Frank Joseph Fertitta Jr. (October 30, 1938 – August 21, 2009) was an American entrepreneur. He was the founder of

Station Casinos Station Casinos, LLC is an American hotel and casino company based in Las Vegas suburb of Summerlin South, Nevada, and founded by Frank Fertitta Jr. Station Casinos, along with Affinity Gaming, Boyd Gaming and Golden Entertainment, dominate th ...

, a gaming company based in

Summerlin South, Nevada Summerlin South, also seen on maps as South Summerlin, is a census-designated place (CDP) in Clark County, Nevada, United States, on the western edge of the Las Vegas Valley and adjacent to the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. It is s ...

. The company started out as a

locals casino A locals casino is a casino designed primarily to attract residents of the area in which it was built rather than Tourism, tourists or vacationers. The term is most commonly associated with casinos in Nevada, United States, to distinguish them fro ...

operator on July 1, 1976, opening the Bingo Palace, which was later renamed

Palace Station Palace Station is a hotel and casino located in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Station Casinos, and is the company's oldest property. It includes an casino and 575 rooms. Palace Station originally opened as The Casino on July 1, ...

Background

Fertitta was born on October 30, 1938, in

Beaumont, Texas Beaumont is a city in the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat of Jefferson County, Texas, Jefferson County, within the Beaumont–Port Arthur metropolitan area, located in Southeast Texas on the Neches River about east of Houston (city ...

, to Frank Joseph Fertitta and Josephine Grilliette. He graduated from

Galveston Galveston ( ) is a Gulf Coast of the United States, coastal resort town, resort city and port off the Southeast Texas coast on Galveston Island and Pelican Island (Texas), Pelican Island in the U.S. state of Texas. The community of , with a pop ...

's Kirwin High School in 1956 and married Victoria Broussard in 1958. Fertitta arrived in

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

, Nevada, from Texas with his wife Victoria in 1960. Frank began his career in gaming as a

bellman Bellman may refer to: * Town crier, an officer of the court who makes public pronouncements * Bellhop, a hotel porter * Bellman (surname) * Bellman (diving), a standby diver and diver's attendant * Bellman hangar, a prefabricated, portable aircraft ...

at the Tropicana while learning to become a dealer. Over the next 16 years until 1976, he worked as a dealer, pit boss, baccarat manager and general manager at properties including the

Stardust Stardust may refer to: * A type of cosmic dust, composed of particles in space Entertainment Songs * “Stardust” (1927 song), by Hoagy Carmichael * “Stardust” (David Essex song), 1974 * “Stardust” (Lena Meyer-Landrut song), 2012 * ...

; Tropicana, Circus Circus,

Sahara The Sahara (, ) is a desert spanning across North Africa. With an area of , it is the largest hot desert in the world and the list of deserts by area, third-largest desert overall, smaller only than the deserts of Antarctica and the northern Ar ...

and the Fremont in downtown Las Vegas. Fertitta felt there was a gap in the market for casinos that locals could visit and where casino workers could come after work and as a result, opened his first local casino, named "The Casino" in 1976. This square gambling hall was attached to the Mini-Price Motor Inn and was a short drive from

Las Vegas Boulevard Las Vegas Boulevard is a major road in Clark County, Nevada, Clark County, Nevada, United States, best known for the Las Vegas Strip portion of the road and its casinos. Formerly carrying U.S. Route 91 in Nevada, U.S. Route 91 (US 91), wh ...

. "It was pretty much desert," son

Lorenzo Fertitta Lorenzo Joseph Fertitta (born January 3, 1969) is an American billionaire businessman and philanthropist. He is chairman of Fertitta Capital, director of Red Rock Resorts Inc, and former CEO of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Early life and ...

told the ''

Las Vegas Sun The ''Las Vegas Sun'' is one of the Las Vegas Valley's two daily subscription newspapers. It is owned by the Greenspun family and is affiliated with Greenspun Media Group. The paper published afternoons on weekdays from 1990 to 2005 and is now ...

'' in 2005. "People thought he was crazy." However, today

is one of the biggest local casino operators in Las Vegas. Fertitta Jr. died on August 21, 2009, of complications from heart surgery at the

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is a non-profit, Tertiary referral hospital, tertiary, 915-bed teaching hospital and multi-specialty academic health science centre, academic health science center located in Los Angeles, California. Part of the Cedars ...

Beverly Grove, Los Angeles Beverly Grove is a neighborhood within the Mid-City West region of Los Angeles, California, adjacent to Beverly Hills. The median household income in 2024 dollars was $119,223, among the highest for Los Angeles and the county. Geography City o ...

, California, at the age of 70. He was interred at the Palm Desert Memorial in Las Vegas, Nevada.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fertitta, Frank Jr. 1938 births 2009 deaths American billionaires American casino industry businesspeople American chief executives of travel and tourism industry companies American people of Italian descent People from Beaumont, Texas People from Summerlin, Nevada