Don Laughlin (Laughlin, NV) is DD on 10/22/23.

[desertrunner]

I am 5 days late here, but been watching him and wondering when it might happen. He made it to age 92. Years ago, my father (RIP) told me that one time he visited Laughlin, NV and Don actually dealt cards to him at a BJ table.

Donald “Don” J. Laughlin, a resort owner and the namesake of a southern Nevada town that he turned into a tourist destination, has died. He was 92.

Laughlin died Sunday at his penthouse home at the Riverside Resort Hotel & Casino in Laughlin, Diana Fuchs, the resort’s marketing director, said Monday. He died of natural causes.

Hope Druff can cover Laughlin in the next Vegas and Mojave desert episode of PFA radio.



https://www.thechronicle.com.au/news...d7cd08132f7f8b
https://fortune.com/2023/10/23/don-l...no-dead-at-92/

[sonatine]

Hope Drugg can cover Laughlin in the next Vegas and Mojave desery episode of PFA radio.

i think we all feel that way about Drugg and have high hopes for the next desery episode of PFA radio as well.

[Sloppy Joe]

I am 5 days late here, but been watching him and wondering when it might happen. He made it to age 92. Years ago, my father (RIP) told me that one time he visited Laughlin, NV and Don actually dealt cards to him at a BJ table.

Donald “Don” J. Laughlin, a resort owner and the namesake of a southern Nevada town that he turned into a tourist destination, has died. He was 92.

Laughlin died Sunday at his penthouse home at the Riverside Resort Hotel & Casino in Laughlin, Diana Fuchs, the resort’s marketing director, said Monday. He died of natural causes.

Hope Druff can cover Laughlin in the next Vegas and Mojave desert episode of PFA radio.



https://www.thechronicle.com.au/news...d7cd08132f7f8b
https://fortune.com/2023/10/23/don-l...no-dead-at-92/

What a faggot

[Dan Druff]

Don Laughlin suffered the fate of many over-90 people -- dying within a short time of their longtime spouse.

While this is not all that statistically unlikely anyway (since people over 90 are at tremendous risk to die in a given year), it is also believed that the shock, depression, and/or loneliness brought on by the death of the spouse will frequently hasten the death of the surviving one.

Don Laughlin was married in 1953, at the age of 22. His wife, Betty, was a year younger than him. She died in January 2022, after 68 years of marriage.

Laughlin himself was 92 when he died on October 22.

While successful, Laughlin did miscalculate the allure of the area where the city would eventually bear his name. In 1964, Don noticed that Bullhead City and Kingman, Arizona had both grown, and that then-popular Route 66 ran nearby. He figured that he could turn the area into a major resort stop, where people driving on Route 66 would stop and stay along the Colorado River. He bought a closed hotel along the river, reopened it, and operated it as a casino-hotel. Eventually the small area around the casino grew, and the US Postal Service wanted to name it. He was asked to suggest a name, and wanted the town called "Riverside Casino" (lol), but settled on Laughlin.

However, Laughlin never became the "Vegas by the river" Laughlin had pictured in the '60s. Instead, it became a small, working-class casino town which appealed to those who didn't like the expense or crowds of Vegas.

In 1987, Don Laughlin funded a bridge over the Colorado River, between Bullhead and Laughlin. It remains the only easy way to get between the two towns, and Bullhead is home to most of the city of Laughlin's employees, who take the short drive over from Arizona. There is a second bridge in the process of being built.

Don Laughlin still owned the Riverside Casino at the time of his death.

The only reason Laughlin came to be at all was because of the Davis Dam to the north. In 1951, the Davis Dam was constructed, which led to the growth Laughlin saw while taking a flight over the area. The Davis Dam is also the reason there's no way to take a boat along the Colorado River from Hoover Dam (near Vegas) to Laughlin. You would run into the Davis Dam and get stuck. Otherwise, there's a good chance such boat trips would exist.

[desertrunner]

Druff- Thanks for the tip on the 2nd bridge.

[aayjay]

Hahaha I accidentally "reported post" instead of "reply post" oops & it was a kinda long Laughlin/ poker trip type report , if druff could recover the accidental 'report' and copy/paste it I would appreciate it, cause I don't wanna rewrite it now . Ok well see what happens lol

[mickeycrimm]

From late 1996 to early 2002 I spent most of my time in Laughlin. It's where I got my start on machines. One of my very first plays was the 18 machine linked bank of Flush Attacks at Don Laughlin's Riverside.

Flush Attack was 8/5 Double Bonus but every 4th flush paid 125 coins. The theoretical on this game, with optimal strategy was 101.8%. But the general public played the game so badly that the game really only returned about 98% to the public.

The 18 machines at the Riverside were linked together. When 3 flushes were made it would say "Flush Attack!!! Next Flush Pays 125 Coins" across the tops of the machines. The next person to hit a flush got paid 125 coins. Then the cycle would start over again.

The hustlers knew that when in Flush Attack mode the game was at 135%. So if you only played when in Flush Attack mode the game was highly lucrative. So the sharpsters would sit there waiting on the ploppies to create the flush attack modes.

