Monday, Dec. 23, 2002 | 11:15 a.m.
Bill Bennett had the Midas Touch in gaming.
Whether it was turning several money-losing casinos into winners or whether it was building megaresorts such as the Excalibur or Luxor, Bennett struck gold during a career that touched five decades.
In the process, he never strayed from his vision to develop a Las Vegas that was friendly to the not-so-wealthy gamblers and welcoming to families.
William G. Bennett, former chairman and co-founder of Circus Circus Enterprises and owner of the Sahara Hotel, died Sunday at Desert Springs Hospital following a lengthy illness. He was 78.
Services for the Nevada resident of 37 years are pending.
One of America's richest men, Bennett was a noted local philanthropist who gave millions of dollars to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and fed Culinary Union workers on the picket lines at the Frontier Hotel during the six-year strike in the 1990s.
From 1965 to the present, he served either as an executive, chairman or owner for a dozen gaming properties: Sahara Tahoe, the old Mint, the Sahara, Circus Circus, Circus Circus Reno, Slots O' Fun, Silver City, Excalibur, Luxor, the Edgewater and Colorado Belle in Laughlin and Circus Circus Tunica in Mississippi.
"I think that my father was the most influential individual in making Las Vegas the true business entity that it is today," said his daughter, Diana Bennett, president of Paragon Gaming. "He took all the mystique out of it and made it a business. That is what he brought to this town.
"He was a very private man -- dedicated to his company and to his family. He didn't live his life for anybody but the standard that he set for himself."
Bill Bible, former chairman of the state Gaming Control Board and president of the Nevada Resort Association, said Bennett was one of the founding fathers of Las Vegas.
"He was really the pioneer of gaming as we know it today," Bible said. "He was very respectful of gaming regulators, and he had an awful lot of respect for the way Nevada regulates gaming."
Mel Larson, a friend since the 1950s who worked with Bennett for years -- including as an executive at Circus Circus -- called Bennett "very talented and dedicated to the industry."
"He was a perfectionist but he hired good people to do the job and pretty much turned them loose," Larson said. "He was very good to the people who were loyal to him."
Bennett's death comes on the heels of the death of his good friend, Ralph Engelstad, owner of the Imperial Palace, who died on Nov. 26.
Bennett's Gordon Gaming Corp. bought the Sahara in 1995 from Paul Lowden for $193 million. Bennett was president and shareholder in the company with his wife, Lynn Bennett. At the time, he also bought the adjacent land leased by Wet 'n Wild amusement park.
Bennett had bought Circus Circus with William Pennington from Jay Sarno, its builder, in 1974 and later took the company public.
Circus Circus was among the first family-themed resorts, with attractions such as circus acts to bring in customers. Bennett used the theme and its family-friendly atmosphere to build the business.
"He had to look at what its potential was," Diana Bennett said. "He viewed it as any other business he had run. You had to make certain you offered the best product at the best price, and you would get a lot of people to come in."
She said, to that end, her father offered $19 room rates, low-price buffets and, making best of the space that was there, moved the circus activities away from the casino floor to keep children out of the gaming area.
Although Circus Circus Enterprises grew to generate $1 billion a year in revenues, it had a rocky go in the early 1990s when stock values declined as the company failed to establish itself in other states that allowed gaming.
Bennett later was sued by other board members when he attempted to buy the old Hacienda Hotel at the same time his company tried to purchase it. He resigned in March 1995. As part of the agreement, he signed over legal rights to the Hacienda, which was demolished. Mandalay Bay today stands on that site, and Circus Circus Enterprises is now the Mandalay Resort Group.
"Bennett's vision was instrumental in turning the Las Vegas Strip into a worldwide tourist destination," said Glenn Schaeffer, president of Mandalay Resort Group.
"When he took Circus Circus (Enterprises) public in 1983 it became the first institutional stock in the gaming industry and one of the most successful IPOs (initial public offerings) of the 1982-2000 bull market."
Born Nov. 16, 1924, in Glendale, Ariz., Bennett served in the Navy during World War II. After the war, he built a chain of furniture stores in Phoenix, which he sold for $40 million and became an investor, only to lose millions of dollars and seek bankruptcy protection.
He took great pride in the fact that he eventually paid every creditor.
Bennett entered the gaming business at Del Webb's Sahara Tahoe as a casino host in 1965, and a year later he was in charge of saving the company's ailing Mint, which today is part of Binion's Horseshoe.
In 1971 he left Del Webb, joined forces with Reno gamer Pennington and the two sold gaming machines to casinos. Three years later, they bought the Circus Circus Hotel. In 1978, they opened a Reno property and bought the Laughlin Edgewater in 1983. Pennington retired five years later.
In 1990 Circus Circus Enterprises opened the $300 million Excalibur and in 1993, the $375 million Luxor. Under Bennett's reign, Circus Circus Enterprises became the state's largest employer with 18,000 employees.
During the Frontier strike in the 1990s, it was estimated that Bennett spent about $1 million a year to feed the picketing workers.
"He was a giant in the gaming industry in town and for us he was unbelievable, especially during the Frontier strike," said D. Taylor, a Culinary Union official. "One of the vital things that kept the strikers going was Mr. Bennett feeding them three times a day. You never forget that kind of generosity."
In January 1998 an estimated 200 Frontier strikers gathered in a Sahara ballroom for a surprise party to thank Bennett.
At the Sahara, Bennett, who had a longtime love of auto racing, brought in a $15 million Speedworld attraction that provided simulated Indy car rides. It was part of a $100 million renovation at the Strip resort.
"We feel it will draw people here," Bennett said at the time. "Anymore, everybody needs some type of attraction to draw people because the town has become so competitive."
Also, Bennett and Engelstad financed the $200 million-plus Las Vegas Motor Speedway and were its original owners. They sold the track in December 1998.
In 1997 Forbes magazine, in its list of the nation's 400 richest people, estimated Bennett's worth at $630 million. In 2001 Forbes said Bennett was worth $675 million.
In 1997 Bennett gave UNLV a $2.2 million gift to fund a development center for training of teachers who work with at-risk students. In November 1999 Bennett gave UNLV's College of Education a $5 million gift to build a new preschool campus that the university hopes will become a model for preschool education in the nation.
Bennett also gave $2.7 million for the College of Education's Professional Development Building.
"I think the community has lost a man who has been a terrific symbol for Las Vegas," said John Gallagher, UNLV vice president for development. "At UNLV, we have a lost a very good friend. He has been at the top of the gaming and resort profession for so many years it's almost hard to imagine Las Vegas without him."
Bennett founded The Bennett Foundation for charitable needs. Diana Bennett said a lot of the charity work her father did was not known to the public.
"Most of the things he did, he did quietly and behind the scenes," she said. "He had various causes. Anything to do with animals. People don't know the school he set up for children of fallen police officers. He did everything quietly and behind the scenes. All he was doing was helping."
In addition to his daughter and his wife of more than 40 years, Bennett is survived by his son, William A. Bennett of Las Vegas; a sister, Betty Spitler of Arizona; four grandchildren; and two great grandchildren.
Sun Assistant
Metro Editor Jean Reid Norman and Librarian Rebecca Bagayas contributed to this report.
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