Kirk Kerkorian: the Las Vegas Mega-resort Titan
Las Vegas is still the home of the best casinos in the world, but with the mega resorts, they now offer everything, from theme parks to firework displays to concerts. All of this began with one man: Kirk Kerkorian.
The future king of casino mega resorts was born in 1917 (Fresno, California). His youth was spent in the boxing ring, but the advent of World War II changed the course of his life. Joining the military, he was assigned the unenviable task of transporting war planes to the United Kingdom. These missions were risky, with only one of every four pilots able to return alive.
He was unfazed though, and he would go on to become one of the most effective pilots of the Air Force. This experience may well have helped him develop the instincts and guts he would need to succeed in the gambling industry years later.
By the time the war ended, Kerkorian had earned over $60,000 from his missions, and purchased Trans International Airlines in 1947. It was at this point that he began to fly people to Las Vegas, who were interested in gambling. He was on his way.
This enterprise would prove a success, netting him over $100 million when he sold the business in 1968. Shortly thereafter he would begin his ventures into gambling and casinos. Using the money Kerkorian bought a vast tract land near the strip. Ridiculed for the purchase, the empty lot would eventually be rented to a group of businessmen who would establish Caesar's Palace.
Kerkorian would buy 2 more acres of land including the famed Flamingo Hotel to begin his biggest undertaking yet, the creation of a mega resort. The structure, initially called the International, would end up being known the world over as the MGM Grand, and revolutionize gambling, casinos and Las Vegas itself.
That there was risk here cannot be stressed; before Kerkorian came along, Las Vegas all about casinos. The MGM Grand was different, as it incorporated rides, parks, light shows, man made waterfalls and other features people would normally associate with places like Disney Land rather than the sin city. But Kirkorian wanted to change all that, and he succeeded.
Today the idea of the mega resort is widely accepted, and no businessman would open a casino in Las Vegas without this concept. With his bold enterprise and uncanny instincts, Kirk Kerkorian forever altered the way people view, play and gamble all over the world.