
"The formula changes all the time," Atchley said. "It used to be that 500 rooms was the key. Then it grew to 1,000, then 1,500, then 2,000. Look where we're at now. You have to have at least 3,000 rooms to stay competitive. In some places, having a 1,500-room hotel is the big time, but it doesn't work that way here."
With its gaming and hotel properties liquidated, Webb could concentrate its resources on Sun City. But Atchley will never forget the times he worked for the largest gaming company in the world.
Atchley, a Rancho High School graduate who came up through the company as a public relations specialist after starting his career as a Review-Journal sportswriter, said the Webb company was a great place to work in gaming because it was known as an industry innovator.
As the first publicly traded corporation to operate a casino, Webb brought something to the table in the mid-'60s that Nevada gaming regulators desperately needed -- respectability.
"These were astute, well-educated businessmen," Atchley said. "They knew how to watch people and were students of the gaming and entertainment industry."
Atchley said Webb and Howard Hughes brought credibility to the industry at a time when its image was tainted by organized crime. Del Webb board members passed the scrutiny of gaming regulators and Atchley believes the resulting new regulatory climate has made gaming more professional and better controlled.
He marvels at the number of former Del Webb executives who became key players in the industry -- Bill Bennett, a former Circus Circus executive who now owns the Sahara; Herb McDonald, the former head of Las Vegas Events who now coordinates special projects at the Showboat; Howard "Bud" James, who went on to an executive position with ITT-Sheraton.
Webb brought other innovations to the industry that today are standard procedure. Using surveillance cameras to watch gamblers and employees was initiated by Webb. Taping and filing video records of currency counts also began with the company. Today, the "eye in the sky" is standard casino equipment.
While Webb's construction company built several Las Vegas buildings, including the Flamingo, its casino empire included the Sahara, a 500-room property when it was purchased; the Mint, which was acquired by the Binion family and became the Horseshoe; and the Lucky Strike, which eventually was bought by Mirage Resorts Inc. and became the Golden Nugget.
Webb's Las Vegas headquarters was the Thunderbird hotel-casino, where Atchley first began working in public relations.
Atchley disposed of properties from Las Vegas to London. One of the most memorable transactions occurred when Mirage Resorts Inc. Chairman Steve Wynn decided to enter the Laughlin market.
Wynn contacted Webb Chief Executive Officer Phil Dion and cut the deal in a one-minute cellular phone call. The company had drawn a contract to sell the Nevada Club to Jack Binion, but negotiations had bogged down.
Dion, who was in his car, received a call from Wynn, who was on a golf course.
"You give me a number, and if I like the number, I'll say yes. If I don't like the number, I'll say no, and no hard feelings," Wynn reportedly told Dion in the conversation, chronicled in a history about Del Webb.
Wynn balked when Dion said he wanted to close the deal within 48 hours. "If we can, we can," Wynn said.
"Fine. Forty million, cash."
"Done."
"Fine. Our general counsel will bring over a contract within three hours."
Dion then called Atchley and instructed him to modify the contract with Binion, changing "Binion's Horseshoe" to "The Golden Nugget."
The deal went ahead with only a few minor snags.
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