Come along and join Bill Boyd, chairman of Boyd Gaming Group in Las Vegas. Boyd shares his family’s intimate involvement in the gaming industry that dates from when his father, Sam Boyd (born in 1910), moved the family to Oahu when Bill was in 1st and 2nd grade.

This is where Sam Boyd became intimately involved in the local, under-the-radar Hawaiian gambling scene—and this relationship would play a critical role in Boyd Gaming Group’s success decades later. The family eventually moved to Southern California where Sam Boyd worked the Long Beach Pike bingo parlors, followed by a stint aboard offshore gambling ships. Perpetually in search of opportunity, Sam Boyd moved his family to the sleepy desert railroad crossroads town of Las Vegas in 1941. A decade later, Sam Boyd was offered a 1% share in the Sahara when the casino opened its doors in 1952, and as they say, the rest is history. Today, Boyd Gaming Group, with Bill Boyd as Chairman of the Board, owns 22 casinos across America including nine legendary Las Vegas casinos, including the Main Street Station, the Fremont, and the California Hotel. As the Boyd family built their Las Vegas Empire, Sam recalled the Hawaiian Islanders’ passion for gambling, and the family commenced regular marketing trips to the Islands. As a direct result of the cultivation of the Hawaiian market, today more than 300,000 Islanders annually visit Las Vegas. Boyd’s California Hotel alone is often filled with more 90% Hawaiians, and every week four Boyd Gaming charter jets arrive at McCarran International from Honolulu. And this is why Las Vegas has been dubbed the 9th Hawaiian Island. Oh and as a spin off, it’s estimated that today more than 50,000 Hawaiian’s live and work in Las Vegas.

Subscribe to Journeys of Discovery with Tom Wilmer the Lowell Thomas Award-Winning travel podcast on:

itunes

NPR.ORG

NPR ONE

Sticher.com

player.fm (UK)