Samuel A. Boyd (April 23, 1910 – January 15, 1993) was an American

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entreprene ...

, casino manager and developer. He was noted for introducing successful marketing, gambling and entertainment innovations into the casino gambling industry, as well as building one of the largest and most successful casino empires in the world.

Background

Born in

Enid, Oklahoma Enid ( ) is the ninth-largest city in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. It is the county seat of Garfield County, Oklahoma, Garfield County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 51,308. Enid was founded during the openin ...

, Boyd began his career in the gambling industry in 1928, when he ran

bingo Bingo or B-I-N-G-O may refer to: Arts and entertainment Gaming * Bingo, a game using a printed card of numbers ** Bingo (British version), a game using a printed card of 15 numbers on three lines; most commonly played in the UK and Ireland ** B ...

games on a

gambling ship A gambling ship is the term for a ship stationed offshore in or transiting to international waters to evade local anti-gambling laws that is dedicated to games of chance. This applies both to ships which are permanently moored somewhere outside ...

offshore

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...

. Just prior to the US entering World War II in 1941, Boyd moved to

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 Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

. Boyd was able to quickly make his way up through the gambling industry by initially working as a

croupier A croupier or dealer is someone appointed at a gambling table to assist in the conduct of the game, especially in the distribution of bets and payouts. Croupiers are typically employed by casinos. Origin of the word Originally a "croupier" mean ...

. He later went on to hold a variety of jobs in the industry, moving between

Reno Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada–California border. It is the county seat and most populous city of Washoe County, Nevada, Washoe County. Sitting in the High Eastern Sierra foothills, ...

and

Lake Tahoe Lake Tahoe (; Washo language, Washo: ''dáʔaw'') is a Fresh water, freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada of the Western United States, straddling the border between California and Nevada. Lying at above sea level, Lake Tahoe is the largest a ...

before moving back to Las Vegas. Having saved up a substantial amount of cash, in 1952 Boyd invested $10,000 to become an owner-partner at the

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 ...

. Later, he became general manager and partner at The Mint in

downtown Las Vegas Downtown Las Vegas (commonly abbreviated as DTLV) is the central business district and historic center of Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. It is the original townsite, and the Downtown gaming Las Vegas, Downtown Gaming Area was the primary gambl ...

, where he began introducing marketing campaigns and the innovations which made him famous. Boyd later began developing and purchasing casinos throughout the Las Vegas area, continuing to introduce innovative marketing. He was credited with helping build a large Hawaiian community in Las Vegas, through his marketing techniques catered toward visitors from the

Hawaiian Islands The Hawaiian Islands () are an archipelago of eight major volcanic islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the Pacific Ocean, North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the Hawaii (island), island of Hawaii in the south to nort ...

. With the construction and completion of Boyd's California Hotel and Casino in 1975, he and his son co-founded

Boyd Gaming Boyd Gaming Corporation is an American gaming and hospitality company based in Paradise, Nevada. The company continues to be run by founder Sam Boyd's family under the management of Sam's granddaughter, Marianne Boyd-Johnson, who currently serv ...

, which would become one of the largest gambling and casino management corporations in the world. Several hotel-casinos branded Sam's Town Hotel and Gambling Hall, along with

UNLV The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada, United States. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. ...

Sam Boyd Stadium Sam Boyd Stadium (formerly the Las Vegas Silver Bowl) is a closed American football, football stadium in Whitney, Nevada, an unincorporated community in the Las Vegas Valley. It honors Sam Boyd (1910–1993), a major figure in the hotel and casin ...

, are named in his honor; the 2006 album by The Killers, '' Sam's Town'', is named after one of his casinos. Boyd married Mary Neumann in 1931. They had their only child, William S. Boyd, within a year. Sam Boyd died on January 15, 1993, at the age of 82 at a local hospital in Las Vegas after lengthy illnesses. He was interred at the Palm Memorial Park in Las Vegas.

References

External links

* 1910 births 1993 deaths American billionaires American casino industry businesspeople Businesspeople from Enid, Oklahoma Businesspeople from the Las Vegas Valley 20th-century American businesspeople {{Oklahoma-stub