Betting on Black Hawk
Overcoming devastating disability, casino mogul expands his empire, has high hopes for Colorado
By Andy Vuong
Denver Post Staff Writer
DenverPost.com
Black Hawk - A tragic car accident took his mobility but not his drive.
Relying on a wheelchair for the past 20 years, Craig Hart Neilsen has built the nation's ninth-largest gambling empire by transforming casinos in smaller markets such as Council Bluffs, Iowa, and Vicksburg, Miss., into regional destinations.
Now Neilsen is betting $380 million that the Ameristar Casino Black Hawk and a planned luxury hotel can become the gambling mecca of the Rocky Mountains.
He's trying it in a state where casino gamblers are limited by law to $5 bets - the lowest limit in the country. High rollers avoid Colorado like they would a blackjack player who splits face cards.
Neilsen, who was at the casino's reopening April 6, is undaunted.
"We will bring a whole different type of gamer to the market," he said.
He plans to do that by creating a destination luxury hotel, dining, meeting and concert venue. In other Ameristar casinos, singers Vince Gill and Jewel have performed.
Hard-driving and soft-spoken, Neilsen starts his typical workday at home in Las Vegas at noon and doesn't stop until 6 a.m. He has a rotating staff of eight to 10 nurses and assistants. He holds conference calls and meetings that can last hours.
Neilsen, 64, has minimal use of his left hand, which he can use to operate his wheelchair. The rest of his body below the neck is paralyzed. But his mind is racing.
A methodical workaholic, he scours financial statements, letters, e-mails and other documents through the late night and early morning.
"If you are around him and around his people, there's no question, despite his disability, who's in charge of that company," said Frank Fahrenkopf, chief executive of the American Gaming Association, an industry trade group.
A changed life
At about 11 p.m. on a snowy Nov. 10, 1985, Neilsen was driving from his casino in Jackpot, Nev., to his home in Twin Falls, Idaho.
At the time, he was divorced. His only child, Ray, was attending college in Idaho.
Neilsen lost control of his 1976 Porsche 911 after catching a crosswind from a tractor-trailer that passed him.
"There was a snowstorm. And that was what caused the accident," Neilsen said.
His car skidded, turned 180 degrees and rammed into a 1973 Oldsmobile heading in the opposite direction, according to a court filing.
Neilsen's seat back broke off. His head and neck struck the rear of his car, severing his spinal cord and leaving him a quadriplegic.
He was treated at the University of Utah Hospitals in Salt Lake City and went through rehabilitation at the Good Samaritan Rehabilitation Institute in Phoenix.
Neilsen wouldn't talk much about the accident or its aftermath. But less than a year after the accident, he was back at work full time.
His company was known as Cactus Petes Inc. and operated two small casinos in Jackpot. Neilsen had acquired one-third of the company when his father died of a heart attack in 1971.
Neilsen, who received his MBA and law degrees at the University of Utah in the 1960s, was the company's president at the time of the accident.
In 1986 and 1987, Neilsen bought out the private company's other stakeholders. In 1990, he launched $30 million expansions of the two Jackpot casinos.
He renamed the company Ameristar Casinos and took it public in 1993. It has a market capitalization of $1.3 billion. Neilsen controls 55 percent of the common stock, putting his net worth at more than $700 million.
With seven casinos in six markets, the company employs about 7,500 people, including 600 at its Black Hawk casino.
"Craig isn't huge on praise, but when he gives you praise, it's extremely meaningful," said Connie Wilson, a vice president of administration, communications and entertainment at Ameristar who has worked 18 years for him. "He doesn't show too much emotion."
One reason for that, she said, is that it physically hurts him to laugh.
This month, Ameristar offered $2.25 billion in cash and assumed debt for Phoenix-based Aztar, the parent company of the Tropicana casinos in Las Vegas and Atlantic City, N.J.
If Neilsen succeeds, Ameristar would gain its first casinos in the country's two biggest gambling markets and Ameristar would become the fifth-largest gaming company in the nation by revenues.
