Publisher's Synopsis
An unprecedented up-close-and-personal look at the trio of tycoons whose high-stakes gambles-in business-make Sin City soar. Steve Wynn. Kirk Kerkorian. Dr. Gary Loveman. The first two are world-famous for their flamboyant, often outrageous efforts to dominate Las Vegas. But it's the third-an economist from Harvard Business School, unknown even to most of the guests at his high-profile casinos-who may now have the most impact. In Winner Takes All, Christina Binkley, a columnist for the Wall Street Journal, explores how these three magnates are building a bigger and better Las Vegas and how their influence is spreading beyond the city's borders. Meet the winners: -Steve Wynn is the visionary behind the Mirage, the Bellagio, and the $2.7 billion Wynn Las Vegas. Loud and passionate, with a tragic backstory-a world-renowned art collector, he is slowly going blind from retinitis pigmentosa-Wynn is often called the architect of modern Las Vegas. -Kirk Kerkorian, who is in his late eighties, is a shy, sly tactician, but his status as a billionaire deal maker who owns half the strip-and his history as nemesis to Howard Hughes-keeps him in the forefront of Las Vegas, wheeling and dealing. -Dr. Gary Loveman, the CEO of Harrah's Entertainment, Inc., represents a new, more populist future for Las Vegas, one in which gamblers will be carefully culled from databases rather than lured by flash. Loveman approaches the city as though it were a Harvard case study. On the verge of becoming Las Vegas's-and possibly the world's-biggest gambling titan, he refuses to even live there. Peppered with celebrity cameos (from Siegfried and Roy to George and Barbara Bush), this sharp, fast-paced narrative tells the story of how billions of dollars-and an unparalleled drive for power-took three men's visions for Las Vegas from mere dreams to reality.
