Richard Bronson’s book, War At The Shore, mixed up his facts; because Steve
was operating his Golden Nugget in Atlantic City, long before The Donald even
contemplated getting into the gaming industry. In fact, I distinctly remember a
call from Steve Wynn to Jack Davis and myself, right after we opened the Resorts
casino on Memorial Day 1976. He was very interested in our slot win. Rumor has
it that he was on his plane to Atlantic City, the next day in his pajamas, to
tie up a Boardwalk site. Our slot win was an indication to Steve that gaming was
a big winner with the general public. Our first year slots, won just under $100
million, which was an eye opener, considering that my due diligence determined
the much larger strip casinos in Vegas, Caesars and Ballys were winning around
$20 million each.
Steve opened his AC Casino Hotel in December 1980, but Donald’s
first casino, in a 50/50 partnership with Harrah’s did not open until the Spring
of 1984. Steve left AC in 1987, selling to Bally’s and using the proceeds to
provide much of the cost to construct Las Vegas’ then most prestigious Strip
resort, the Mirage. Donald’s second casino, the Marina, was built by the Hilton
Corp. who walked away and sold to Trump, when they had license issues. It opened
in 1985. The third Trump property, the Taj Mahal, was started by us at Resorts
International, but finished by Donald after he gave his controlling share
interest to Merv Griffin in exchange for the unfinished Taj. Merv bought out the
remaining shareholders, taking Resorts AC and Paradise Island private.
The biggest contentious issue I remember between the two, was a fight over
casino executive Dennis Gomes.