"The accident has not changed him that much," said his son Ray, 42, a vice president at Ameristar. "He's maybe a little more intense, but amazingly not that much different.
"He's just very positive. He doesn't see himself as handicapped. And he's not. We are. And I'm just learning that. I can't keep up with him."
Neilsen was inducted into the American Gaming Association's Hall of Fame last year, a recognition voted on by his peers, including the likes of Steve Wynn, developer of the Mirage, Bellagio and Wynn casinos in Las Vegas. Neilsen says Wynn is the person he admires most.
Neilsen has turned some of his focus in recent years to charitable works. He established the Craig H. Neilsen Foundation in 2003. Since then, he has donated $3.6 million to spinal-cord-injury research and rehabilitation programs. He has pledged to donate $4 million this year alone, said Beth Goldsmith, the director of his foundation.
Big plans in Black Hawk
Ameristar bought the Black Hawk casino, formerly called Mountain High, in December 2004 for roughly $120 million.
The company's 2004 annual report - which looked like an edition of Rolling Stone magazine - claimed the renovated Black Hawk property "would appeal to high-end players, a segment that is currently untapped in this market."
Ameristar spent $80 million on renovations completed this month. It is spending another $180 million on an adjoining hotel featuring top-notch amenities, including full-service spas, a pool and bathrooms with flat- panel LCD screens. The 33-story, 536-room hotel is scheduled to open in mid-2008.
The city of Black Hawk welcomed Neilsen's hotel plans, modifying zoning requirements to allow the project to proceed, said Sean McCartney, community planning and development director for Black Hawk.
"It's bringing in additional hotel rooms, which is what the City Council wanted," McCartney said. "They want more of a destination resort."
The hotel will be nearly twice the height of the tallest building in Black Hawk and will double the town's hotel rooms.
"It's going to be a great facility, yet it is a limited-stakes market," said William Schmitt, an analyst with CIBC World Markets, based in New York. "The market has been somewhat flattish recently. But when you build assets with parking and rooms ... you tend to grow the market. They've been extremely successful in the other markets they've been in with assets of this caliber."
Overcoming devastating disability, casino mogul expands his empire, has high hopes for Colorado
By Andy Vuong
Denver Post Staff Writer
DenverPost.com
Black Hawk - A tragic car accident took his mobility but not his drive.
Relying on a wheelchair for the past 20 years, Craig Hart Neilsen has built the nation's ninth-largest gambling empire by transforming casinos in smaller markets such as Council Bluffs, Iowa, and Vicksburg, Miss., into regional destinations.
Now Neilsen is betting $380 million that the Ameristar Casino Black Hawk and a planned luxury hotel can become the gambling mecca of the Rocky Mountains.
He's trying it in a state where casino gamblers are limited by law to $5 bets - the lowest limit in the country. High rollers avoid Colorado like they would a blackjack player who splits face cards.
Neilsen, who was at the casino's reopening April 6, is undaunted.
"We will bring a whole different type of gamer to the market," he said.
He plans to do that by creating a destination luxury hotel, dining, meeting and concert venue. In other Ameristar casinos, singers Vince Gill and Jewel have performed.
Hard-driving and soft-spoken, Neilsen starts his typical workday at home in Las Vegas at noon and doesn't stop until 6 a.m. He has a rotating staff of eight to 10 nurses and assistants. He holds conference calls and meetings that can last hours.
Neilsen, 64, has minimal use of his left hand, which he can use to operate his wheelchair. The rest of his body below the neck is paralyzed. But his mind is racing.
A methodical workaholic, he scours financial statements, letters, e-mails and other documents through the late night and early morning.
"If you are around him and around his people, there's no question, despite his disability, who's in charge of that company," said Frank Fahrenkopf, chief executive of the American Gaming Association, an industry trade group.
A changed life
At about 11 p.m. on a snowy Nov. 10, 1985, Neilsen was driving from his casino in Jackpot, Nev., to his home in Twin Falls, Idaho.
At the time, he was divorced. His only child, Ray, was attending college in Idaho.
