It all started with the California. That venerable Las Vegas casino turned 50 on New Year’s Day, alongside the family-run company that owns and operates it.
Boyd Gaming was founded by father and son Sam and Bill Boyd in order to open the California casino on Fremont Street in Downtown Las Vegas. Both Boyds had some experience in the gambling business, but the California was the first casino owned by Boyd Gaming.
Half a century on from 1975, and Boyd Gaming is one Nevada’s biggest gambling companies. The California is also still going strong.
Throughout its 50-year history, Boyd has been an innovative presence in Las Vegas.
The Boyd family were the first to employ women as casino dealers and in other back-of-house roles usually reserved for men. The California, opened 1975, was also influential in establishing Las Vegas as a popular destination for visitors from Hawaii. The Boyd family, who today still have key roles in the business, have also used their wealth to invest in philanthropic work in the local community.
Pre-Boyd
Before Boyd Gaming came the man himself, Sam Boyd. The perennially white-hatted elder Boyd got his start running literal offshore gambling ships in California, before his 1941 move to the nascent gambling hub of Las Vegas.
He started out as a croupier at Vegas and Reno casinos before working his way up to a pit boss position at the Sahara on the Las Vegas Strip. By 1952, he’d made enough connections and money through his work at the Sahara that he invested $10,000 he had saved up into the venture.
That landed him enough money to buy a significant share in The Mint in Downtown Las Vegas in 1957. The deal also saw him become general manager of the property.
The elder Boyd’s son, Sam, graduated from law school in the ’60s. Through his work, he cheaply bought the El Dorado gambling hall in Henderson, Nevada. He consulted his father on the running of the operation, and it did well upon opening.
A few years later, the pair decided to buy the failing Plaza casino in Las Vegas. Sam Boyd made the then-controversial decision to employ women as casino dealers, as well as in back of house management roles. The decision was criticized in some circles at first, but proved a roaring success in the long run.
Hawaiian California
After going in on two casinos together, the father and son Boyd decided to formally incorporate the family business in 1975. Boyd Gaming was formed that year, and the California was its first project.
Throwing back to Sam Boyd’s original gambling business with its name and theme, the rising Boyd family hit its first major roadblock. Patrons visiting from the Golden State simply weren’t enamored with the California surf vibes, and the casino hotel struggled.
But ever the risk-taker, Sam Boyd decided to heavily market his casino to another state with a beach culture and restrictive gambling laws – Hawaii. Over several visits to the island, Boyd organized charter flights for Hawaiian vacationers and spent big on advertising.
It was a roaring success. Although it cannot entirely be pinned on Boyd Gaming and the California, Las Vegas today has a community of some 50,000 native Hawaiians. That is the largest Hawaiian population outside of the island, and Boyd Gaming can take some credit for that.
Boyd also opened Sam’s Town on the Boulder Highway, which was one of the first large scale Las Vegas-locals-oriented casinos in the area. After that success, Boyd continued to grow. It took over the Stardust in 1985 after a skimming scandal that took out the former owners, an action some say inspired the movie Casino.
In 1993, Sam Boyd died at 82. Bill took over the company.
The death and changeover happened just nine months before Sam, who was still somewhat active in business decisions, could see Boyd open its first casino outside of Nevada. Sam’s Town in Tunica, Mississippi, opened in 1994.
Boyd of Today
In 2025, Boyd Gaming runs 27 different casino properties in the U.S. That includes a dozen casinos in Nevada and others in Louisiana, Indiana, and Illinois. It also runs Boyd Interactive in the online sports betting and casino gaming space.
The company reported a record $3.7 billion in revenue for 2023, and looks likely to achieve similar numbers when the final quarter of 2024 data comes in. Boyd is now so large that earlier this year, it was rumored to be considering a $9 billion buyout of rival operator Penn Entertainment.
Boyd is not just a familiar name in the U.S. for gambling, either. The Boyd family name is represented in multiple institutions as a thanks for their philanthropic investments.
Sam and Bill both made big philanthropic gestures in the past, including founding the only law school in Nevada, paying for upgrades to the University of Nevada Las Vegas’ football stadium, and regularly organizing volunteer drives in Las Vegas.
David is an online casino expert who specializes in online slots and boasts over 10 years experience writing about iGaming. He has written for a wide range of notable publications, including eSports Insider and WordPlay Magazine.
David graduated Derby University with a BA Degree in English Literature and Creative Writing.
