In 1986, Laughlin bankrolled the construction of the Laughlin Bridge connecting Nevada and Arizona. In 1991, he donated land and the funds for Laughlin/Bullhead City International Airport. Many of his employees were Arizona residents.
Laughlin died Sunday at his penthouse home at the Riverside Resort Hotel & Casino in Laughlin, Diana Fuchs, the resort’s marketing director, said Monday. He died of natural causes."Don ... in true Don Laughlin spirit, was still trying to make them laugh with his jokes," Fuchs said in an email to The Associated Press.
Situated on the lower Colorado River and along the Nevada-Arizona border, Laughlin is currently home to eight casino resorts. Nearly 2 million visitors travel there each year, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. When Laughlin was in ninth grade, his school principal issued an ultimatum to either stay in school or stay in the slot business, where he made $500 a week.
In 1964, 10 years after buying a gambling business in North Las Vegas, Laughlin sold it for $165,000, according to his biography posted on the resort’s website. He visited the Mojave Desert and saw a stretch of land called Tri-State was unoccupied. Laughlin bought a boarded-up motel and 6 acres along the riverfront.It was two years later that the area became Laughlin. A U.S. Postal Service inspector told the casino owner he needed a name to receive mail.
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