Neilsen lost control of his 1976 Porsche 911 after catching a crosswind from a tractor-trailer that passed him.
"There was a snowstorm. And that was what caused the accident," Neilsen said.
His car skidded, turned 180 degrees and rammed into a 1973 Oldsmobile heading in the opposite direction, according to a court filing.
Neilsen's seat back broke off. His head and neck struck the rear of his car, severing his spinal cord and leaving him a quadriplegic.
He was treated at the University of Utah Hospitals in Salt Lake City and went through rehabilitation at the Good Samaritan Rehabilitation Institute in Phoenix.
Neilsen wouldn't talk much about the accident or its aftermath. But less than a year after the accident, he was back at work full time.
His company was known as Cactus Petes Inc. and operated two small casinos in Jackpot. Neilsen had acquired one-third of the company when his father died of a heart attack in 1971.
Neilsen, who received his MBA and law degrees at the University of Utah in the 1960s, was the company's president at the time of the accident.
In 1986 and 1987, Neilsen bought out the private company's other stakeholders. In 1990, he launched $30 million expansions of the two Jackpot casinos.
He renamed the company Ameristar Casinos and took it public in 1993. It has a market capitalization of $1.3 billion. Neilsen controls 55 percent of the common stock, putting his net worth at more than $700 million.
With seven casinos in six markets, the company employs about 7,500 people, including 600 at its Black Hawk casino.
"Craig isn't huge on praise, but when he gives you praise, it's extremely meaningful," said Connie Wilson, a vice president of administration, communications and entertainment at Ameristar who has worked 18 years for him. "He doesn't show too much emotion."
One reason for that, she said, is that it physically hurts him to laugh.
This month, Ameristar offered $2.25 billion in cash and assumed debt for Phoenix-based Aztar, the parent company of the Tropicana casinos in Las Vegas and Atlantic City, N.J.
If Neilsen succeeds, Ameristar would gain its first casinos in the country's two biggest gambling markets and Ameristar would become the fifth-largest gaming company in the nation by revenues.
"The accident has not changed him that much," said his son Ray, 42, a vice president at Ameristar. "He's maybe a little more intense, but amazingly not that much different.
"He's just very positive. He doesn't see himself as handicapped. And he's not. We are. And I'm just learning that. I can't keep up with him."
Neilsen was inducted into the American Gaming Association's Hall of Fame last year, a recognition voted on by his peers, including the likes of Steve Wynn, developer of the Mirage, Bellagio and Wynn casinos in Las Vegas. Neilsen says Wynn is the person he admires most.
Neilsen has turned some of his focus in recent years to charitable works. He established the Craig H. Neilsen Foundation in 2003. Since then, he has donated $3.6 million to spinal-cord-injury research and rehabilitation programs. He has pledged to donate $4 million this year alone, said Beth Goldsmith, the director of his foundation.
Big plans in Black Hawk
Ameristar bought the Black Hawk casino, formerly called Mountain High, in December 2004 for roughly $120 million.
The company's 2004 annual report - which looked like an edition of Rolling Stone magazine - claimed the renovated Black Hawk property "would appeal to high-end players, a segment that is currently untapped in this market."
Ameristar spent $80 million on renovations completed this month. It is spending another $180 million on an adjoining hotel featuring top-notch amenities, including full-service spas, a pool and bathrooms with flat- panel LCD screens. The 33-story, 536-room hotel is scheduled to open in mid-2008.
The city of Black Hawk welcomed Neilsen's hotel plans, modifying zoning requirements to allow the project to proceed, said Sean McCartney, community planning and development director for Black Hawk.
"It's bringing in additional hotel rooms, which is what the City Council wanted," McCartney said. "They want more of a destination resort."
The hotel will be nearly twice the height of the tallest building in Black Hawk and will double the town's hotel rooms.
"It's going to be a great facility, yet it is a limited-stakes market," said William Schmitt, an analyst with CIBC World Markets, based in New York. "The market has been somewhat flattish recently. But when you build assets with parking and rooms ... you tend to grow the market. They've been extremely successful in the other markets they've been in with assets of this caliber."
