The Flamingo and Harrah’s Entertainment History Part 1 : The Flamingo and The Linq were rebranded and aquired by Harrah’s Entertainment, a company that was once nothing more than a small Reno bingo parlor owned by William F. Harrah, who began operations in 1937. Under his leadership, the business opened as Harrah’s Club at its present location, went public in 1971, traded on the American Stock Exchange and soon became the New York Stock Exchange’s first casino listing. Shortly after his death in 1978, Holiday Inn’s, Inc. acquired the company’s two casinos, auto collection and private properties.
Liquidation of the auto collection recovered the full purchase price of the casinos, and Holiday Inn began to expand into the entertainment market, though acquisition of The Flamingo, The Linq and other major assets wouldn’t occur until much later.
The company opened several new casinos before being purchased by Bass PLC in 1990 and segmented into The Promus Company to promote the entertainment brand exclusively. Promus began trading publicly and relocated to Tennessee in 1991.
The company opened Harrah’s casinos in several states over the next few years, including Las Vegas, where prime properties like The Linq and The Flamingo began to compete against the newcomers. In 1995, a split from Promus created Harrah’s Entertainment, Inc., more casinos opened in more states and Harrah’s began a $200 million expansion targeted directly at The City of Lights. New CEO Gary Loveman came aboard in 1998 and facilitated the acquisition of the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino, positioning Harrah’s as a major player, with its sights on The Flamingo, The Linq and other major brands.
To see what all the fuss is about, visit The Flamingo!
