Thomas Breitling (born June 19, 1969) is an American entrepreneur.

Early life

Breitling was born in St. Paul, Minnesota. His father became a pilot for

Northwest Airlines Northwest Airlines Corp. (NWA) was a major American airline founded in 1926 and absorbed into Delta Air Lines, Inc. by a merger. The merger, approved on October 29, 2008, made Delta the largest airline in the world until the American Airlines ...

after serving in the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

. His mother was a nurse. Breitling was educated at St. John the Baptist in

Savage, Minnesota Savage is a suburban city south-southwest of downtown Minneapolis in Scott County in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The city is on the south bank of the Minnesota River in a region commonly called ''South of the River,'' comprising the southern ...

through the eighth grade. He then went on to the Academy of Holy Angels in

Richfield, Minnesota Richfield is a suburban city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States near the confluence of the Mississippi River and the Minnesota River at Fort Snelling. An inner ring suburb of Minneapolis, it is bordered by Minneapolis to the north, Minn ...

, where he attended

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

and played

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

. He then went on to study at the

University of San Diego The University of San Diego (USD) is a private Roman Catholic research university in San Diego, California. Chartered in July 1949 as the independent San Diego College for Women and San Diego University (comprising the College for Men and Schoo ...

, California. He was a member of the

Sigma Pi Sigma Pi () is a collegiate fraternity with 233 chapters at American universities. As of 2021, the fraternity had more than 5,000 undergraduate members and over 110,000 alumni. Sigma Pi headquarters are in Nashville, Tennessee. The fraternity ...

fraternity, and graduated with a degree in

Communications Communication (from la, communicare, meaning "to share" or "to be in relation with") is usually defined as the transmission of information. The term may also refer to the message communicated through such transmissions or the field of inquir ...

, with a minor in

Business Administration Business administration, also known as business management, is the administration of a commercial enterprise. It includes all aspects of overseeing and supervising the business operations of an organization. From the point of view of management ...

, in 1991.

Career

Breitling began as a weatherman for

KHIZ KHIZ may refer to: * KHIZ-LD, a low-power television station (channel 2, virtual 39) licensed to serve Los Angeles, California, United States * KILM KILM (channel 64) is a television station licensed to Inglewood, California, United States, bro ...

, then was promoted to sports anchor. In 1993 Tim Poster asked him to help him run his startup company, Las Vegas Reservation Systems. Breitling served as its vice president until he co-founded Travelscape.com in March 1998. Travelscape.com grossed $104 million in sales in 1999, from just $800,000 in sales in 1990. Breitling and Poster sold Travelscape to

Expedia Expedia Inc. is an online travel agency owned by Expedia Group, an American online travel shopping company based in Seattle. The website and mobile app can be used to book airline tickets, hotel reservations, car rentals, cruise ships, and vacat ...

for over $89,750,000. From June 2003 to September 2005, Breitling served as vice-chairman of the

Golden Nugget Las Vegas The Golden Nugget Las Vegas is a luxury hotel and casino located in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada on the Fremont Street Experience. The property is owned and operated by Landry's, Inc. It has 2,419 hotel rooms. History The Golden Nugget was origin ...

properties in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

and

Laughlin, Nevada Laughlin is an unincorporated resort town and census-designated place in Clark County, Nevada, United States. It is located on the Colorado River, directly across from the much larger Bullhead City, Arizona. Laughlin lies south of Las Vegas, i ...

. Breitling and Poster acquired the Golden Nugget properties in June 2003 for $215 million; their running of the casino was the subject of the

reality television show Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

'' The Casino''. In September 2005, they sold the Golden Nugget for approximately $340 million. Breitling has published his autobiography, ''Double or Nothing'' in 2008. Tom Breitling and Tim Poster joined Wynn Resorts subsidiary Wynn Las Vegas as Senior Vice Presidents of Strategy and Development in July 2008. In 2010, Tom Breitling co-founded Ultimate Gaming with Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta. The goal of Ultimate Gaming was to bridge the gap between land based

casino A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live entertai ...

s and online gaming to bring our players the Ultimate Gaming Experience. In April 2013, Breitling's company launched the first ever, legal and regulated

online poker Online poker is the game of poker played over the Internet. It has been partly responsible for a huge increase in the number of poker players worldwide. Christiansen Capital Advisors stated online poker revenues grew from $82.7 million in 2001 t ...

site in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

- Ultimate Poker. On April 30, 2013, Ultimate Poker dealt the first ever legal hand of

in the state of

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

. Breitling then, successfully launched Ultimate Casino inside the State of New Jersey in November 2013.

Personal life

Breitling married model/actress Vanessa Tarazona in a lavish ceremony on September 12, 2007, in Lake Como, Italy.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Breitling, Thomas 1969 births American entertainment industry businesspeople American casino industry businesspeople Living people Businesspeople from Saint Paul, Minnesota Participants in American reality television series University of San Diego alumni

Early life

Career

Personal life

See also

References

External links