Kirk Kerkorian: The Las Vegas Casino Mogul

Kirk Kerkorian was born in 1917, a time when the city of Las Vegas was little more than a transit center for mining products and new citizens heading to California.

The growth of the quintessential casino city came only from the 1930s onwards, with the construction of the Hoover Dam and later the end of the Cold War.

But it was this Armenian entrepreneur, who may not be known to everyone, who was instrumental in building the city as we know it today. Read on to learn more about him.  

WHO WAS KIRK KERKORIAN?

Kirk Kerkorian represents in many ways what is the real “American Dream.” Born to a poor family of Armenian immigrants, he spent his adolescence on the streets without any qualifications. Kirk moved between odd jobs bartering and had some encounters in the ring (never as a professional, but with a score of 29 wins out of 33 matches).

The turning point of his life came near World War II, when the young Kirk, to avoid the trenches of infantry, decided to take a flying license and become an aircraft pilot. A choice that proved useful not only in times of war, but also in years to come.

Among the soldiers of the Royal Air Force, he is the only one who, along with his cabin mate John Wooldridge, agrees to bring Mosquito bombers from Canada to Scotland, by the fastest and non-stop route from Iceland. On a shorter, but also much more dangerous journey, Kirk brought around 33 planes to their destination, without ever being involved in an accident.

Thanks to the commission from those flights, Kirk was able to buy his own Cessna, as well as using his military contacts to buy old planes, rearrange them and then sell them back.

This bit of business was just the beginning. Kirk’s first major acquisition was a charter airline (Los Angeles Air Service), which then took the name of Trans International Airlines, which Kirk would then resell in 1968 for more than $100 million.

THE GOOD NIGHTS OF LAS VEGAS

Prior to that sale, Kirk was not only a successful entrepreneur, but a hardworking gambler too. Until the 1950s, there were many anecdotes that made him stand out at the tables in Las Vegas, often with the same rich customers who enjoyed his private flights service.

Like the nights spent with Jerry Williams (a wealthy steel trader) who saw them end up almost destitute at the dice tables, and then go out with over half a million dollars in one night. But it was not uncommon for the entrepreneur to go out with his pockets emptied from the City of Sin casinos. Always and anyway with a smile, because as he has said many times, the best moments of his life were the ones he spent playing in Vegas.

FROM PLAYER TO VEGAS TYCOON

Kirk Kerkorian didn’t get caught up in his own passion for play. Instead, he was busy concerning himself with how to invest in the gambling world he was a part of.

Kirk understood the infinite potential of the place, so much so that he invested nearly a million dollars in 1962 to buy 32 acres in Las Vegas, opposite the Flamingo Casino, which was the hottest hotel at the time.

That piece of land would eventually become nothing less than the Las Vegas Strip, and only a few years later he rented it to Jay Sarno who would soon build Caesars Palace on the site.

Kirk later bought more hectares of land and continued to build and acquire Casinos that had a significant impact on the growth of Las Vegas. The International Hotel, in the late 1960s, was the largest in the world for the period (over 1,500 rooms), the MGM Grand Hotel (in 1980 and then rebuilt after a major fire), the Desert Inn Hotel (in 1988), and the Dunes Hotel in 1993. It was demolished to make way for one of Las Vegas’ most iconic and renowned hotels, the Bellagio.

The investments in Kirk Kerkorian Casino are innumerable (especially with the MGM combination, including the Great Adventure Park) and the investments do not only concern Las Vegas. Over the years, overseas projects have also arrived in the United Kingdom (especially in the online world), as well as in South Africa (in the late 1990s, with the liberalization of gambling) and, of course, in Asia (with MGM in Macau for example).

But the big feat undoubtedly came in the early 2000s, when the deal with Steve Wynn (for an insane amount of $4.5 billion plus two more to cover debts) gave birth to the giant MGM Mirage.

FROM NEAR FAILURE TO THE NEW LIGHT

In the early 1970s, Kirk was on the brink of the abyss when he was ordered to repay interest on some loans. This meant he was forced to not only sell part of his shares (receiving just $16 million out of a stake valued at around $180 million), but also personal possessions like his home in Las Vegas, his private plane, and boat.

At the same time, however, he also began his climb to MGM, which will divide into two strands: the one dedicated to luxury hotels and casinos, and the one related to entertainment. The film production company was sold several times and then eventually bought back by Kerkorian himself (who managed to make a fortune in the various passages for more than 1.3 billion) until the final sale in 2004 to a group led by Sony.

A RECKLESS LIFE

Kirk Kerkorian lived until the age of 98, closing his days in Los Angeles in 2015. His greatest accumulated wealth has seen him rise to number 31 amongst the richest men in the world (in 2007 and according to Forbes it was about $15 billion, though it was probably much more).

He was the author of brilliant early-stage investments, as well as massive failures (which he very often managed to turn in his favor again over time). A figure that has remained rather ambiguous, averse to the evenings and sequins of the glossy environments, as well as a philanthropist to the point of donating hundreds of millions, possibly up to a billion, to various charitable works.

But at the same time, he was also highly criticized for some of his friendships in the underworld, as well as for his unscrupulous actions (at least at the entrepreneurial level). And his commemoration of the 2016 Oscars did not pass in silence, after Kerkorian himself had effectively destroyed the entire MGM sector.

In any case, he was certainly a man with uncommon entrepreneurial skills, who also liked to take his risks both in life and work. And it’s fair to say that Las Vegas owes part of its prestige and current success to Kirk Kerkorian.