Wizards and their tricks are in abundance on the Las Vegas strip.
But few could exceed the magical flamboyant casino operator Bob Stupak pulled during his Las Vegas career when he turned three and a half decades, which was first known as Bob Stupak’s world -famous historic gaming museum to Bob Stupaks Vegas World to Stratosphere.
Telling the story of how Vegas World was strata means telling the story of Stupak, known as “Polish Maverick”, a professional poker player who once won $ 1 million in a very published Super Bowl venture and who was often called Southern Nevada’s largest Hustler – or possibly its largest huckster, and the ever to pt, and the one in the case of a child’s room, and the closest to Pt.
Vegas World was an outer space-themed casino at Las Vegas Boulevard, which is in the no-man country which is neither considered the strip nor the central Las Vegas.
The son of the owner of an illegal dice joint in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Stupak also became an eager competitive motorcyclist. Stupak’s time in Las Vegas, which was intended to follow in his gambler-father’s footsteps.
Coupon promoter
After being stationed with the Army in Fort Knox, he started at the age of 22 a two-by-coupon company in 1964 and moved it to Australia a year later. He moved to Las Vegas in 1971 and bought 1½ acres which had been a used car party at Las Vegas Boulevard and eventually Bob Stupak built the world-famous millions of dollars Historical Gaming Museum and Casino and opened the doors on March 31, 1974. Stupak joked that the name of the site was longer than the casino building.
Two months later, an air conditioning took fire and burned the place to the ground. Two years later, an insurance decrease and a bank loan for million dollars in Dalen Stupak put back in business. He built Bob Stupaks Vegas World, which opened on a Friday 13 in July 1979.
Vegas World’s Space theme was accentuated with a copy of a NASA Apollo capsule and a dummy-dummy-astronaut suspended from the casino roof.
The property also had model rockets and alleged Månberg on the screen.
Stupak’s ability to market the property with coupons and holiday agreements served him well in winning customers, but also got him in problems with Nevada Gaming Regulators. In 1991, Stupak paid a fine of $ 125,000 to resolve a complaint to publish misleading advertising.
Double exposure 21
His casino offered games and bets other Las Vegas casinos would not touch. Vegas World was the first casino to offer “Double Exposure 21”, a variety of the traditional Blackjack game where both dealers’ cards are shown to all players. The catch: Blackjack winners only got even money instead of a 3: 2 win and all bands were losers instead of pressure.
Stupak became famous for taking or placing large sports wagons. In 1989 he placed a million-dollar bet on Cincinnati Bengal’s plus seven points against Joe Montana and San Francisco 49ers. San Franciso beat the Bengals 20-16, thanks to a late field length Montana-led touchdown device that gave Stupak Wager win.
In the same year he played without Limit poker with a super computer for $ 500,000 in a national television broadcast.
Thanks to Stupak’s marketing skills, where he offered virtually free holidays that attracted visitors to play long and large in the casino, Vegas World was reputable as a sticky throw to casinos’ Mafia days, at a time when the gaming industry was undertaken. His “Vegas Vacation Club” campaigns and National Magazine ads drew customers across the country.
During its heyday, Vegas World generated more than $ 100 million a year in gaming revenue and was the largest individually owned casino in the world.
Filled to capacity
The four floors, the 90-room hotel-senior expanded twice, 1984 and 1990, to 932 rooms with new wings in a 25-storey towers-were often at full occupancy.
Stupak was about marketing with a variety of gimmicks. Vegas World was the first casino property to offer neighborhoods and millions of dollar jackpots. The casino had been said to be the largest “large 6” wheel in the world.
In a self -promotion stunt that received worldwide media attention, Stupak donated $ 100 million to United Negro College Fund in exchange for a chance to play with Harlem Globetrotters. When his new Vegas World Tower was opened, he offered Stuntman Dan Koko $ 1 million to jump a motorcycle from the tower – then charged him a “landing fee of $ 990,000.”
When he saw the publicity generated for the then casino operator Donald Trump, Stupak invented a board game called “Stupak.” He challenged Trump to a $ 1 million competition for charity to play “Trump: The Game,” but Trump declined.
Stupak was also in politics and ran without success for mayor of Las Vegas twice and for Lieutenant Governor. He also financed campaigns for his children for political offices.
Tower inspiration
On a trip to Australia to visit his daughter, Stupak saw Sydney Tower, who inspired him to explore to build “The Stupak Tower”, designed to redirect attention from the newly opened Mirage to its operations, according to previous Review-Journal reporting.
After a windstorm destroyed a Vegas world sign, Stupak was convinced to build a neon-lit sign tower, knowing that it would be an iconic Las Vegas structure that could be seen valley. It later developed into an observation tower.
He took a proposal to build a 1,400 foot tower for Las Vegas City Council, but the height was reduced through federal aviation administration restrictions to just over 1,100 feet.
Stupak imagined entertainment at the top of the tower, including a roller coaster and a King Kong theme with passengers in a giant monkey that peels the outside of the building. The tall mountain and the roller coaster were built, but was eventually removed, and King Kong -skiing was never materialized.
But other rides-The big shot, X-Scream, Insanity and Skyjump-Find until this day, as well as indoor and outdoor observation tires and a rotating restaurant, the top of the world.
Stupak was also the promoter for a Timeshare development theme for the bad Titanic, but the authorities suffocated the idea.
Eventually, construction began in February 1992 on what would be called Stratosphere Tower, which would be the centerpiece of a complex of $ 550 million.
Roman light
With the tower about halfway, a fire was completed on August 29, 1993 and Vegas World customers below were evacuated from the casino around midnight, according to Review-Journal Archives.
The tower looked like a gigantic Roman light and the public case was huge with critics referring to it as “the high inferno.” With building costs that grew and loan the payment deadlines that were struck, Stupak received help from a casino operator and Pokerän Lyle Berman to finance the completion of the project.
While construction is in progress, March 31, 1995-21 years to the day after he opened his first Las Vegas-Kasino Dog Stupak almost after crashing his Harley-Davidson motorcycle when he travels at 60 km / h. He broke every leg in the face and was comatos. The doctors did not expect him to survive.
But he did. And he lived to see the stratosphere open April 30, 1996. At that time, Stupak was a 17 percent owner of shares in the company while Berman controlled 33 percent. Stupak, who had no daily operational responsibility, eventually resigned as chairman of the company’s board.
While analysts were optimistic about the Stratosphere outlook, the building’s rough district led, intensive competition from other resorts and design deficiencies that enabled visitors to enter the tower without passing through the casino to a Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection in January 1997. Stupak blamed poor lead for the decline.
Later in 1997, the company Raider Carl Icahn bought enough shares to take control of the property, and Stupak abandoned an attempt to regain control.
Icahn formed American casino and entertainment properties to monitor the resort in 2004 and made improvements and extensions on the property. In April 2007, Icahn Acep sold to Goldman Sach’s affiliated Whitehall Street real estate funds, which promised more renovations and improvements.
Golden Strat
It was not until June 2017 that the current owner, Golden Entertainment Inc., bought Acep for $ 850 million, and also announced a renovation project of $ 140 million at that time.
In February 2019, Golden announced the name change to Strat. It is now the centerpiece of Golden’s Portfolio.
Stupak died of leukemia on September 25, 2009, 67 years. He has a park and a community center near the strat called in his honor.
He has remembered as one of the most colorful casino operators – and a marketing magician.
Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@ theplayerlounge.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @rickvelotta at X.