There was heat by security on the bank so you had to disguise your play. This was done by betting just 1 coin per game when not in mode then going to 5 coins when in mode.

I was a greenhorn to gambling at the time but it was around the flush attack bank that I met experienced casinos hustlers for the first time. I was a sponge soaking up information.

One of the first things they showed me was how to get a hotel room from a host for $70 a week. All the casino hosts at the Riverside were taking payola for room comp. I lived in the Riverside for 11 months in 1997/98. And they were the only hotel/casino on the river that had cable television.

There was also a privately ran U.S. Post Office in the Riverside. One hustler told me to go get a P.O. box then go to all the slot clubs on the river and change my address to the P.O. box. The box cost $14 a year. It turned out to be a gold mine of free rooms and bounceback cash.

In early 1998 Gaming busted out the casino hosts at the Riverside taking payola. So I switched to running action on positive games in the rest of the casinos on the river and using the casino mail for room comp.

I would rotate thru just about all the 9 casinos for free stays every month. I worked it, off and on, for 4 years.

In those days, in Laughlin, there were advantage plays all up and down the river. I was making a profit plus enjoying the free room and meal comp.

[mickeycrimm]

When Don Laughlin started in the 60's he had just a dozen slot machines, two blackjack tables, and 8 hotel rooms. His family used half the rooms. By the 90's there were 9 big casinos with 10,000 hotel rooms on the River.

But Laughlin never let anyone out compete him. Before the bridge people had to take water taxi's across the river to the casinos. Laughlin had bought up all the land along the river on the Arizona side. The casinos had to lease from him for parking.

When Harrah's started building in 1987 they proposed a tax payer funded bridge across the river. The bridge to be located just south of Harrah's. Don Laughlin stepped in and said he would pay for the bridge. But the bridge would be located just to the north of the Riverside. He wanted it there so his casino would be the first that the traffic passed by. He acquired all the permits in record time and payed about 6 million to build the bridge.

Over the years he kept expanding the casino. He had everyone out competed for amenities. He wound up with around 1400 hotel rooms, a large non-smoking casino, half a dozen restaurants, 6 screen movie theater, kids care, bowling alley, nightclubs, and post office. No one else on the River has come close to that.

[mickeycrimm]

Don lived in the penthouse atop the south tower. He flew a helicopter and had the helicopter pad next to the penthouse. Going against the axiom of no windows in casinos, the Laughlin casinos had windows so everyone could see the Colorado River.

When Laughlin would leave the penthouse in his helicopter he would fly low over the River until he passed Harrah's so casino gamblers could see him.

He had some kind of remote survival home built into a mountain in Arizona.

Another thing, though they never divorced, Don and his wife hadn't lived together in years. She was reputed to be going with a security guard. Don had a hispanic girlfriend and once wound up in Laughlin court because of a fight they got into in the penthouse. He apologized profusely for the event.

You couldn't get a Budweiser in his joint for over 30 years. He had found out he was being charged more than the other casinos on the river so shut them out. They begged for years to be let back in.

One more thing. Casino personnel wore black and white. Don's policy was employee's on break had to go outside to smoke....unless they were playing a machine. Walking thru the casino I always saw black and whites playing machines and puffing away.

Some of the rumors about him:

There was a tunnel from the Riverside to the local bank.

He had all the hairs plucked from his face so he didn't have to shave.

He was on kidney dialysis

He won half his payroll back from employee's.

[Dan Druff]

Hahaha I accidentally "reported post" instead of "reply post" oops & it was a kinda long Laughlin/ poker trip type report , if druff could recover the accidental 'report' and copy/paste it I would appreciate it, cause I don't wanna rewrite it now . Ok well see what happens lol

Sorry, already deleted the report because I saw it was in error.

It wasn't very long, so you could rewrite it without taking a lot of time, if you feel like it.

[Dan Druff]

Very interesting stories, mickey.

I'm going to share some of them on the next PFA Radio.


To this day, the city of Laughlin has a very small population. There are just 8,000 people there, while Bullhead City (AZ) has 42,000, and Fort Mohave (AZ) has 16,000. Needles (CA) has 5,000. These cities encompass what is referred to as the "tri-state area", and a lot of local businesses aim their marketing at these cities. The actual triple-state border of CA/NV/AZ is in the Colorado River, a little bit away from Laughlin.

Most of the Laughlin casino employees are from Bullhead. I am not sure how state income tax works, as NV does not have a state income tax, whereas AZ does, and the money these employees make is in NV. It might be exempt from state tax.

[Dan Druff]

Here was my writeup from 8 1/2 years ago, when I visited Harrah's Laughlin: https://pokerfraudalert.com/forum/sh...rah-s-Laughlin

Some of it is Harrah's specific, but I also gave my impressions of Laughlin in general, and told a few stories of things I encountered there.

[desertrunner]

Randi. Story I remember fro. The 90s- the hotels were trying to attract more visitors, so sometimes rooms would be $15 a night.